Mill Street Barley Wine

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

From 34.1 cL bottle (no. 6612). Pours slight hazy orange with a little head. Aroma is malty with a wineous alcohol note, which takes some dried fruit with it. Flavour is cane sugar, malty, roasted, and clearly alcohol warming into a dry finish.

2005. Bouteille. De couleur ambrée cuivrée et voilée. Nez malté (caramel toffee sucré aux notes terreuses et rôties, léger de sucre brun, notes de butterscotch, de chocolat et de miel), fruité (raisins aux notes vineuses, notes de prunes, de pommes et d’agrumes), léger d’alcool doux, de houblon herbeux et de vanille ainsi que des notes de noix. Moyenne-ronde en bouche avec un pétillement bas et une texture liquoreuse, légèrement sirupeuse et crémeuse. Goût fruité (moyen de raisins aux notes vineuses, léger de prunes, notes de pommes, de cerises, de figues et d’agrumes) avec un léger goût de vanille lors de l’entrée en bouche auquel se rajoute un goût sucré de malt du genre caramel toffee moyennement rôti et légèrement terreux avec un léger goût de butterscotch, de biscuits et de chocolat (notes de sucre brun) parallèlement à un moyen goût d’alcool liquoreux et réchauffant puis en finale, l’on retrouve une moyenne amertume de houblon herbeux (notes terreuses) aidé par l’alcool ainsi que des notes de noix. Post-goût long, moyennement amer d’alcool de houblon herbeux et légèrement terreux et de rôti avec un goût fruité (moût de raisins et de prunes, faibles notes de pelures de pommes et de zest d’agrumes) et des traces de noix.

2005 Edition - Bottle #6352. Pours a nice dark copper cloudy body with some ruby glints. Its thin beige bubbly head vanishes within a minute. Wonderful and very well balanced malty/hoppy aroma that carries fruity (plum, dark cherries, grapefruit), brown sugar and yeasty notes. Alcohol is well hidden. Its sharp taste is dominated by hoppiness. Texture is soft, almost oily. It ends with a long and warming bitter finish. Very good stuff!

2005 edition, bottle no. 6820 in gift pack from LCBO. Served at cellar temp. in a tulip glass.

App.: Clear, light copper with a small, tan head. Aroma: candy sugar, brown sugar and molasses, crème caramel, maybe butterscotch (diacetyl??), background of “American” hops, some rye bread crust. Overall: like butterscotch ripple ice cream. Palate: Kinda thick and syrupy, very soft carbonation. Flav.: Sweet, a little green hops, rye bread, caramelized, almost burnt sugar. On swallowing, alcohol, a little molasses and a bit of the diacetyl defect.

Too much alcohol, a little lean on malt and definitely lacking hops.
3.3/5.0 (8,3,6,4,12)

500 mL bottle (schnazzy jug-like thing with pop top), from the LCBO, served at cellar temperature in a tulip glass. 2007 ed.

App.: Medium amber, clear, moderate off-white head. Aroma: Lots of big, crunchy sweet malts, caramel and toffee, some butterscotch again, burnt sugar and molasses, light, ambiguous fruits, not picking up much hops; vague nuttiness and a bit of alcohol. Palate: Fairly thick and syrupy, almost no carbonation. Flav.: Plenty of maltiness, with caramel and toffee, burnt sugar and a touch of butterscotch; some bread crust, a little fruit; sweet but not cloying, certainly more hop bite than the 2005 and a little alcohol.

Better than the 2005 version, but still not as dressed up as the bottle would suggest.

Golden/amber in colour. Weak head. Not very typical for a barley wine. Sweet scent, apple, honey, nutmeg, very complex. Tastes weaker than it smells. Nice though. That being said, I much prefer the darker barley wines.

[088-20061104] Tap @ Mill St. (Toronto, ON) -- called 2004 on menu, but could have been the sweeter 2005. Sweet orange aroma. Cloudy, light orange-grey body with a long-lasting creamy white head. Sweet alcoholic grape juice flavour with boozy floral and light black currant notes. Medium-full body, alcohol kicks in later. Comes together nicely. (6/4/6/4/13) 3.3

[1034B-20080108] 500mL (c/o DuctTape, w/ him, jerc, others; Vintage 2007, Batch No. 07-557-560). A dead-ringer for fresh hot cross bun yeast but needed help identifying it. Clear, orange brown body with a quick foamy white head. Yeasty fresh bread bun flavour with an apple finish. Medium body. Quite nice, different from before. (8/3/7/3/14) 3.5

355ml bottle, 2005 edition, #3214 - pours cloudy amber/red, with a small off-white head that dissipated fairly quickly. Aroma is lots of fruity, sweet malt, caramel and toffee. Lightly alcoholic, but subdued, and blends in with the flavours rather than like an unwanted element that can’t help but cut through. Flavour is very nice, with lots of the aforementioned character in the aroma, but with additional notes of vanilla, and some citrus. Alcohol warms the mouth and throat, but is very well hidden considering the rather high ABV. This is a fairly sweet brew, with a lot of fruity/toffee-like flavours, but there is also a warm, roasty, nutty quality to it that balances everything out. Very little hop presence here, but in this case I’m okay with that. Mouthfeel is smooth and creamy. Excellent sipper. Age has served this very well, I must assume.

next to no head, tiny bit of carbonation, aroma of sweet malt and caramel. flavour of caramel, and malt, with a nice bitterness in the finish, really nice stuff.