Mill Street News

Kel Varnsen · Post by **Kel Varnsen** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 11:01 am

rejtable wrote:I would assume that Diageo has economies of scale that a brewer of many, many magnitudes smaller can't match.

I wonder how it works with Mill Street using the can? I swear I read or saw somewhere on TV that Diageo owns the patent on the nitrogen can widget. So I wonder if they just sell the cans to anyone or if Mill Street has to pay some kind of licensing fee.

velovampire · Post by **velovampire** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 1:50 pm

Kel Varnsen wrote:
rejtable wrote:I would assume that Diageo has economies of scale that a brewer of many, many magnitudes smaller can't match.
I wonder how it works with Mill Street using the can? I swear I read or saw somewhere on TV that Diageo owns the patent on the nitrogen can widget. So I wonder if they just sell the cans to anyone or if Mill Street has to pay some kind of licensing fee.

As far as I can tell, the widget in this can is different than the one in Guinness cans (though I haven't had a Guinness in years, so maybe that's changed). I recall the Guinness widget to be a free floating plastic ball kind if thing, but from what I can tell looking into the mouth of the empty Mill St. can is that there is some kind of device at the bottom inside of the can that is flat and disc shaped. I could very well be wrong, but perhaps there are different kinds of widgets and Guinness owns the patent to one? Total conjecture here, no real facts to back this up, but maybe that's something?

ErkLR · Post by **ErkLR** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 8:46 pm

I just rummaged through some cans I have around. Guinness, Kilkenny, Murphy's and Boddington's all use a free-floating widget. Tetley's uses the disc thing that is stuck to the bottom. Though, that doesn't tell you who owns what patent, Diageo may own both. All those cans are made by Ball, if that helps (they all have the logo).

Frere Ambroise · Post by **Frere Ambroise** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 10:00 pm

Just picked this up at Summerhill tonight. Nice pour with the cascading effect. Very smooth. Just peeked in the can - plastic disk at the bottom - but I am pretty sure they "induce" / charge the beer by adding the nitro into it. Tastes great!

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 10:09 pm

I spoke with Steve from Mill Street about this at Cask Days today, and he confirmed that the cans are imported from the UK, and use the same disc-style widget as Caffrey's.

He also said that their Holiday Mixed Pack will be out next week, and will include Doppel Pils and Paradise IPA as one-offs alongside Cobblestone, Tankhouse, Organic Lager and Stock Ale.

The Spring pack will be going back to the 3-and-3 format of the Oktoberfest/Pumpkin pack - he mentioned a couple of beers they're thinking of including, but it sounded like it's not 100% confirmed, so I'll hold off on mentioning them just in case.

heebes · Post by **heebes** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 8:48 pm

Had a few cans tonight. Decent alternative but I think I still prefer Guiness.

toweringpine · Post by **toweringpine** » Sun Nov 04, 2012 6:24 pm

Just tried my first can. delicious flavour but I just don't care for the widget. There is a nice head but the beer is flat. Also, I opened the can at the dinner table and it gushed foam all over. Luckily I got it over my still empty plate right away and it didn't make too much mess.

If it had foamed all over a plate full of roast chicken even the yumminess of the beer wouldn't keep me for posting something nasty!

I've never had a widget can do this before. Anyone else experience this ( with Cobblestone or anything else ) ?

midlife crisis · Post by **midlife crisis** » Sun Nov 04, 2012 9:20 pm

Oh yeah, certainly. Very likely to happen if they are not cold enough, for instance. In the case of Cobblestone, there seems to be something else going on though. Mine foamed excessively too, even though well chilled.

ErkLR · Post by **ErkLR** » Mon Nov 05, 2012 7:01 pm

I've often had rotten luck with widget cans from many brewers foaming over. If they've become even slightly shaken by travel in the last few hours, it's always a gusher.

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Mon Nov 05, 2012 10:16 pm

The wife had a Cobblestone tonight, and it didn't gush at all. Let out a pretty strong "fssssss" when opened, but didn't foam up, and poured very nicely.

Might be that it was pretty cold - I stuck it in the freezer to chill, and left it in a bit longer than planned. Maybe it just needs to be nice and cold to pour well.

Tapsucker · Post by **Tapsucker** » Mon Nov 05, 2012 10:23 pm

toweringpine wrote:Just tried my first can. delicious flavour but I just don't care for the widget. There is a nice head but the beer is flat. Also, I opened the can at the dinner table and it gushed foam all over. Luckily I got it over my still empty plate right away and it didn't make too much mess.

If it had foamed all over a plate full of roast chicken even the yumminess of the beer wouldn't keep me for posting something nasty!

I've never had a widget can do this before. Anyone else experience this ( with Cobblestone or anything else ) ?

Perhaps you were so excited to try it that your hand was shaking a little with the can in it.

Kel Varnsen · Post by **Kel Varnsen** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 8:31 am

GregClow wrote:Might be that it was pretty cold - I stuck it in the freezer to chill, and left it in a bit longer than planned. Maybe it just needs to be nice and cold to pour well.

If you watch the video that Mill Street posted on Facebook about Cobblestone Stout cans they say it should be served cold, or at least opened straight out of the fridge.

IPA_Lover · Post by **IPA_Lover** » Sat Dec 01, 2012 9:58 pm

I've had 3 cans of Cobblestone now and each and every one has overflowed after the nitro release. This happened even with cans that were in a cold fridge for hours. It's enough to make me give up buying it.

Didn't the guys at Mill St. test these out beforehand? I'm sure they were aware of the issue as I'm not the only one who's had this problem.

Sure as hell glad I didn't buy one of the 12 can packs.

spinrsx · Post by **spinrsx** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 11:02 am

I've only had 1 can, but it gushed all over the place too

mintjellie · Post by **mintjellie** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 5:11 pm

Even Guinness, Tetleys, and Boddingtons have gushed for me in the past. It just seems more frequent with the Cobblestone.

Not a dealbreaker though - I just open it over the sink.