Sweetwater Donkey Punch!

Brewed by Sweetwater Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Atlanta, Georgia USA

They have changed the name to Dank Tank. Evidently Donkey Punch offended someone.....probably someone that has been Donkey Punched! Pours a clear, burnt copper with a small off-white head. Not very impressed with the offering. Very similar in taste and appearance to Mendocino’s Talon. Anyway...caramel in the nose, fresh grapefruit, citrus peels and pine sap. Tends to lean toward a very young barley wine aroma profile or a IIPA. Flavor is bitter up front, and melts into a sweet, brown sugar and malt elixir. Good medium bodied brew. I thought the complexity was lacking and the overall appeal for me was weak from the first sip. Medium bodied elixir....very hoppy and definitely sweet. A good sipper but not overly fascinating. Seemed like an average, run-of-the-mill attempt to me. Nothing jumped out and slapped me in the face. Tasty but there are better.

Tap at Taco Mac. I liked the older version better. This one looked nice, amber pour...nice head. Aroma leans to the hoppy side while there is a fair amount of caramel and syrup in the nose. I prefer my BW’s a bit smoother and a little less hoppy. This one is still ncie though. Hops offer up a nice bite here and the caramel malt keeps it a bit balanced...but not enough for me.

Comes out of the bottle an appetizing clear copper, with a thinnish head that doesn’t stick around. Aroma is strong, fruity and yeasty. Flavor is more like a brandy than a beer, fruity with just an undertone of malt and hints of yeast and caramel. Texture is quite smooth with a strong alcohol nip.
Earlier Rating: 10/16/2007 Total Score: 4.8
It pours a translucent honey-brown with a nice head. Aroma is strong, quite hoppy, with an overtone of pine. Flavor is very hoppy but not overly bitter; there is a strong evergreen element and an undertone of hard apple cider. Thick, smooth, this is a beer for sipping rather than gulping. You have to pay attention to it! Another must for hop nuts.

22 fl oz bottle as Sweetwater Dank Tank #4. Pours hazy orange with a small off white head. Aroma is sweet fruity and light caramelish. Sweet caramelish flavoured with nice fruity hops note coming through. Dry bitter yet persisting fruity sweet impression throughout.

RBSG09 on the bus courtesy of some unnamed kind soul. Pours a deep golden amber with a wet off-white head. Aromas of sugar and caramel, cake icing, big citrus hops. Flavor is grainy with caramel and a lighter hoppiness. Dry finish with an oddly light body.

Sample on the RBSG bus labeled SW DP BW Dank Tank. Nose of floral hops, toffee, and raisins. Clear amber with a small off white head. Flavor is lightly sweet with very light contarsting bitterness, caramel, and toffee.

22oz bomber, latest Dank Tank release, and since BA still lists it as different than the original Donkey Punch, I’ll post my review here. Pours a dark, clear amber with a small soapy beige head that recedes to a ring and swirl quickly and leaves only faint traces of lacing behind. The aroma certainly leans more toward balanced DIPA territory with a big hoppy blast up front, with some sweet citrus hops but mostly deep sappy pine in the nose. There is some caramel malt sweetness in the nose, but much less than I would expect from the style. It’s definitely all about the hops in the aroma. The taste is much, much sweeter than the aroma. It does have the initial floral hop kick up front, especially pine, but after that the sweetness of the caramel malts take over. Not much in the way of toffee or dark fruit or other complexities you might find in some barleywine. Nonetheless, it’s a tasty beer. The mouthfeel is slick and medium bodied, but the alcohol presence does come through more than I was expecting and leaves the palate burning after each sip. I can’t wait to bring an original Donkey Punch out of the cellar to compare to this one. This one reminds me of the fresh Donkey Punch and I imagine time has improved it. Right now, there’s just a lot of big malts and hops and it doesn’t quite come together for me. Still, it’s an extremely good beer that I think will cellar very well.

On tap at The Porter. Golden red/orange with decent white head that left. Not much in the way of an aroma--what was there was mostly citrus hops. Flavor is surprisingly hoppy (floral & citrus), with some caramel and fruit sweetness too--but not as much as expected. Alcohol is fairly well hidden for such a big beer. Pretty slick mouthfeel. Never had a barelywine quite like this (lacking in sweetness)--not quite sure what to make of it.