Great Divide Barrel Aged Old Ruffian Barley Wine
Great Divide Barrel Aged Old Ruffian Barley Wine
Rated 3.789 by BeerPalsBrewed by Great Divide Brewing Company
Denver, CO, United States
Style: American Barleywine
12.7% Alcohol by Volume
85 International Bittering Units
Availability of this beer is unknown
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Barrel Aged Old Ruffian Barley Wine was aged for 20 months in Stranahan’s barrels. As it does for Yeti, the aging process mellows Old Ruffian’s edge while adding gentle notes of oak, whiskey and vanilla to the 12.7% ABV and 85 IBUs beer. (The original Old Ruffian won a Gold medal at the 2006 Great American Beer Festival and a Silver medal at the 2007 GABF.) “Our intent,” says Great Divide founder Brian Dunn, “was to age each beer in the barrels for 9 months. But we got busy with other projects, primarily the addition of a new bottling line, and the beers ended up aging for more than a year and half.” While the labels on the bottles state that the beers were aged 9 months in barrels, both beers were in fact aged 20 months in barrels. Release limited to 470 bottles.
ID: 36958 Last updated 2 weeks ago Added to database 15 years agoKey Stats
percentile
1
Drunk6
Reviews0
LikesBeeributes
Most noted beer attributes
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Statistics
| Overall Rank | 587 |
| Overall Percentile | 98.9 |
| Style Rank | 23 of 547 |
| Style Percentile | 95.8 |
| Lowest Score | 4.0 |
| Highest Score | 4.4 |
| Average Score | 4.183 |
| Weighted Score | 3.789 |
| Standard Deviation | 0.147 |
Rating Distribution
Beer vs Style
6 Member Reviews
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Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9
2015 Shared 750 ml bottle at Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. Will write a proper rating shortly, when I have a full bottle. This is one hell of a beer!
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Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9
Pours clear cherrywood with a thick and persistent buff head. Strong aroma yields whisky, toasted malt, caramel, woody, and subtle stonefruit notes. Flavor presents whisky, oak, piney hops, toasted malt, hints of stonefruit and - peppermint? Texture gives firm, smooth body and lively fizz. Be a Ruffian.
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Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9
Dark brown pour with aromas of raisins, dates, and subtle oak however the nose is not the strength of the beer. Thick moufeel and flavors of vanilla and oak accompany a biscuity sweetness and dark fruits - cherries, figs, and raisins. This is a phenomenal brew.
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Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8
Yes! .. The original is good, this is miles ahead.. . Dark brown, with good firm head, lacing is also well done .. . some dark fruit, coffee, irish coffee, and roast .. . just damn good! .. . I'm just supposed to smile and stay out of the conversation and say things like: "Damn," "Shit," and "That is whack."
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Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9
Thick, viscous brew both in appearance and mouth feel. Hearty aroma of dark, fermented fruits, bran cereal, and bitter-sweet baked goods. The scent permeates the air around the glass and invites you in for a great experience. Smooth whiskey effect ties the malty flavors with the floral hints. Nutty with plenty of roasted malts and green faded hops. Complex and well aged, it awakens all of the senses.
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Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8
upon opening, I was still greeted with more hops than I'd expect after a long barrel aging process. upon pouring, however, the hops are almost totally replaced in the aroma by woody vanilla, caramel, and toffee. very nice aroma. The look is fairly typical for a barleywine, which is nice, but not standout. smallish head. the flavor achieves a balance somehow between the sweet malt, whiskey, wood, vanilla, and hops...it manages to be strong in both sweet and hoppy without one being totally overpowering, although there is nothing delicate about this complex brew. In fact, our palates were so assaulted, this beer marked the start and finish of my tasting for the night. at 50+ degrees, the sweet and whiskey are a little more in the forefront, with the bittering and drying hops in the finish. As the beer gets closer to room temp, the hops take over a bit from the whiskey. A very nice beer for sure, and a rare treat, but for the price, the only way I'd get this again is to do a vertical tasting of regular/oak/and barrel aged Old Ruffians. 7/12 - 2011 batch, still not as complex as the base, due to the whiskey being in the fore, but pretty damn good. up a tenth of a point.
