The Bar Towel

Raptor2023 wrote:It seems according to Roland&Russell that the Thomas Hardy's and the Royal Oak will be available at the LCBO on Dec. 7.

I believe the '07' means '2007'. Given the seemingly random nature of the release and distribution of the seasonal beers, there's no way they could pinpoint an exact day of release.

GregClow wrote:

Raptor2023 wrote:It seems according to Roland&Russell that the Thomas Hardy's and the Royal Oak will be available at the LCBO on Dec. 7.

I believe the '07' means '2007'. Given the seemingly random nature of the release and distribution of the seasonal beers, there's no way they could pinpoint an exact day of release.

Ahaha, that makes much more sense indeed.

Thank Goodness the St. Ambroise Vintage ale has made its way to the store shelves of Grimsby (but not Toronto), where no doubt demand is overflowing

Look like the LCBO will be carrying the Mill Street Barleywine, although it doesn't appear to be in any stores yet.

icemachine wrote:Look like the LCBO will be carrying the Mill Street Barleywine, although it doesn't appear to be in any stores yet.

Interesing, on the LCBO site, it says the Mill St. Barley wine is made by Trillium Beverage Inc.

lagerale wrote:
Interesing, on the LCBO site, it says the Mill St. Barley wine is made by Trillium Beverage Inc.

I believe Trillium Beverage is some kind of holding company or official legal name for Mill Street.

I saw some Mill St. Barley wine on the loading dock at several Toronto area LCBO's last Thursday.

I've never tasted or purchased barleywine before. Is $10 for a 500mL bottle about standard?

Chris

ctalbot wrote:I've never tasted or purchased barleywine before. Is $10 for a 500mL bottle about standard?

i don't know that i'd say it's standard. it's a bigger than average beer so it costs a little more to make and it's in a fancy ceramic bottle that surely costs more than average. i'd be happier if it was more like $6-8, but will likely pick up one or two of these anyway.

ctalbot wrote:I've never tasted or purchased barleywine before. Is $10 for a 500mL bottle about standard?

Chris

Pick up the Exclusive Belgian Ales pack, or head to a bar that serves microbrews (i.e. Volo or Smokeless Joe's), and order yourself a Gulden Draak. Very good barley wine.

ctalbot wrote:I've never tasted or purchased barleywine before. Is $10 for a 500mL bottle about standard?

Chris

Question is if you personally feel it's worth it. Like wine, there can be a wide range of quality and price. So there's no "standard" if a high-value wine may be low-priced or vice-versa.

Lister traded me some HOTD ADAM at the trade value of what he paid, maybe > four bucks a 33cl bottle, and IMO that beer is intrinsically worth a lot more - I'd pay 7 or 8 bucks for one of these. Mill Street BW, well that's your own call not mine and we each have to try it.

When you get into more esoteric, small-run beers there's little else by which to make clear easy comparisons, and I doubt many of you will buy more than one or two of the 2007 MS BW so it's not like you're spending a lot of money in the first place to even help this beer exist. In short - how much money are we worried about penny-pinching, five bucks all year for this rare & interesting product?? Not worth debating over is it.

Raphael wrote:Pick up the Exclusive Belgian Ales pack, or head to a bar that serves microbrews (i.e. Volo or Smokeless Joe's), and order yourself a Gulden Draak. Very good barley wine.

Gulden Draak isn't a barley wine, it's a Belgian strong ale.

Barley wines tend to be based more on the UK ale tradition rather than the Belgian. There may be some similarities, but Belgian strongs tend to have more prominent yeast and spice notes.

Styles aside - I agree that Gulden Draak is a great beer.

Belgian wrote:Lister traded me some HOTD ADAM at the trade value of what he paid, maybe > four bucks a 33cl bottle, and IMO that beer is intrinsically worth a lot more - I'd pay 7 or 8 bucks for one of these.

You interested in some more?

GregClow wrote:

Raphael wrote:Pick up the Exclusive Belgian Ales pack, or head to a bar that serves microbrews (i.e. Volo or Smokeless Joe's), and order yourself a Gulden Draak. Very good barley wine.

Gulden Draak isn't a barley wine, it's a Belgian strong ale.

Barley wines tend to be based more on the UK ale tradition rather than the Belgian. There may be some similarities, but Belgian strongs tend to have more prominent yeast and spice notes.

Styles aside - I agree that Gulden Draak is a great beer.

Beat me to it Greg. I'll add that the brewer actually refers to it as a Dark Tripel.

On the topic of $10 being standard for a Barley Wine, I'd say no, not typically, but it sounds like Mill Street upped the standard packaging and is presenting this more as a gift, which would make $10 standard. That said, the McAuslan Vintage Ale is also a Barley Wine in jazzed up packaging, and is only running $5. A cardboard tube is cheaper to produce than a ceramic bottle though, so even that isn't really a fair comparison.

GregClow wrote:

Raphael wrote:Pick up the Exclusive Belgian Ales pack, or head to a bar that serves microbrews (i.e. Volo or Smokeless Joe's), and order yourself a Gulden Draak. Very good barley wine.

Gulden Draak isn't a barley wine, it's a Belgian strong ale.

Barley wines tend to be based more on the UK ale tradition rather than the Belgian. There may be some similarities, but Belgian strongs tend to have more prominent yeast and spice notes.

Styles aside - I agree that Gulden Draak is a great beer.

That's what I had always thought. Then I ran across several different websites that referred to Gulden Draak as a barleywine. So I'm not sure if it's an error in classification. A simple google search yields many of these results. It tastes just like a Belgian Strong to me.