New Mill Street Brewpub Heading To Ottawa

Given the job I have, I tend to come across rumours about the brewing industry on a fairly frequent basis.

The Mill Street Brewpub expansion(s) plans is one such rumour that has been out there for quite some time now and today the CBC broke the story about Mill Street heading to Ottawa to start a new brewpub operation there.

Turns out Mill Street signed a 10 year lease at a 165 year old stone structure that last housed the Mill Restaurant and is situated the Portage Bridge and Lebreton Flats.

Steve Abrams, the last remaining founder still with Mill Street, told CBC that the Toronto brewery hopes to have the brewpub open by the fall, which he confirmed with me over the phone this afternoon.

"The location is pretty cool as it's in an area that once had a lot of brewing activity," said Abrams. "We get the keys to the building soon and we've got a lot of interior renovations to do to be up and running by the fall, including working on the flooring to get our brewing equipment in place."

Great news for residents in the nation's capital!

Click here to read the story on the CBC website.

Mill Street Video Blog With Brewmaster, Joel Manning

If you don't follow Toronto's Mill Street Brewery on Facebook or Twitter, you may have missed the message they posted announcing that their first video blog featuring their Brewmaster, Joel Manning, is set to roll.

In the video, which is embedded here below with permission from Mill Street, Manning discusses Mill Street's Barley Wine, a popular winter seasonal here in Ontario.

Mill Street's Steve Abrams stated that the brewery will be airing a number of video's in the near future featuring Manning who will talk about the various beers he produces with his team.

Mill Street Robbie Burns Brew Masters Dinner

Toronto's Mill Street Brewery will be hosting another Brew Master's Dinner at their brew pub down in the Distillery District on Tuesday January 25th at 6:30pm - a traditional Robbie Burns Supper.

The dinner will feature Mill Street's Brew Master, Joel Manning, who will speak about each course, which includes five courses and six beers (Royal York Honey Beer, ESB, IPA (cask), Black Watch Scotch Ale (cask), Coffee Porter, Orange-Chocolate Stout (cask)).

Tickets for the dinner cost $59.99 per person, plus tax and tip.

Friday Night Cask Night at Mill Street Brewpub

Just a reminder that tonight marks the first of many Friday Night Cask Nights down at Toronto's Mill Street Brewpub in the Distillery District. Joel Manning, Mill Street's Brewmaster, has created an extra dry-hopped version of his Scotch Ale and he'll be on hand for the 5pm tapping of the cask. Each Friday evening Mill Street plans tap a new one-off cask to be served via gravity from the bar.

Tonight will also see Mill Street release their Chocolate Imperial Stout on tap for the first time.

Friday Night Cask Night at Mill Street: UPDATE

Last Friday I mentioned that the Mill Street brewery has plans to start a weekly Friday Night Cask Night down at their brewpub in Toronto's Distillery District, creating special one-off casks available for the one night only.

The first such night was to take place this Friday (5th), but last night I received an email that the first tapping will actually have to be pushed back one week to next Friday, the 12th. It turns out the brewpub had a previously scheduled private event that has the entire restaurant closed to the public.

So, the first Friday Night Cask Night at Mill Street brewpub, featuring a extra dry-hopped version of their Scotch Ale, will now take place on Friday February 12th. Tapping at 5pm. Once it's gone, it's gone.

Friday Night Cask Night at Mill Street - Starting Feb. 5th

*Please note this starts next Friday*

So I was in attendance at last night's Mill Street Brewmaster's Robbie Burns Dinner down in the Distillery District, and Joel Manning, Mill Street's Brewmaster, let me know that starting next Friday (Feb. 5th) Mill Street will introduce a new weekly initiative down at the brewpub.

"Every Friday we will showcase a brand new beer on cask, something that we've played around with, had fun with," Manning said. "Each beer will be different. Dry hopping here, extra malt there, different ingredients, unique ingredients - we will have fun with this and the beer will be great."

The first cask conditioned offering will be an extra dry hopped Scotch Ale, something that Manning is already excited about. "We will have the beer served via gravity, on the bar, and once the beer is gone - it's gone. I can't wait to start whipping up these beers," he said.

Manning informed the 70+ people in attendance of the new Friday Night Cask Night (I don't know if that is going to be the actual name, I just made it up) plan and stated that there will be cask versions of Tankhouse, Coffee Porter, and many others, including special one-offs (I'm hoping to see a dry hopped Betelgeuse). Manning also mentioned that somes casks will be brewed using whole hops as he just received some English and American varieties.

No word on what time the cask will be tapped, but like I mentioned, the first one will be on Feb. 5th.

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In other Mill Street news, Manning let me have a taste of the new Imperial Chocolate Stout straight from the tank that he's currently working on and he hopes to release it for Valentine's Day. The beer is projected to hit between 7.5 - 8% (not 10.5% as I had mentioned earlier today) with big chocolate notes with a nice thick body. The sample I had was a little young and needed some more chocolate, which Manning said would eventually be added, but I could already tell it will be a beauty.

Mill Street to Release Betelgeuse Today

Mill Street's popular Betelgeuse Belgian Tripel is back, according to brewmaster Joel Manning, who sent me an email this morning letting me know it will be released today down at the brewpub.

"Our Belgian Tripel Betelgeuse is being released this morning at the brewpub and it's as nice as last year, yet slightly stronger at 9.1%abv," wrote Manning. "We have used our Belgian Wit Beer yeast to ferment the Betelgeuse and it has carried forward some similar flavours to our Wit, but you'll also find flavours of tinned fruit with pear, peach, apple, citric, clove and bubble gum notes both on the aroma and the palate. It has a definite warming alcohol character perfect for winter."

I was a big fan of this release last year, sharing a couple of growlers to myself over a weekend, and it seemed that others shared my feelings as it sold out extremely fast.

No word yet on when it will be available at the retail store in growlers, so call ahead before heading down there. Once its gone its gone.

Mill Street Pumps Out Another Seasonal

Mill Street launched yet another seasonal beer the other night down at their brewpub in the Distillery District - Vanilla Porter. Joel Manning, Mill Street's Brewmaster, shared his tasting notes with me and describes the new porter in detail.

"Deep mahogany colour made with pale malt, caramel malt, roasted barley and raw flaked wheat. It has an outrageous amount of pure, organic, Mexican double strength vanilla extract in it to give it a very smooth and rich (but not over-powering) vanilla aroma and palate. The nose is slightly fruity with plum aromas from the yeast and malt and smokey bittersweet chocolate notes from the roast barley. These flavours in combination with the caramel accented vanilla produce a very light aroma reminiscent of sweet pipe tobacco. The Vanilla reappears late in the aftertaste but never becomes cloying. This sounds like something that you would have half a pint of and not want any more, but it is subtly enough flavoured to be a very sessionable beer. We are very proud of this one! "


As I mentioned last month, after attending their Roggenbier launch, Mill Street has a number of other beers they plan to release in the upcoming months.

Mid December - 7.2% Weizenbock which Manning states is the most authentic German brew Mill Street's done to date.

January & February - Manning will release his Imperial Stout in February that will use chocolate from SOMA, their next door neighbour in the Distillery District. The Scotch Ale will be back again this year, as will the Betelguese.

Mill Street Launches Schleimhammer Roggenbier

I'd never had a Roggenbier until Tuesday night. And it wasn't a German produced one either. Or an American. It was a beer produced by Mill Street and they launched it before a good crowd at the Victory Cafe in Mirvish Village.

"A traditional German style rye beer that typically contains very large portions of rye. Expect a very pronounced spiciness and sour-like rye character, malty flavor, and a clean hop character. Often unfiltered and bottle-conditioned, Roggenbiers tend to be rather turbid and foamy." BeerAdvocate

Joel Manning, Mill Street's Brewmaster, had mentioned months ago that he was planning on brewing this and I was immediately intrigued. From Manning: "The Roggenbier has 30% rye malt, 20% wheat malt and 50% barley malt. Of the barley malt it has pale 2-row, caramel and chocolate malt. The hops are German Magnum variety and it is fermented with a German Hefeweizen yeast. What I like the best about the Roggenbier is that for a beer with as much complexity as this, it is still "table beer" and has a simplicity that makes it sessionable. Good 15th century peasant fare!"

The launch kicked off at 7pm as the upstairs loft was busy with a number of Mill Street sales representatives, LCBO employees, and some other pub owners; many people also sampling this style for the first time. Each individual was provided with two drink tickets and one food ticket that provided a huge ass pork schnitzel that went with some nice potato salad. The beer and the schnitzel together was pretty awesome.

My thoughts on the beer: Poured a lovely deep auburn leaning more towards brown with a dense tan head that hung around for a while. I got a lot on the nose right off the bat. Peat smoked moss, earthy barnyard like notes from the rye, and a slight charred smokiness, and a variety of sweet spicing. That peat smoked moss came out in the taste too and was joined by some fruity notes that I equated to green pears. The more I drank, the more it came out. A slight sourness, yet the malt helped balance it out. It all finished with a variety of sweet spices ending in a nice dry finish with a good amount of carbonation. Easily quaffable and good for a session, this 5.2% Roggenbier is not bad!

Manning shared some funny stories with us about the challenges they faced when they first attempted to brew it. "The mash was so heavy and thick that we couldn't mash it properly. We used the mashing paddle and it got stuck in all the goo. Rye goo, almost like a gelatin." After figuring out what to do the next time, Manning and brewing team experienced another situation when they went to empty the spent material from the lauter tun. "All the rye, wheat, and barley wouldn't budge. But when it did it cam flying out and made a terrible mess on the brewhouse floor (much to the entertainment of some patrons sitting near the windows that encompass the tanks).

This is yet another solid offering from Mill Street, and an extremely rare style for the brewer to try, and Joel and team pulled it off again. I'm really pleased with everything these guys have been doing lately.

Also brought up in conversation last night was Mill Street's future plans for seasonal releases. Coming up in mid-December will be a 7.5% Weizenbock to compliment their '09 Barley Wine and in February Manning will release his Imperial Stout that will use chocolate from SOMA, their next door neighbour in the Distillery District. The Scotch Ale will be back again, as will the Betelguese. The Milk Stout will not however be produced next year.

I can't say enough good things about what Mill Street is trying to accomplish with these seasonals. Yes, having the brewpub to experiment with is key, but it's almost as if the business has two seperate business plans: 1. to build up the core five brands and sell the hell out of them across Canada, and 2. to play around with beers like these that don't necessary make them a bunch of money, yet they keep the curious beer drinker happy.

The Roggenbier is available at the Mill Street brewpub and will be available at select Toronto pubs. Growlers will also be available down at the brewpub retail store. Also, the seasonal sampler will start hitting LCBO shelves tomorrow.