Sweetwater Donkey Punch!

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

Nov. 2007 - Beautiful brown color with really impressive head, especially for abv and beautiful lacing, really nice. Aroma of caramel malt. Flavor was predominantly caramel malt with a faint teabag flavor to go with heavy floral and piney hops and also mild citrus. Near perfect balance of sweet and bitter. Big thanks to eaglefan538 for sharing.

Large bottle. Pours amber with thin off white head. Aroma of malt, hops, and caramel. Taste is chewy malts and caramel. Medium mouthfeel. Older bottle so I assume the hops have died down a little. Decent but not great. Still nice to see this brewery finally trying something different.

Courtesy obsceneone. Orange-amber color with a thin sparse head. Apricot aroma with a defined hop kick. The sweetness really comes out against the hops. Sweet taste, hops compliment the malts as opposed to competing with them. Nice finish. Sweet but not cloying.

Pours a lightly hazy amber hued color. Head is medium statured, offwhite with decent retention and some stringy lace left behind. Nose is attractive, nicely citrusy and piney, a touch resiny with some caramelly notes. Body is medium with a gentle carbonation. Fairly sweet malty flavors, some caramel, lightly toasty with a light hop backing of citrus and pine, a touch earthy with some light alc. notes. Finish is a tad sweet and lightly fruity, lightly bitter. I think i popped this one a bit too soon? Props to the great captaincougar for the 1ltr. bottle, thanks Tom!

Big thanks to none other than the obsceneone. No better way to enjoy a tasty barleywine than by the liter swing top. Pours mildly hazy orange to copper with white head. The aroma is big with a load of pine hops mixed with sticky chewy sweet malts, mildly roasted malts and some caramel. This beers smells like a IIPA rather than a barleywine. The taste is either a IIPA or an American barleywine with a west coast hop slant. Yummy. I get a heaping helping of pine hop bitterness followed by sweet sticky malty sweetness. There is just a ton of pine hop bitterness that goes on and on and on. I don’t get any dark fruity esters that I associate with the style.

Courtesy of obsceneone. Thank you, sir.

Finally got a chance to try this one, I have been wanting to since it’s release....dark amber pour, light tan head....1 finger thick with some legs and lacing....nose is not a BW, this smells like a Double IPA, a huge amount of piney/grassy hops, citrus and caramel malts....none of the dark fruity esters and malts I’ve come to know and love from most BW’s.....I guess this is a very American interpretation....flavor profile is all IIPA as well, no fruitiness in there either but its damn tasty, and I don’t rate to style, so I’m not going to knock it any....caramel malts build throughout the finish....slightly sticky on the tongue, makes it feel more substantial than it is....great stuff from a solid if not spectacular brewery....

Clear amber body with a medium-sized white, creamy tan head. The nose is relatively light with toffee, green grapes and light pine. The flavor is moderately sweet, moderately bitter with caramel, resinous pine, grapefruit, tangerine and fruit punch. Full body is sticky with moderate carbonation.

Large bottle, courtesy of kieferuga via alexanderj. Dark orange slightly muddy pour. Light pine aroma with some caramel malt also. Nice malt flavor, sweet, citrus hops, and a slightly bitter finish. Pretty good overall.