f you want to get your brew on, then why not do it in a venue renowned for its ales and lagers? The Distillery District is becoming as famous for its top notch refurbishing projects as it is for its tourist appeal; Mill St. Brew Pub is one heck of a showroom. “She’s very pretty,” General Manager Helen Griffiths effuses.

No doubt. At first glance, you get the impression that you’ve walked into a pumped up, juice pig Firkin. I'm not sure if it’s the hockey dude slouching at the bar, the staff dressed in kilts (mmm, kilts), or that old arcade game in the corner, but you definitely get the, "I can wear my hoodie and jeans and eat my eggs over-easy" kind of feeling (by the way, you can).

The space is much too impressive to be just any ol’ Craic, Guinness, and Lucky Charms quasi-Irish pub. The barebones 6000 square-foot warehouse space is as hot as those Jalapenos on your nachos. There’s malleable situational seating for every occasion: affair-ready intimate booths, airy dining tables, casual 1980s Reebok (not really) hi-tops, and stools along a 21-foot bar. The nooks and crannies can send you on a little pub adventure and the space is so vast that you can usually have your pick of the draw.

The Mill St. Pub didn’t always look this way; previously, it was rented out for private functions only. “It used to look like a brewery…skids, empty kegs, full kegs,” Griffith explains. “It’s been completely transformed.”

Even after significant alterations, the space wears its history and functionality proudly. The beer vats, encased in a room alongside the pub, tempt sud swimming, while giving you a glimpse of the birthplace of your future urine. Refurbished windows let in natural sunlight and vintage signs from brewpubs all over Ontario hang on the walls. The brick walls are painted in warm, autumnal yellow and red hues, and the windows are trimmed in a greenish-blue. A roaring fireplace in the back and a collection of light fixtures dangling from the 18 foot ceilings provide an old-boy stately ambiance; be sure to look up.