Old Ruffian Barley Wine
22oz brown bomber, no freshness date that I can find. $6.39 for the bottle, just recently became available locally. A full two finger's worth of head forms off of what I thought was a gentle pour. No matter, it gradually and steadily fades away to a thick meringue-like cap. Body is a medium-dark red, slightly hazy; a few carbonation bubbles slowly struggle to the top. Head is a nice tan color, darker than usual. Leaves nice rings of lace as well. Nose is everything I would expect from Great Divide - shittons of hops. Great smelling hops at that - lots of citrusy components, tempered by just the right amount of earthiness. Tastes pretty much like it smells. There's a bit of cherry sweetness at the beginning before the hops make their move, but it's short-lived. Bitter hops are out in force and taking no prisoners. Balance here is more towards the piney/herbacious end, with a bit of grapefruit showing up on the end. Alcohol is noticable but not bothersome. Just the slightest hint of residual sugars in the aftertaste, along with plenty of mouth-puckering hop oil residuals. Mouthfeel is full, smooth, and moderately carbonated. For some reason though I'm just not quite "feeling" this beer - it's good, don't get me wrong - but I'm not dying for more. There weren't any faults in this beer, but something about it just didn't do it for me. The hop profile, flavor-wise, just seemed to be missing a little something (malt complexity, I suppose). Still worth a shot if you're into the BWs.