Honeyrun traditional mead

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jaysbrew

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Jan 20, 2004
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www.jaysbrewing.com
I found this mead in a wine shop in Asheville, NC. I'd never heard of Honeyrun before, so I thought I'd give it a try. The bottle says it's 12% alcohol. There's not much other useful information. Something about Thor or Odin on there.

The mead is very clear and very light colored. From the alcoholic aroma, I expected it to be dry, and boy it was. Bone dry. That's fine in itself. However, it was also very tart. Sour? Maybe. Pucker-producing, definitely.

I slowly sipped the mead for quite a while as I finished a couple of glasses. I kept hoping for it to change with time but oxidation didn't mellow it. It seems like an underaged mead. It's a little harsh. There was no off-flavor or bad aftertaste, though.

Not a horrible mead, mind you. I just found it to be too tart and harsh. Try as I might I could not find anything positive that jumped out at me. Overall, it was OK. I wouldn't buy it again, but I wasn't upset that I had bought it once.


Cheers,
Jay
 
Honey run is from my home town of chico ca But I haven't had a chance to try it yet.
 
Mmmmmmm Chico, No Cal.

Madison Bear Gardens, Sierra Nevada, Almond Fields, College girls 8)
 
Wow, small world. I have only been to CA once, last year for a wedding (friends wife is from there). I really liked it. Picked up one of my favorite Buddha's at the farmers market there. Spent the evening at Sierra Nevada and had a rip roaring drunken good time.
 
Honeyrun's traditional mead was my least favorite of their products.

While visiting a relative in Chico, CA, I stopped in at this meadery. Given that mead making is a hobby of mine, I tried to engage in conversation about the brewing process. After I asked a few questions, the woman I talked to got all defensive as though I was trying to steal her trade secrets. Had she been more open, I was ready to offer her a lot of valuable info. base on my own research and experiences, but there's no use in throwing pearls before swine.

The following weekend, we went camping about an hour or two north of Chico where we visited yet another meadery up in the mountains. I forget the name of the place, but remember the couple who ran it couldn't have been nicer. The showed me their whole operation and answered my questions in detail. Their cranberry mead is the best I've ever tasted.
 
Mountain Meadows Mead

JamesB said:
The following weekend, we went camping about an hour or two north of Chico where we visited yet another meadery up in the mountains. I forget the name of the place, but remember the couple who ran it couldn't have been nicer. The showed me their whole operation and answered my questions in detail. Their cranberry mead is the best I've ever tasted.

That would be Mountain Meadows Mead. They're located in Westwood, CA.

And yes, Ron and Peggy are wondeful hosts... ;D

Michael
 
Yeah, Peggy and Ron are the best! And their spice mead is to die for. I kept going back for more tastes at last year's MeadFest, and they finally gave me a bottle for my very own...LOL

I've had Honeyrun, also from Asheville (they carry it at Whole Foods in Raleigh, or at least they used to), and found it to be young. I didn't finish the bottle I had.

Tell you what though, I had a great mead this week! I toured Cascade Winery in Grand Rapids, MI on Tuesday, and they've two meads. Their semi-dry mead has great honey nose and flavor. It's a bit young, but I predict that it will age out *very* nice. Right now it has a bit of alcohol burn, but from what I'm told, its much less now than even 3 months ago, which leads me to conclude that it will finish out nicely.

Their dry mead was excellent also, but isn't going to be available for a few more months, they're aging it a bit more before releasing it.

I'll put up a full review with pictures and history in the Commercial Meads section of the website...(yes, there is a website that goes with the forum!), along with the review on Pirtle Winery. My next visits will be to a winery in West Virginia, and one in Pennsylvania, when I go to Pennsic.

Vicky
 
Mountain Meadows Mead

Mountain Meadows' cranberry mead is also the best. I tried doing my own cranberry, and it turned out tasting kind of like a cranberry flavored wine-cooler. Better luck next time.
 
Yeah, I really liked it. I'm planning to spend an extra couple days in CO after the MeadFest, in order to tour a couple (or more) meaderies, and do interviews with them. I think I'll have to engineer a trip to CA sometime in the next year too.....

Vicky - loving that at least Gotmead can let me write off trips to see relatives and friends as long as I tour meaderies!
 
Vicky the Gotmead Webwench said:
I think I'll have to engineer a trip to CA sometime in the next year too.....

Vicky - loving that at least Gotmead can let me write off trips to see relatives and friends as long as I tour meaderies!

So what would a faire in CA have to do to get the Got Mead Meadwench to show up to do a demo? *grin*

Michael