Old Ruffian
Great Divide Brewing Company in Denver, Colorado, United States 🇺🇸
Barley Wine - Barley Regular Out of Production|
Score
7.63
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Old Ruffian is a hefty, hop-forward Barley Wine. Seemingly mellow at first sniff, with its subtle fruit aromas and complex caramel sweetness, this deep mahogany-hued ale quickly shows its true character marked by bold hop flavors and massive hop bitterness. Old Ruffian's rich, slightly creamy, caramel malt mouthfeel balances its grapefruit, pine, and floral hop flavors, working wonders on your palate.
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7.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Hazy dark amber with large off white head. Hoppy aroma with caramel and roasted malt notes. Sweet flavor with roasted malt, caramel and loads of hops. Ends bitter.
Tried
on 21 Mar 2008
at 15:06
2.9/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 3
Flavor 2
Texture 2
Overall 1.5
Big sniffer of this at the Mad Mex in Robinson. Typical alarmingly sweet barley wine aroma. Dark with a big creamy head. Large, strong and over the top. Rude crude and indescribably terrible. Perfect for it’s style. Reminds me of whiskey laced beer. Bitter malty alky medicinal linger.
Tried
on 17 Feb 2008
at 09:41
8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 10
Overall 8
1 or 2 years old, haven’t any notes of the purchase time. Muddy red brown with a small creamy tan head. There are some great aged notes of dried fruits and port in the aroma, but still also some American hops with pine mostly. It’s sweet, yes, but balanced by hops (still very present) and alcohol. Has a smooth, creamy mouthfeel, but it’s deceiving: it leaves your mouth a war zone of hops and alcohol - which also results in a long aftertaste...of Great Divide, basically.
Tried
from Can
on 13 Feb 2008
at 16:22
7.9/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Aroma is heavy pine and grapefruit hops, with light caramel malts and a touch of doughy yeast. Pour yields a medium amber colored brew with a largish creamy off-white head that retains well and has pretty good lacing. Flavor is heavy hops, bitter and salty on the finish. A bit over carbonate. I would not want to drink too much of this stuff, as it is extremely hoppy, but it is still a decent brew.
Tried
on 20 Jan 2008
at 01:55
6.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
November 2006 bomber bottle...aged until 12-25-07....Cloudy dark copper to mahogany....fluffy lt. brown head....hops and rich malts on the nostrils....smells more of an amber ale or IPA than a typical barley ....a touch of alcohol tinges on the final inhale....smooth creamy body, tastes more like an IPA than the expected norm....nice lacing, would try it again next year, well actually this year, but glad I didn’t pick up more of this when it was first available--alcohol well disguised
Tried
from Bottle
on 27 Dec 2007
at 20:29
8.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 10
Overall 8.5
Aroma of caramel and floral hop. Reddish tinged amber color with a white head. Medium to full body with creamy carbonation. The flavor is primarily grapefruit, with backing caramel malts. Some pine resin kicks in. The finish is almost gummy with hop. The malt sweetness tends to drain away, and the hop is fantastic in a fairly non-bitter way. This is really an exceptional drink.
Tried
on 30 Nov 2007
at 21:04
6.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Sampled from 22 oz bottle. Hazy brown pour shows a little head for once. Smell shows brown sugar and sherry (that word again!). Not much alcohol heat for such a strong beer. This may be a cellareed bottle, it shows a less pronounced hop blact, in fact, closer to an english barley wine. Finish is a bit too bitter.
Tried
from Bottle
on 05 Nov 2007
at 10:12
7.2/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8
Pour is a brown with a very large tan head. Aroma is very up front with the hops but also has a smooth caramel malt that hides in the backround. Flavor is syurpy sweet at first then comes the caramel malts and finally POW the heavy dose of alcohol. Finish is smooth and has a lingering flavor. A very good spot on barley wine.
Tried
on 31 Oct 2007
at 18:06
6.9/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Bottle; eye: burgundy, no effervescence, compact white head; nose: hops, alcohol; mouth: hops, alcohol, bitterness, finale all in bitterness, full body, velvety FRANÇAIS Bouteille; oeil : bourgogne, pas d’effervescence, mousse blanche compacte; nez : houblon, alcool; bouche : houblon, alcool, amertume, finale toute amère, corsée, velouté
Tried
from Bottle
on 20 Sep 2007
at 16:16
6.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 6
Texture 4
Overall 6.5
Copper-red, white head. A lot is going on in this beer. It has complex aromas of citrus and herbs, and is flowery as well. Very silky and dense on the palate. Taste of pine dry hops. The aroma is better than the flavour. Too dry for me.
Tried
on 29 Jul 2007
at 12:25