Sweetwater Donkey Punch!

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

This barley wine pours a medium orange gold color from a 1 liter bottle. Medium sized white foamy head. Aroma is caramel, fruity and sweet. A medium to lighter bodied barleywine. The malts are fruity and very sweet. The hops are earthy. Nice balance. Good carbonation. Kind of sweet and malty, with a bunch of hops. Its kind of the in that 2xIPA and Barley wine mix, its not really either one. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and crisp. Aftertaste is sweet.

NorCal December ’07 - This is one HUGE freakin’ bottle. I mean, for a standard size, it’s huge. That was really the only thing that was big about this whole beer though. A very floral hop nose, with a good dose of juicy fruity instead of bitter citrusy hops, and a nice caramel malt base. Color was medium amber/orange in color with a minimal foamy cap. Mouthfeel was full and round. Flavor had many qualities of an old DIPA, sweet, hoppy but dulled to the point where it almost hides behind the malt. A nice beer, and I have another bottle of it and hopefully it will get a higher score. I do enjoy Sweetwater beers.

This one did not stand out for me. Some nice hops and sweet flavor but also a lot of alcohol. Aroma pretty pungent of molasses and banana and some citrus. Taste had more hops than I expected but not much to round it out.

YEHA. orange in color. Aroma is sticky malts and hops, alot of citrus- orange, mango, pineapple, grapefruit. Taste: very full bodied, a big caramel malt backbone with alot of citrus hops- pineapple mango. Bitterness is moderate- all the malt seems to eat some of that up. I still enjoyed this alot, with all of the bright citrus hop character.

Madness@the Moose YEHA. 1 liter bottle provided by goldtwins. Aroma is sticky from both the malts and hops and lots of caramel. Taste is a bit watery with what has come to be a generic hoppy barleywine nowadays.

In the flip cap bomber from Logan’s Pre-GABF party. Did kp bring this? Orange with a moderately invulnerable head. Tootsie roll orange fun factory aroma. Has a "I just chewed up an orange peel" flavor. The alcohol seems nonexistent as it is so lethal it goes first-pass directly into the hepatic portal vein. Yeah, this is good hooch.

Bottle courtesy of shp555 - thanks! Nice reddish color with a small head. Aroma is a pleasant citrus/floral/ripe fruit mix with some sugary, caramel malt detectable. Flavor is built on hops - lots of citrus and some pine. Fruit flavors are all over this one with a pleasant malt backing. Mouthfeel is tingly-sweet and the alcohol is barely noticeable for a BW this young. I’ve been hatin on the hoppy barleywines lately, as many are just a hoppy-sweet mess - this one does the trick!

Bottle. Very nice peach, apple and strong malt aroma - only a hint of alcohol. Cloudy reddish amber color with nice big head. Slightly sweet peach/apple and malt flavor up front with a citrusy hops finish. Alcohol well hidden. Excellent.