Mill Street Barley Wine

Brewed by Mill St. Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Toronto, Canada

Sweet toffee and apricots, followed by honey and brown sugar. Orange amber pour, with the slightest hint of head receding into a bubbly, creamy white ring. Toffee and biscuity malts, some light fruits and nothing much mroe going on. More like an English strong ale than a barleywine.

Aroma apparent immediatly on opening. Strong bitter berries, malts, hops, toffey, licorice. Wow so much scent. Unfortunately it smells much better then it tastes. Not at all what I expected. Malty burnt carmael and dark bitter chocolate. Alcohol taste and tingle is very prevalent including a booze like burn in the aftertaste. Cloudy rusty coloured with a thin head.

Toasted cracker, malt, dark caramel, alcohol and vinous fruit on the aroma. Hazy brown pour with a thin white head. Thick, thick, thick. This beer taste more like toffee than any beer I’ve had. It’s like liquid English Toffee. It’s backed up by bitterness and a slight hop flavor. Long, sweet finish. Under rated IMO.

Bottle 2005 # 6949 341 ml. Appearance: Light amber with thin white head. Aroma: malts, caramel, alcohol. Flavor: caramel malts, fruity, floral hop, some alcohol. Thank Harry.

2004 bottle tasted in 2006. Bright orange pour, with only spotty white film. Aroma is suprisingly hoppy with the malt as a backdrop. Body is full and clean with, again, a lot more hops than expected from this beer. Little bit of carmel sweetness, but the hops are still there. This beer has held up remarkably well. It almost tastes fresh.

Vintage 2004 from <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/ViewUser.asp?U target=blank> DougShoemaker, thanks Doug. Bottle #1052. Golden amber in colour, large lasting white head, suspended floaties, lots of lace. The aroma was of bready malts, rye, some caramel but lots of alcohol. The flavour was of caramel malts, some orange zest, brown sugar, candy cherries and alcohol. Bitter mouthfeel, medium body, medium/high carbonation. Finish is quite long, bitter, hot. Bizarre barleywine.

Vintage 2005 from the <a href=http://www.lcbo.com target=blank>LCBO in Peterborough. Bottle #3940. Light amber colour, white lasting fluffy head, lace. The aroma was quite sweet, lots of sugar, some caramel malts and some alcohol. The flavour was not as hot as the 2004, nice amount of caramel sweetness, some chewy hop notes, sugar and dark fruits. Medium body, medium carbonation. Finishes lingering, bitter, some alcohol.

Vintage 2007. Nice 500ml ceramic bottle. Copper in colour, thin white coloured head, some lacing. The aroma is a bit syrupy, lots of maple, caramel malts, quite sweet, very light alcohol. The flavour is of light alcohol, moderate sweetness, maple syrup, lingering caramel. Creamy mouthfeel, medium body, medium carbonation. Finishes lingering, light alcohol, light bitterness. This is better than past vintages. Batch # 07-557-560.

Bottle #6626, 2005 vintage. Coppery body, medium creamy light beige head. Sweet, heavy aroma of caramel, candied fruits, toast, and abundant alcohol notes, plummy with hints of apricot juice. Somewhat raw and harsh. Sweet, fruity body with brown sugar, caramel, toast, plum, and a touch of cherry, bitter, medicinal finish with hot alcohol. Somewhat butterscotchy with soy and honey that seem to come along for the ride with high alcohol-yielding yeasts. Not as extreme as something like Avery Samaels Ale, but still a syrupy sweet malt-and-alcohol medley, and not the most pleasant one. Nevertheless, thank you blankboy for the bottle!

Bottle from DougShoemaker, thanks! Clear chestnut color with a couple of floaties and a smaller tan head. Nicer aroma of caramel molasses and some dates. Flavor is heavy on the malts, some brown sugar and caramel again. Body is pretty lifeless, the alcohol is hidden well but its a bit dull. Decent beer.