Trying Mill Street Brewery's elusive Bier schnapps

I spent weeks and weeks trying - to no avail - to get my hands on some of Mill St. Brewery's new spirit that they're distilling right in the distillery district. If you want to read more about it, see my post on the 5 things I wanted to try this spring. This was one of them...

The first couple of times in April, I called - but they did not have it yet. The people I spoke to told me that it was being made, but not yet bottled. I waited a couple weeks, and then visited, and right beside me in the store were the boxes piled high of the sleek looking bottles.

Unfortunately, they were still waiting on the go ahead from the AGCO to start selling the stuff. I imagine there were some hurdles to cross when it comes to moving from selling beer, to selling 45% alcohol spirit. So...I continued to wait. 

I checked in a couple more times, but STILL NO BIERSCHNAPPS! Even went to their new 'Beer Hall' with some friends for dinner and drinks, only to see a 'Coming Soon...' watermarked over the drinks section of their menu. Needless to say, I was disappointed. 

Fast forward to this past weekend, when Michelle and I are out enjoying our new Bixi memberships (more to come on that in a later post...), when we stop in at the most Eastern Bixi station at the distillery district. I walked into Mill St. with my expectations low, but hopes high, and what do I see? All three flavours (they distil it from their popular beers) of the liquor. 

Now - I was ready to walk in and buy a bottle - but at $35.00 for what looked like a 500 mL bottle - I was feeling a little sheepish. Michelle talked me into going to the bar and having a shot - like it's meant to be had - before committing to the whole bottle. I agreed.

So - I was served up an ice-cold (how it's supposed to be) shot, with about an ounce of chaser beer of the same flavour (I tried the traditional tankhouse schnapps). The total was around $8.00 (pretty pricey for a shot if you ask me...)

The elusive shot...

So...what were my thoughts? To be honest with you - a let-down...I guess I could have figured out that a spirit made with a grain (like this) would taste a lot like another spirit made with a grain....vodka. This shot tasted like a pretty basic shot of vodka, with a TINY bit of hop flavour in the moment. If you know me - you know that I absolutely HATE vodka, so this did not go over well. All I thought as we left empty-handed was 'Thank God Michelle talked me out of going for the bottle first'. 

I'm glad I tried it, no regrets there, but unless you're a big vodka fan, I'd say save your money. If you ARE a vodka man, I still say save your money and just buy some vodka. 

I'll stick to keeping my beer and spirits separate for now...