2014 Mill Street Barley Wine

spinrsx · Post by **spinrsx** » Mon Dec 22, 2014 9:25 am

Old news, but it was never really discussed here:

also worth noting, there still shows a ton of inventory on the lcbo web page. So the lcbo is not really doing anything about this?

mahcinesquad · Post by **mahcinesquad** » Mon Dec 22, 2014 11:21 am

I was in a couple of different LCBOs this weekend and was surprised by all the Mill St Barley Wine still on the shelves. Like you said, I thought this was old news - certainly old enough that there shouldn't be stock on the shelf if they were really concerned about it.

jrenihan · Post by **jrenihan** » Mon Dec 22, 2014 5:01 pm

I haven't tried this in a couple of years, but if this year is "not up to standard", I shudder to think how it tastes.
Ren

boney · Post by **boney** » Mon Dec 22, 2014 7:30 pm

So, fresh, the Mill St. Barley Wine is almost undrinkable. Hot and saccharine. However, I've found that aging it forever does wonders. Last week I cracked a 2007 (which, my old notes tell me, was gross fresh) which aged very, very nicely. Treacle, some raison, a curious but not uncomplimentary nuttiness and a cocoa-like flavour in the finish that wasn't unlike a well aged Thomas Hardy's. The Bourbon versions are too recent to tell what they'll turn out to be, but they might be worth waiting on.

El Pinguino · Post by **El Pinguino** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 2:17 pm

I haven't bought one of these in probably 3-4 years.
It does make me curious about what they think was wrong with the beer and what they'll change next year....

ErkLR · Post by **ErkLR** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 9:33 pm

Hah, I had similar thoughts to jrenihan; it's usually a hot mess, so how awful must it be for them to want to pull it? There's still a lot around London, I'm kinda curious. The last one I bought was 2012, and it's still in the cellar.

midlife crisis · Post by **midlife crisis** » Wed Dec 24, 2014 5:31 pm

boney wrote:So, fresh, the Mill St. Barley Wine is almost undrinkable. Hot and saccharine. However, I've found that aging it forever does wonders. Last week I cracked a 2007 (which, my old notes tell me, was gross fresh) which aged very, very nicely. Treacle, some raison, a curious but not uncomplimentary nuttiness and a cocoa-like flavour in the finish that wasn't unlike a well aged Thomas Hardy's. The Bourbon versions are too recent to tell what they'll turn out to be, but they might be worth waiting on.

I still have (for some reason) a 2004 and a 2005. No 2007s though. I guess they're ready to drink!