Mill St. Brewery's Seasonal Sampler

You all know me and my love of trying new things. Or at least, if you don't know this, you do now. In fact, my love of trying new beer, spirits and wine make it quite difficult for me to stick to any favourites for long.

Nevertheless, I have found a new personal favourite. A Torontonian brewery located in its own eponymous Mill Street.

(Grab a pack and hold onto your butts folks. It's going to be a bumpy ride.)

And by bumpy, I mean to say, pleasantly surprising. Melody picked up our first sampler a couple of weeks ago, and it was good enough that we went out and bought another as a Christmas gift for my uncle's partner, and a six pack of the organic lager for ourselves.

My friends. I'm here to report a few of the highlights.

First of all, the presentation of the bottles and cans is a big deal. Perception is important, as right off the bat I perceive original taste pallet and scent pairings. We've all heard of chocolate porters, and if we haven't, then we probably don't visit the craft section of the liquor store as often as we should. Mill St went a different direction with their vanilla porter.

The vanilla shine and finish give the beer a complex flavour on top of its lightly bitter and already rich character. As porters go, it has a light flavour which the vanilla notes complement. It has the odour of Christmas, but not in the sense that it should be confused with a holiday beer. This beer has an identity of its own, and is quite pleasant. Perhaps on any special occasion, and not simply a holiday.

The organic lager on the other hand is a different story. The jilted promises of Corona's light smoothness pale at this truly light lager. For me, lagers are a source of boredom and discontent. Same old same old floating in an overwhelming sea of new and hip top fermenting microbrews. But stuff all of your storage beers where they belong and make resolute your New Year's promise to change old habits. Mill St Organic Lager is a thing of beauty. 

It's a light beer without the tacky 'light' label. It's organic. It's only 4% for fellow lightweights who want to spend more time getting to know their beers before forgetting their name's the next morning. And of course, it is smooth. Oh so smooth.

www.millstreetbrewery.com