LCBO Winter Warmers 2007 release

Bobsy · Post by **Bobsy** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 9:03 am

Cass wrote:
pootz wrote: Speaking of Barley wines, has anyone heard of Mill street is making one this year?? I see they pulled their listing from the BO???
Mill Street has a 2007 Barley Wine, it is out right now and selling from the brewpub. It's packaged in a ceramic-style swingtop bottle.

Hi Cass. Any idea of the bottle size and price?

Bobsy · Post by **Bobsy** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 9:07 am

PRMason wrote:Thomas Hardy is an excellent example of how good the LCBO prices sometimes are. This beer retails for 3.28 British Pounds for a 250 ml bottle. This works out to $6.72. If the LCBO is going to sell it for $4.00, its a real bargoon.

I was on the phone to my dad in England, and he was shocked that we could get it at such a cheap price, so I'm picking up a few bottles to pass on to him. Apparently he's been getting a few bottles every year he sees it, and his oldest batch is a 1976!

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 11:18 am

Bobsy wrote:
Cass wrote:
pootz wrote: Speaking of Barley wines, has anyone heard of Mill street is making one this year?
Mill Street has a 2007 Barley Wine, it is out right now and selling from the brewpub. It's packaged in a ceramic-style swingtop bottle.
Hi Cass. Any idea of the bottle size and price?

Sandy at the Mill Street Brewpub Store (in the Corktown area Distillery District) tells me it is a full 500 ml this time, and costs $9.95.

Decent value - pricing reflects greater volume, and no doubt a fairly expensive container. For long-term aging ceramic is great. Go MS.

A · Post by A » Mon Nov 19, 2007 11:52 am

Belgian wrote:
Bobsy wrote:
Cass wrote: Mill Street has a 2007 Barley Wine, it is out right now and selling from the brewpub. It's packaged in a ceramic-style swingtop bottle.
Hi Cass. Any idea of the bottle size and price?
Sandy at the Mill Street Brewpub Store (in the Corktown area Distillery District) tells me it is a full 500 ml this time, and costs $9.95.

Decent value - pricing reflects greater volume, and no doubt a fairly expensive container. For long-term aging ceramic is great. Go MS.

Well, to be fair, it used to be in a standard size stubby for $5. Now its twice the price and less than twice the volume, so its a pretty substantial increase.

But kudos to Mill St for actually making a barleywine!

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 2:10 pm

I liked their Barley wine,,,just finished my last bottle of the first release this fall....did they say what volumes this was made in...is it vintage dated and have serial numbers?

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 3:17 pm

A wrote:
Belgian wrote:
Decent value - pricing reflects greater volume, and no doubt a fairly expensive container. For long-term aging ceramic is great. Go MS.
Well, to be fair, it used to be in a standard size stubby for $5. Now its twice the price and less than twice the volume, so its a pretty substantial increase.

It also used to be in a gift tube for 8.95-9.95, and had coasters and a paper-wrapped tumbler glass. I prefer the lightproof ceramic bottle to all those bulky items.

Essentially I think it's gotta be hard for anyone to sell the general public a very expensive beer without fancy packaging - witness the St. Ambroise and Fullers and Innis & Gunn Limited - all are highly packaged to overcome sales resistance. A regular little 4.99 bottle of Barley Wine actually might have zero Gift Appeal and not sell as well so I think the half-liter size and ceramic bottle are a smart idea all round. They may also be hand-filled. no? I don't care if the ceramic and the extra labour do cost me 2-3 bucks over a standard bottle, it's not a standard product IMO.

grub · Post by **grub** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 3:24 pm

Belgian wrote:For long-term aging ceramic is great. Go MS.

i don't entirely agree with that. ceramic itself is good for keeping out light and such, but if it's actually a swingtop then it isn't good for long-term aging since the rubber seals tend to dry out and crack. not a huge problem over the span of a couple years, but that's not what i'd call "long-term".

now if they've done what rogue and some others do and they've got an actual cap on top of the ceramic and the swingtop is just decorative, it's win-win.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 4:28 pm

What if the neck were dipped in wax? That protects the seal no?

grub · Post by **grub** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 4:35 pm

Belgian wrote:What if the neck were dipped in wax? That protects the seal no?

maybe if the wax formed an air-tight seal, but in my experience they usually don't.

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 4:56 pm

The release list in the first post of this thread has been updated based on some info I've received from the LCBO Infoline and the website inventory:

A few of the beers are now marked as 'available' (although in some cases, they're only in one or two stores).

XO Beer has been added to the release.

LCBO #s have been added to a couple more items. Only the John By Imp Stout is still pending confirmation.

Prices on a few upcoming items are now '$TBC'.

Raptor2023 · Post by **Raptor2023** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 5:17 pm

GregClow wrote:The release list in the first post of this thread has been updated based on some info I've received from the LCBO Infoline and the website inventory:

A few of the beers are now marked as 'available' (although in some cases, they're only in one or two stores).

XO Beer has been added to the release.

LCBO #s have been added to a couple more items. Only the John By Imp Stout is still pending confirmation.

Prices on a few upcoming items are now '$TBC'.

Oh man, don't tell me that they're thinking of changing the price of the Thomas Hardy's. It's now TBC? Please tell me it'll stay at $4.

irishkyle21 · Post by **irishkyle21** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 5:25 pm

I just found this on the L.C.B.O website anybody have any idea if we will actually see it?

WESTMALLE TRIPEL*
Belgium | B Export
LCBO 676577 | 330 mL | $ 3.10

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 5:50 pm

irishkyle21 wrote:I just found this on the L.C.B.O website anybody have any idea if we will actually see it?

WESTMALLE TRIPEL*
Belgium | B Export
LCBO 676577 | 330 mL | $ 3.10

Still there from last year no doubt...how did Westie get past the beer censor? Was the font on the Label the right size?

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 5:52 pm

grub wrote:
Belgian wrote:What if the neck were dipped in wax? That protects the seal no?
maybe if the wax formed an air-tight seal, but in my experience they usually don't.

Had trouble with swing tops leaking before...if you have a small pot melt some bostik in it and multi dip the top...it will seal well.

Roland + Russell · Post by **Roland + Russell** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 6:28 pm

Raptor2023 wrote:
GregClow wrote:The release list in the first post of this thread has been updated based on some info I've received from the LCBO Infoline and the website inventory:

A few of the beers are now marked as 'available' (although in some cases, they're only in one or two stores).

XO Beer has been added to the release.

LCBO #s have been added to a couple more items. Only the John By Imp Stout is still pending confirmation.

Prices on a few upcoming items are now '$TBC'.
Oh man, don't tell me that they're thinking of changing the price of the

Thomas Hardy's. It's now TBC? Please tell me it'll stay at $4.

It seems that the price correction was inevitable considering currency and transportation fluctuations which occurred since the application for THA was submitted over a year ago. However, the price will be in the mid $4 range. This is still the best deal around for this superb product. We hope this slight increase will not cause too much disappointment.

Regards,