Mead I drank this summer

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jflanigan244

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 14, 2016
125
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Cleveland, Ohio
Just a brief list and review of some mead I drank this summer.

Brother's Drake -

Bergamot Blue- very tannic, sort of drinks like a somewhat dry red. This is a blueberry melomel, with spices added. They didn't specify what spices they used but I believe it was a bit of clove. Could be wrong.
I liked it but a lot of my friends thought it was too dry.
7/10

Honey Oak- dry wildflower traditional aged on (I believe) French oak. A bit too dry for my tastes. When I first opened the bottle, the oak taste was way too overboard for me. Super woody and really made it taste whiskey-ish. If you like that kinda thing, and love oak; this is for you.
6.7/10

1812- off dry, raspberry melomel. If I'm correct, they only sell this at the meadery now, but local wine shop had a bottle from 2012. This was a real crowd pleaser, all my friends liked it. A bit of a sweetness but not too much. Still had a bit of a bite. Almost a tangy, fruit punch like mouth feel.
7.4/10

Apple Pie- no surprises here. A pretty standard mead. A sweet cyser with mulling spices. A bit sweeter than I like but this is a real treat. The spices taste cleaner than a lot of mulled cysers I've had, which leads me to believe they made up their own blend.
8.2/10

Wild Ohio- Yes. So much yes. A semi sweet wildflower traditional, fermented with a wild Ohio yeast. This is their show stopper, in my opinion. Floral and powerful honey aroma, with a velvety yet delicate mouth feel. Like one of the most elegant white wines you've ever had. Buy this.
9/10

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Schramm's Raspberry honey wine-
I know, he's a legend and a pioneer and I respect that. But this just wasn't my jam. Taste more like I was drinking fruit juice than mead. Just way too fruity and tannic for me
5.8/10

Red Stone (it's either nectar of the hops or hop nectar) Oh, this was a treat. Off dry and lightly carbonated. I ordered this with a cheese board at dinner and was in heaven. I think they use wildflower and Clover honey for this. Not sure what hops were used but I could go for a slighty stronger hop flavor
8.5/10

Crafted and MadTree brewing collab- Braggot
I finally found a braggot! Two Ohio brewers come together to form something magical. A deep brown braggot with wildflower honey, spiced with cacao nibs, fig and chicory. I have never really liked a chocolatey beer. Ever. I liked this. The cacao nibs, malt and fig hits you first, with a rich, bold flavor. Followed by undertones of honey. Very light carbonation. Not sure if that's usual fair for braggots or not. I could use a six pack but a 16 ouncer by itself is $15 :(
7.9/10
 
You are lucky to have commercial choices. All we can buy here in MS is Chaucer's, which I don't like at all.

I really am! We have brother's drake and Crafted, here in Ohio. And then with B. Nektar being so close (Michigan) their stuff is usually readily available!

It does make me feel a bit shitty about my own brews though, when I taste something totally out of the realm of the stuff I've made lol
 
I lived in Irwin, PA for 10 years. Somebody opened up a meadery in that little town within a year of me moving away.


LOL wow... The irony is too cruel. Ohio is a actually a pretty mead forward state. We have a good amount of apiaries for our size, and the upscale restaurant and craft brewing business have really taken off in the past few years. Used to just be Great Lakes brewing beers locally, now I can't count all the OHIO breweries on two hands. Hoping it will be that way with mead soon