Mill Street Barley Wine

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 4

473ml can 11.0% ABV
Canned On: August 6, 2019
LCBO Outlet # 007 (Toronto, Ontario, Canada - Eglinton / Mt. Pleasant)
October 4, 2019
$6.95
The beer pours a translucent light rust colour with a thin tan coloured film for a head. The aroma is alcohol, honey, alcohol, yeast, more alcohol, some light grains, and even more alcohol. The switch from 10% to 11% isn’t going well in my opinion. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with below average carbonation. The flavour is all alcohol, with some hints of dark fruit sweetness. This takes me back to the first couple of barleywines I had, since then they’ve only gotten better but this will scare me off the style for a while.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

Batch no.13-331-4. Pours a small amount of foamy head and has a hazy amber appearance. Aromas of yeast, barley malts, fairly strong spices and alcohol is noticeable. Flavours of citrus and earthy hops, mangoes, barley and bready malts. Some hints of cinnamon in the finish. Mild warming sensation, slick and astringent mouthfeel. Goes down pretty easily for a barley wine. Not as strong or bitter as expected, which is a good thing.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

2010 vintage. Batch No10-16-20. 500 mL bottle opened with a pop but didn’t fill my glass. Only got about 350 mL out of it. Seal was still intact. Good thing I didn’t let it mature another couple of years or there would be none left. After all that I did not enjoy the beer. Fruity, sweet and sticky.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 9

2010 edition. Im mostly happy about the beer. Is it amazing barley wine no... but I would say it is a perfect example of what the style means to me. Compared against Brooklyns Monster Ale (2008 bottle), that beer is bright and orange, this one is pruny, craisin, dark winter fruits. Some pumpkin for sure. There is a great yeast characteristic that Im completely digging: makes me think of a spanish bakery, with bits of cinnamon and dried chili thrown about. I love the balance of the alcohol, how it warms and really takes the flavours up a notch (though this might be from years of scotch drinking). Some really really ripe oranges, lots of carmel apple, salt water taffee, mackintosh toffee, butterscotch pudding. Some characteristics of a lowland scotch, some light dry peat. Numbers are probably high for my love of this kind of barleywine but this one is a real standard.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

This beer had a dark amber appearance with little head. The aroma is oranges, caramel, and alcohol. The flavor was rather sweet with some brown sugar, caramel, and light citrus notes. The alcohol was detectable but not overwhelming. Overall a pretty good barleywine.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 7

2007 edition flip top bottle. Honey brown combined with burnt orange coloured body, an off white cap with great retention floats on top. Very sweet aroma slight wood, a hint piney hops, the aroma finishes with a slightly bitter smoke. Full flavoured with out being over the top, wood, toffee, pine like hopes are the most prominent flavours. As I drink walls of lacing have been left behind. After taste is clean and slightly sweet the mouth feel is nothing special. The flavour is big and malty in the true English style and it’s very drinkable but it not the bset I’ve ever had.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

I've had the opportunity to try the 2003,2004, and 2005 variations of this beer, although if truth be told, the variation between the vintages was less than I've encountered among bottles of Budweiser in the same case. The beer pours a reddish brown with a tan head. The aroma has malt up front, but a few more whiffs and you notice the extra spicy sweetness. The flavour is malty with less of spiciness found in the aroma.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

Another disappointing Mill St. brew product but at the price this may be worth rotting under my stairs for a couple of years...
Poured out a nicely coloured clear syrupy dark gold going amber, no head or lacing, but I didn't really expect any. The aroma was fairly weak even over the hour it took me to drink this. Now that is not to say that this beer lacks complexity: weak mild dark fruit, alcohol, almonds (more of an Amaretto), faint chocolate ?, light caramel, honey.The taste is thick with a seemingly spicy and alcoholic flavour and a healthy dose of caramel (not overly sweet). Needs a more distinguishable complex flavour. The mouthfeel was quite thick with a large alcohol bite and the usual strong bitter and malty mix for aftertaste. I'll re-rate this in a couple of years, same batch.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

Brand new recipe in the 2007 release. Impressive 500ml ceramic swing top bottle....numbered...this sample came from "batch" #7-557 of 560 Dark golden, small white sticky cap goes to a surface lace and laces up the glass sides ( rare for a Barley wine this strong) Aromas of ripe succulent fruit, musty-honey and some wet hay..a bit of fusel alcohol. The cara-pils malt in this is so decocted it imparts a tart honey-like sweetness just verging on cloying when mingled with the considerable hops used...the yeast used leaves significant fruity esters ( which I wonder will survive longer aging) but the hop mixture is significant and sits just below the honey-malt sweetness leaving me to hope the sweetness dissipates with age and the hops come up For its young age this is quite drinkable now but I suspect a year or so in the cellar will do the best for this ale rather than longer aging.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

As part of my beer initiation, I tried the Mill Street family of beers in the last couple of months, and I was not disappointed in this one. I was able to secure a 2005 bottle from a friend. I did not pay attention to the number. The beer poured a hazy amber colour with a decent head that lasted a few miutes. The aroma was rather complex with coffee and caramel tones. The beer was smooth and the flavour had a little bitterness, just enough to be satisfying. Not sure I'll get to try another of these, but I would love to.