TORONTO, ON – In a feature article that ran yesterday on Toronto news and culture website blogTO, writer Ben Johnson reveals that Mill Street Beer Hall will be opening in Toronto’s Distillery District next Thursday April 18th.
As first announced here on CBN last month, the Beer Hall is located alongside the extant Mill Street Brewpub, and will feature a full line-up of Mill Street Brewery beers, including three new brands – Minimus Dubbel, Distillery Ale and Ampel Weiss – that brewmaster Joel Manning describes in the article:
Minimus Dubbel (8.5% ABV) is a classical dark brown Belgian abbey-style beer made with a variety of malts and traditional Belgian candy sugar. It has a soured mash in order to give it a slight acidity to offset the sweetness of the malt and the sugar and has aged hops used in it which is traditional for this style of beer. The Minimus also has French oak infusion spirals in it to give it an oaky softness that is also typical of these beers. It is served unfiltered. The name is from the latin expression “minima maxima sunt” (“The smallest things are most important”).
Distillery Ale (6% ABV) is a copper coloured English-style Old Ale made with English floor malted Maris-Otter pale malt and caramel and chocolate malt and a whole pile of English Fuggles and Goldings hops. Old Ales are similar to Barley Wines only smaller. This is a style of English Ale that would have been around back in the old days of the Distillery District and the founders would have been very familiar with.
Ampel Weiss (3.8% ABV) is a Berliner-style Weissbier made with a lactic fermentation and a blend of wheat and barley malts. Pale straw coloured, this is a very dry beer with a profound sour tartness that makes it extremely refreshing. We will serve this in the traditional way giving drinkers the choice of drinking it straight or with a “Schuss” (a shot) of raspberry syrup or woodruff syrup (imported from Germany). The beer is pale amber, the raspberry syrup is crimson red and the woodruff syrup is bright green which creates a “traffic light” (Ampel in German) effect when you try a flight of all three versions together at the Beer Hall.
In addition to the beer, the Beer Hall will also offer Bierschnaps, spirits made from beer that will be distilled on site in what is believed to be the only commercial Bierschnaps operation in Canada. And to accompany the beverages, chef Elizabeth Rivasplata has developed a food menu based around sharing plates and bar food classics, most prepared with beer as an ingredient.
The Mill Street Beer Hall will be open in “soft” mode starting next Thursday, leading up to an official grand opening party on May 23rd.