Remember that old game show, The Price is Right? I’m sure you do; I think it still airs these days after all. On the show, the goal is to guess the actual retail price of a product without going over. If you win, you get to choose a prize hidden behind a curtain or a door. In today’s beer market, you could make an entire episode of guessing the price of nothing but beer, and have a lot of fun doing it.
Is that why Sweetwater named the latest installment in their Dank Tank series The Price is Wrong? It could be. From my point of view, a lot of beers have a price that’s wrong in today’s market (being too high). The trend just continues as beer prices go up and up, but that’s not the case here: like most beers in their Dank Tank series, a 22 ounce bomber of The Price is Wrong was only $5.99. The beer was released in August, 2013.
I will spare you the usual mumbo jumbo Sweetwater prints on the side of the bottle that really does not have a lot to do with the beer. We will forgive them that, though, since they crank out such wonderful stuff. I will say that the Dank Tank series is often hard to peg stylistically. Here’s a little about the series from the label:
Que? Dank Tank? A series of rarely released randomness from the hombres of headiness! These occasional treats from the dark side of our soul emerge from Sweetwater’s xperimental one-hitter….The Dank Tank. Brewed only when the itch gets so bad, we just have to scratch it.
More on the beer from the painted label bottle:
Malts: Maris Otter, Pilsner, 2-Row, and Wheat.
Hops: Nugget, Centennial, and Simcoe
Dry Hop: Simcoe and Amarillo
IBUs: 79
Alcohol by Volume: 9%
Sweetwater Dank Tank the Price is Wrong pours to a bright orange color with a thick creamy head and a luscious soft fruity nose. Taking a sip, the beer has some wonderful thick caramel maltiness at first followed by oodles of fruity hops. I’m getting loads of apples and pears and oranges and passion fruit. As the beer warms, I am getting some grapefruit and pine fruitiness, too. The beer finishes with a lingering bitterness and alcohol warmth.
This is described as a strong Belgian pale Ale, I am not getting much Belgian about it, but I can tell you that I do really like this beer. It’s a lot like a caramel covered fruit basked to me, and a tasty one indeed. In the final analysis, I think it’s a barleywine/double IPA/American strong and not a Belgian pale ale. There’s just too much malt and alcohol. But it’s still delicious, so take that.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft