Mill Street Barley Wine 2010

[cratez]

This year's batch is now on the shelves in London, Guelph, Toronto, and Oshawa. Not the greatest example of the style, but still a nice warming ale for the winter months, and something you can cellar for a while. I always like to grab this as soon as it's released and then compare my notes to a bottle with at least a year on it.

[markaberrant]

crappy and overpriced. that about sums it up.

Only topnotch barleywine in Canada is Half Pints Burleywine. FACT.

[SteelbackGuy]

crappy and overpriced. that about sums it up.

Only topnotch barleywine in Canada is Half Pints Burleywine. FACT.

Where are the stats to back up this FACT?
Burleywine is a great beer, but please don't pass off this fact as a condescending opinion. Not all of us live in the blessed west. Where the earth's center is. GIve us barleywine ignorant folks a chance.

[GregClow]

Only topnotch barleywine in Canada is Half Pints Burleywine. FACT.

*cough*bullshit*cough*

Alley Kat Olde Deuteronomy
Dieu du Ciel Solstice d’Hiver
Fat Cat Old Bad Cat Barley Wine
St. Ambroise Vintage Ale
Wild Rose Barley Wine

All good to excellent.

[markaberrant]

Where are the stats to back up this FACT?
Burleywine is a great beer, but please don't pass off this fact as a condescending opinion. Not all of us live in the blessed west. Where the earth's center is. GIve us barleywine ignorant folks a chance.

Ok, there was a bit of snootiness in my post, it was meant to illicit a response. Mission accomplished! My point is that most Canadian barleywines are not very good. Here are the others I can think of off the top of my head:

Wild Rose Barleywine - not bad, getting better, similar to Half Pints, but not quite there yet
Alley Kat Olde Deuteronomy - I have never liked any vintage, aged or fresh (I even recently sampled a 2000 vintage), just a hot mess, and even when allowed to age still isn't worth the wait
Mill St Barleywine - see Alley Kat
Dieu du Ciel Solstic D'Hiver - I have tried it twice, both times it was undrinkable, just a hot burning mess of alcohol
St Ambroise Vintage - not bad, but like a weak sister to Fullers Vintage in just about every aspect

That's about it. If there are worthy challengers to HP Burly Wine, I'd like to hear of them.

[markaberrant]

*cough*bullshit*cough*
Fat Cat Old Bad Cat Barley Wine

Though I haven't tried the Fat Cat, the reviews are pretty damn good.

There we go, someone suggested a gooder that slipped my mind!

I suppose Central City Thor's Hammer and Driftwood Old Cellar Dwellar might be also be candidates too, but both are pretty scarce.

[cfrancis]

Olde Deuteronomy and Solstice D'Hiver are favourites for me.

[viggo]

Mill Street barleywine does suck pretty hard. Fat Cat is real nice, as is Thor's Hammer. Old Cellar Dweller is great. I'm not a huge fan of Solstice but the barrel aged version is out of this world.

[ritzkiss]

I wouldn't even put Half Pints in my top 3, which surprisingly are all from BC.

1. Old Cellar Dweller
2. Thor's Hammer
3. Fat Kat Barleywine

perhaps Half Pints as #4 though. Thor's Hammer is mega scarce but Old Cellar Dweller gets a Victoria Island, Vancouver distro. Fat Kat is Nanaimo and a few in Victoria only.

The old Mill St Barleywine in the stubby bottles is actually kinda drinking nice now though. New stuff is way overpriced for a no more than mediocre beer.

[notdan]

If all these other beers are that much better than Mill Street's barleywine, then I very much look forward to trying them.

Granted, I haven't tried a ton of barleywines. To date I've also had DDC Solstice d'Hiver, St-Ambroise Vintage, and a Japanese one. To be honest, I found DDC and the Japanese one too fruity, and I found the St-Ambroise one too hot. The Mill Street one actually had a pretty good balance and wasn't overly boozy.

I have a Vermonster and a bunch of Fuller's Vintage sitting in the cellar, so perhaps I should give those a try and see how they compare.

Just sayin' though, I'm one person who enjoyed the Mill Street Barleywine last year. But....yes, it is over-priced.

[Kish84]

I've only tried the Mill St, and the St. Ambroise in terms of Canadian barley wines, and thought both were less than impressive. In fact, they made me hate barley wines. Then I came across Stone Old Guardian, I was a little hesitant at first, but I love Stone, and HOLY SHIT!!! It was great! I didn't think I'd have one better, but a couple weeks ago I had Volo's last bottle of Great Divide Old Ruffian and it was fantastic. Just had this years Mill St and it was almost undrinkable. Luckily I have another Old Ruffian coming to me.

[tuqueboy]

crappy and overpriced. that about sums it up.

Only topnotch barleywine in Canada is Half Pints Burleywine. FACT.

When was the last time you tried the Mill Street? It's been better the last year or two. Not as syrupy; a bit hoppier. Expensive because of that damned goofy ceramic bottle? Yes. Most complex barley wine on the planet? Not a chance. But it's not crappy, either.

[icemachine]

Granite's Gin Lane is at the lighter end of Barleywines (9%) but very drinkable fresh. I've got a bomber left from last winter, looking forward to doing a side by side with a fresh version.

[bufordsbest]

surprised to hear the negative comments towards the mill st. barley wine. i was always under the impression it was one of the better barley wines around.

anyways, look forward to trying some of these beers as i've yet to get into barley wines.

[markaberrant]

When was the last time you tried the Mill Street? It's been better the last year or two. Not as syrupy; a bit hoppier. Expensive because of that damned goofy ceramic bottle? Yes. Most complex barley wine on the planet? Not a chance. But it's not crappy, either.

I didn't buy any 2009, after being disappointed with all previous vintages I have tried.

I still say it is crappy. I don't like drinking below average beer, especially at that price point. It should be outstanding, and it is not like they haven't had a few years to nail down a decent recipe/process.