Mill Street Barley Wine

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

2007 bottle I purchased 15 months ago and have been saving for this New Years Day. I served it direct from my cold room, about 14 degrees. The pours looks rich, with a deep amber body and rich white head. The aroma is very nice, like an English strong ale, but with more carmel notes. Mouthfeel is thick, rich, and chewey. Flavour of malt and caramel, and a lingering hop finish. No noticable alcohol taste, but after a few sips you could feel its warmth. Went down far to easy for a 10% ABV beer. Very nice indeed.

2005 bottle. Appearance: Pours a clear, still amber body. Smell: Sweet-smelling aroma of toasted caramel and a rich, fruity scent of raisins. Taste: Toasted caramel flavor with a strong, unapologetic sweetness. A touch of what was once a slight hop character. The dark fruits full carry over from the nose. Sure, you can tell the booze is lurking in there, but it’s never a bother. Warming, spicy finish. Mouthfeel: Medium-full body. Zero carbonation. Quite warming! Drinkability: Yum! That Mill St. Barley Wine really was a joy to drink, wasn’t it?

Nice cloudy brown murky poor. No head. Aromas of Plums, oak wood, oats, alcohol and leather. Very creamy feel. I’m a huge fan of the SamiChlaus beer from Castle Eggenberg. This could be it the closest i’ve tasted to that beer... I’d say maybe its baby sister. A little more bitter. You can obviously feel the alcohol. A longlasting aftertaste of dark creamy caramel / toffee.

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.

Rerate for 2005 vintage: Wow, this is way better than the 2004 in my opinion. Pours a clear ruby, slightly bubbly, with an average size off-white head. Aroma of caramel malt, fruit, wood and hops. The flavour, right from the first sip was already better than last year’s -- it follows the aroma with a touch more hops and is delicious. You’d never know this was 11%, it’s quite impressive how well it hides the alcohol. Fantastic, great job Mill Street!!

Old rating: 7 - 3 - 7 - 3 - 14: 3.4 Bottle shared with HogTownHarry at Bar Volo -- Vintage 2004, bottle #645. Pours a murky dark yellow with a spare white head. Mild aroma of sweet malt, dark fruit, wood, hops and alcohol. Flavour follows the aroma and is also quite mild but what it lacks in flavour it makes up with in alcohol, you can really taste it but not in an unpleasant way. Body’s a little thin for a Barley Wine. Not one of the better Barley Wines like AleSmith’s or Victory’s but still good and enjoyable.

Stubby 2005 bottle #6298 (at what point do you stop counting ;), thanks to Harry! Poured a lovely shade of deeer apricot with a creamy, well-retained cap of beige head.. lots of sticky lacing as it descended. The aroma picked up a rich array of aged red and darker fruits, raisins, drawn caramel, and a deeper current of alcohol-warmed spices that complimented the brew well.. sweet overall and it came together very well. The flavor had aged caramel, dark fruits, and raisins again at the sweet core with a mild earthy bitterness (likely muted due to age).. grainier finish with primarily caramel sweetness and some alcohol warmth. Heavier-bodied and on the sweet side on the palate.. lighter carbonation.. this really struck me in the right way. Very good brew!

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.

Very sweet malty aroma. Very rich and bready. Pours golden brown. Tastes like brown sugar and bread. Rich, smooth, sweet, and malty. Very bold great beer.