To quickly recap, this is only my third Mill Street Barley Wine and it is already ruining my beautiful collection of off-white stone bottles. If you are not familiar with this Barley Wine, feel free to quickly devour through my reviews of the 2009 and 2010 batches.
This barley wine has a very nice deep mahogany color and pours with almost no head. It looks quite syrupy, but I am not too surprised. The aroma is very malty with a lot of candied caramel, some bubblegum and tropical fruits and a very light spicy herbal twist.
The taste is sweet at the start, but the wise choice of hops, and their amount, quickly cuts the sweetness and makes way for the enjoyable hoppy bitterness. The sweetness is still somewhat present throughout with its caramel character, but the high alpha acid hops do a good job at taking it down to an enjoyable level unlike last year's syrupy mess. The flavour is rich and complex with a lot of interesting twists including earthy, herbal, and woody notes. Some nutty notes also make appearances here and there.
The finish is a tad more sweeter than it is bitter with a lot of dried fruits and just enough smokiness to create an enjoyable combination of flavours.
Overall, this year's barley wine is better than last year's so go ahead and buy a bottle...or two. Whatever you do, though, remember that this is 11.5% ABV and sweet. It will get you!
Scores:
Cost - $11.95
Taste - 8/10
ABV - 11.5%
Overall - 8/10...better than last year's, but there is still something missing
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