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Commercial Mead

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Norskersword

NewBee
Registered Member
May 19, 2004
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Ok, what this forum needs is a new topic. I've already read everything on it!

Lately I've been trying some commercial meads and I wanted to ask you all what commercial meads you might recommend. I know this was well traveled ground on this forum before the changes, but unfortunetly I never got a chance to read about this topic. Any recommendations?

On my experiences, I've only tried some from White Winter Meadery (should have aged it, stupid me) and Chaucers. Funny thing about Chaucers, on the bottle it says "Best served shortly after purchase" which I always thought was odd because everyone knows mead is best when aged. I think it's because they know alot of people don't care for the sweet qualities (which I liked) that come out after it's aged.

On the White Winter stuff, I don't think I can have a fair opinion since when I tasted it it tasted very young and I didn't age it. I've been meaning to try Lugashall's, but that's stuff is expensive and so I've been reluctant.
 

Oskaar

Got Mead Partner
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Dec 26, 2004
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I've tried Chaucer's as I mentioned in the Commercial Meads section. It was good and pretty sweet, but I've had better from friends.

I've also tasted three meads from Poland under the name of Kasztelanski, Lednicki and Slowiaski. Each of them tastes pretty much the same.

I have the feeling that whoever purchased these meads got them past their prime because they are close in flavor to a port rather than a mead and brownish in color. The labels are faded, and only one variety uses a cork, while the others use a plastic barbed cork.

You can taste the sweetness from the honey, but the combination of spices they use in them gives them more of a port or a prosek (which is a Croatian style liqueur) with more of a sweet/spice finish, but without the honey effect on the palate.

Here are some links to a brief description of each. They're not really my cup of tea, but for those of you who are curious . . . Take a chance, Custer did! LOL

http://www.internetwines.com/rws18475.html

http://www.internetwines.com/rws28362.html

http://www.internetwines.com/rws28363.html

Oskaar
 

fantome

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 3, 2003
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I've tried a couple Minnestalgia honeywines, and liked them. The wild plum was very good. They ship to some states.

EDIT: Crud! The link doesn't work. Just do a google seach for minnestalgia.
 

Norskersword

NewBee
Registered Member
May 19, 2004
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I'm interested in hearing any and all experiences with commercial meads. Eventually I would love to have a list of different commercial meads to try. Please, all, give me your input. What's good and what's bad?
 

fantome

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 3, 2003
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Norkersword,

Here's a link you might find very useful in your quest to learn more about commercial meads...

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/

At the bottom of this page you will find links to beer advocates' reviews for commercial braggot, traditional mead, melomel, and metheglin.

Enjoy!
 

Norskersword

NewBee
Registered Member
May 19, 2004
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Hey Oskaar. I'm in central California in the East Bay area. Are there places around here that sell different meads without me having to get it shipped and everything. Whole Foods sells a couple, and a few other stores sells Chaucers, but are there any stores that sell a mead you like?

Both Bergetto Winery (Chaucers) and Rabbitsfoot meadery are each less than 100 miles away. I gotta get myass out there and do some tasting. ;)
 

Oskaar

Got Mead Partner
Administrator
Dec 26, 2004
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Hey Norskersword!

I'll check around, I'm in sunny So Cal but I have a former girlfriend who actually works in a small family winery on weekeds in the Bay Area. If anyone can clue me in, she would be able to.

I'll fire her off an email today.

Cheers,

Oskaar
 

Norskersword

NewBee
Registered Member
May 19, 2004
683
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Does anyone have any suggestions of commercial meads to try? I would still like some feedback.
 

Jmattioli

Senior Member
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Does anyone have any suggestions of commercial meads to try? I would still like some feedback.
I would recommend you leave the commercial meads to those who don't make it themselves. After trying 4 different ones, I found I could do as good or better. If you experiment some, I'm sure you will come up with a batch that is better than any commercial mead you tried. After better than 20 batches I have made some drinkable in 6 weeks better to my taste than any commercial mead I have tasted that has been aged a year. This, thanks of course, to the tips and instructions I have found here on this website. Try some with a lower alcohol content such as 10-12% without any chemicals and you will find them excellent under 2 months.
 

Bryon

NewBee
Registered Member
Jul 12, 2004
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Phoenix, Az
I just tried a Juniper berry Mead from Redstone Meadery. I'm not really impressed. It's not what i expected anyway. It tastes just like the red wine my folks used to buy by the gallon when i was a kid. Not even a hint of honey flavor. If your into wine I guess it's OK. The lable says it's a Metheglin If the lable didnt say "Honey wine with juniper Berries" I'd sware it was grape wine. Only reason I bought it in the first place was because it came in a cool 1 liter flip top bottle that i want to reuse when I finish my first batch. I also wanted to try it. I hope the bottle of black berry i got from them is better than this stuff.

maybe if I mix it with some sprite this stuff will taste better.
 

dogglebe

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 14, 2003
352
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hbd.org
Norskersword said:
Does anyone have any suggestions of commercial meads to try? I would still like some feedback.

Unfortunately, the Earle Estates Meadery doesn't ship out of New York State (from last I heard). They have a woide variety of meads and I enjoyed them when I last had them.

Maybe I get a few bottles for next May's New York City Homebrewers Guild mead meeting.


Phil
 

WikdWaze

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 2, 2004
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Finally found a local shop that carries mead. They only have Chaucers in stock, but can order others from their supplier if I can provide them with a specific name. Anyhow, I'll post a little later to let y'all know what the Mrs. and I think of Chaucers.
 

WikdWaze

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 2, 2004
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As promised, here is my much anticipated opinion of Chaucer's. Neither the Mrs. nor I were very impressed. It tastes very much like an ordinary wine, there is very little honey in either the aroma or the taste. It claims to be semi-sweet, but there is very little sweetness to it. It's possible that I was just expecting more than there is. I do not know the proper terms to use when describing a drink. All I can say is that it has a grape-like tang to it. It does leave a very slight film on the lips, much like a thin cough syrup would. As I type this I'm drinking it warm, steeped with the enclosed spice bags. In this way it is virtually indistinguishable from a hard apple cider. The spices do help, they at least provide some flavor to an otherwise dull drink.

In short, though it has not entirely put me off mead, it has taught me a very valuable lesson. There simply must be some residual sweetness and honey flavor. I'm going to have to find a braggot my local shop can get hold of for me to sample something a bit more complex and interesting.

The evening was not a total loss, a local gourmet grocery store recently started carrying Iron City beer. This is the beer I grew up on, the beer I first got drunk on. A little taste of the fatherland, if you will ;D
 

Norskersword

NewBee
Registered Member
May 19, 2004
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The first time I tried Chaucers I had the same experience. I tried another bottle from a different store a bit later and discovered it tasted quite a bit different then my first experience. The first time it tasted like a wine, the second time it tasted like the description on the bottle. Why? My hypothesis is that the second bottle was sitting around in the store a few months longer. As I said in a few other posts, I don't know why the label says "best served shortly after purchase" when everybody knows mead, like wine, is always better with age. I must say that although the first Chaucers was badly in need of age, since then I have bought about 4 or 5 bottles in the past few months.

A new shopping center was built six months ago or so near my house. Two of the stores in that shopping center carry Chaucers: Beverages and More and Cost Plus World Market. The first bottle was from bevmo and the rest from World Market.

My advice is this, find another store that carries mead (if you don't want to buy and age) and try that. I prefer to drink it cold and strait from the bottle. You might be surprised! ;)
 

WikdWaze

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 2, 2004
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I hadn't even considered that possibility. That raises an interesting question, though. Why would they release it before it was properly aged? Is it also possible that what we experienced was the effect of a bad cork? I've read this is becoming more and more common these days, and a member of the unwashed masses such as myself would have no idea what this would taste like.
 

Norskersword

NewBee
Registered Member
May 19, 2004
683
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0
WikdWaze said:
I hadn't even considered that possibility. That raises an interesting question, though. Why would they release it before it was properly aged? Is it also possible that what we experienced was the effect of a bad cork? I've read this is becoming more and more common these days, and a member of the unwashed masses such as myself would have no idea what this would taste like.

I don't know what corked wine/mead tastes like either but after reading the stuff Oskaar posted, plus a little more, I'm under the impression that a cork doesn't "go bad" for many months and that bad corks are only a problem if you plan to age a wine/mead for a considerable length of time.

I've been wondering about commercial meads and age as well. Some wineries age their wines before shipping them to the stores, but I don't think this is true for Chaucer's mead. Like I was saying, the label says to drink it asap after purchase and I'm thinking that, because of that bad info, the Chaucer's people at Bergetto Winery ship it off asap.

The only other commercial mead I have tried was White Winter Winery's Rasberry Melomel, which got good reviews on this site. But when I tasted it it was badly in need of aging. It was just the way you described; tasting just like a wine without a hint of honey. The next time I order it I'm going to age it for at least 4 months or so.

In conclusion, I guess the only way for you to know if the winery ages their meads is if you call them up and ask them. If you are not sure you risk opening up a bottle too early and spoiling your chances of a great experience.
 
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