Melovino Meadery - Swinger

[NightWolf]

Sorry if I missed a previous review on this one. As a NJ resident and given the really poor selection at the local distributors, finding new Meads to try has been a challenge. Was lucky to pick up what has been my favorite to date when it comes to traditionals.My wife and I emptied a 500 ML bottle of their Swinger this past weekend. A traditional Wildflower from local NJ Honey. It was clean/clear as a bell, full honey on the mouth and nothing else. It was quite expensive at $15.99 for the 500 ml, but we did absolutely love it.
I'd be interested to hear the opinion of others who have a chance to sample it!

 

[darigoni]

Actually, $16 for 500 ml is NOT very expensive. Most of the meads sold by Moonlight Meadery start around $13 and come in 375 ml bottles.

 

[NightWolf]

Actually, $16 for 500 ml is NOT very expensive. Most of the meads sold by Moonlight Meadery start around $13 and come in 375 ml bottles.

Point taken. And most likely correct. So much for the actual reason for my starting this thread. Apparently I'm very late to the discussion of what commercial meads folks here like and no worries about that. I'll not post my opinions on the subject going forward. Everyone seems to be beyond this type of discussion here.

 

[dingurth]

Point taken. And most likely correct. So much for the actual reason for my starting this thread. Apparently I'm very late to the discussion of what commercial meads folks here like and no worries about that. I'll not post my opinions on the subject going forward. Everyone seems to be beyond this type of discussion here.

The lack of responses may just be that few people have tried this. We have quite an international group here and Melovino is still quite local to the Jersey area even though it's expanded to a couple surrounding states. You'll most often find people lamenting the fact that they haven't been able to try commercial meads because they don't have access to any.

I'd encourage you to keep posting reviews of any you come across. It's a help for those who cannot experience it themselves to hear what you think even if they might not have anything to comment. I myself am trying their "The Root Cause" tonight, but haven't had the Swinger.

I also noticed you only posted this last night. We have a few people who come here every day, but you might need to wait weeks or even months to reach the broader GotMead audience who only visit occasionally. (busy with brews I suppose)

 

[Dadux]

I agree with dingurth.
You might want to start a thread to post opinions on commercial meads. But most of them are from the US so dont expect us europeans to participate much ;D
As dingurth said, some of us dont have many commercial meads avaliable. I myself have tried only a couple of spanish commercial meads and both were rather dissapointing. After a year and a half of meadmaking i make better stuff than they do. They weren't bad but i expected higher quality for sure. Since then i decided i rather make mead than buy mediocre mead so...

Edit: by the way if you want reviews, meadist.com has a lot of them. Might want to check that out

 

[NightWolf]

I agree with dingurth.
You might want to start a thread to post opinions on commercial meads. But most of them are from the US so dont expect us europeans to participate much ;D
As dingurth said, some of us dont have many commercial meads avaliable. I myself have tried only a couple of spanish commercial meads and both were rather dissapointing. After a year and a half of meadmaking i make better stuff than they do. They weren't bad but i expected higher quality for sure. Since then i decided i rather make mead than buy mediocre mead so...

Edit: by the way if you want reviews, meadist.com has a lot of them. Might want to check that out

Thanks for the replies dingurth and Dadux.I guess I didn't appreciate how hard it is to get a varying selection region to region, let alone internationally. I can say that I feel somewhat lucky then as I've seen the mead selection in my local (Cherry Hill NJ) Wegman's store continue to grow to about 20 choices from about 7-8 different meaderys. And Dadux, you're right, I liked my own JAOM better than 2 off the shelf already.

dingurth, I'd be interested in your opinion on The Root Cause and will see if Wegman's has that so we can compare notes.

I guess the funny thing about it all is how in the heck did I get to be 56 yrs old and only discovered mead in the last 7 months? Having been a craft beer aficionado for many years, this new discovery for me has been very exciting! Falling asleep at night with fermentation management methods, and recipes running through my head.

 

[darigoni]

In New Hampshire you can find Moonlight Mead in just about every grocery and liquor store in the state, but it's only been recently that you could find mead from another company and that's from Sap House Meadery, which is also located in NH. Just not a lot available in our state yet and I don't get down to Massachusetts enough to see what might be available.

 

[dingurth]

I've seen the mead selection in my local (Cherry Hill NJ) Wegman's store continue to grow to about 20 choices from about 7-8 different meaderys.

Yeah... That's what I call paradise. Now that I live in NYC, I've finally found mead on the shelves, but my store only has 3-4 from 2 meaderies.

dingurth, I'd be interested in your opinion on The Root Cause and will see if Wegman's has that so we can compare notes.

Yeah, I think I'll do a review thread myself. I'm just wondering if I should split them out or do all my commercial mead experiences in one...

 

[Dadux]

Yeah... That's what I call paradise. Now that I live in NYC, I've finally found mead on the shelves, but my store only has 3-4 from 2 meaderies.


Yeah, I think I'll do a review thread myself. I'm just wondering if I should split them out or do all my commercial mead experiences in one...

Probably all in one its best if then anyone wants to read reviews. Try to analize different stuff and make good reviews and it can be a good thread

 

[mannye]

I think there is a sticky somewhere that's specifically for reviewed.

Im on the phone so I can't really do a good search but tomorrow I will try and find it for you.

Please keep reviewing whatever you can get your hands on.

Here in Miami things move a lot slower than up in the north east but even I am starting to find 10 or 12 different meads at the local More Wine (or whatever it's called like a Home Depot but for booze) superstore.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[NightWolf]

Yeah, I think I'll do a review thread myself. I'm just wondering if I should split them out or do all my commercial mead experiences in one...

Been away and just catching up again. Dingurth, I like you're format on the new thread and as Dadux mentions, it would be nice to have them all in one spot. The sticky is there but has no replies, so I'm going to post there.

 

[Dadux]

Been away and just catching up again. Dingurth, I like you're format on the new thread and as Dadux mentions, it would be nice to have them all in one spot. The sticky is there but has no replies, so I'm going to post there.

I dont want to post on the other thread since its for reviews but i'll coment here.
I think the idea of reviewing commercial meads is great guys.
I also think it'd be best if you either made one thread ONLY for reviews (from everyone, but no comments, or it'll be filled with irrelevant stuff), or make one per person but that has the problem you cant compare that easily. Either way, if i was you, I'd ask other people not to post about anything unrelated to the mead reviews (or you might get people asking where do you get them, what is their cost, whatever).

Also guys (well this goes mostly for dingurth that is the one who made the reviews), maybe it'd be more understandable and comfortable for you to make a template and follow it on all the meads. Dingurth's post is organized at each mead level but i missed maybe some secondary points, maybe make the categories in bold font such as Presentation (bottle type and volume, label, colour, cloudines, carbonation), Aroma, Taste, and even maybe Cost (is it worth your money, depending on how you liked, total price, volume...), and Other (and maybe Overall). This is of course just a suggestion, and you are somewhat making it already (they are organized). Then you copy this template in a word documment and make the reviews from there. That's how i'd go about it at least.

I loved the idea of copying the mead description by the way! At least you get what they were going for without having to go to their website or whatever. Very straight and clear.

 

[dingurth]

Sorry if I missed a previous review on this one. As a NJ resident and given the really poor selection at the local distributors, finding new Meads to try has been a challenge. Was lucky to pick up what has been my favorite to date when it comes to traditionals.My wife and I emptied a 500 ML bottle of their Swinger this past weekend. A traditional Wildflower from local NJ Honey. It was clean/clear as a bell, full honey on the mouth and nothing else. It was quite expensive at $15.99 for the 500 ml, but we did absolutely love it.
I'd be interested to hear the opinion of others who have a chance to sample it!

Hey Nightwolf, finally got a bottle of Swinger myself and added the review to my thread. Sounds like I didn't enjoy it quite as much as you, but it was a pretty decent mead.