A friend of mine started a meadery here in Oregon, and as an avid enjoyer of mead, he hooked me up and gave me a taste of his wares. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the mead he gave me, and it gave me a really good buzz.
The flavor I was provided was the wild berry flavor. I suspect that it had blackberry and raspberries, but I couldn’t tell if there was anything else crafted with it. I couldn’t really taste the alcohol, which is a big plus for me, as I really don’t like the taste of alcohol. It was smooth, which was also nice, as a lot of meads, especially the mass produced ones, tend to be really sharp. It was like sipping down a juice. Meads are often compared with seltzers, but I think that’s an unfair comparison. As I stated in my video review, seltzers don’t really have much flavor, where meads, especially this one, had a lot of flavor. This one was also a bit bubblier than other meads I’ve had, but that didn’t really factor into my review. If you prefer a bubbly mead, this one is definitely a bubblier mead.
It was an 8% ABV 16 oz can, and me being a lightweight, it left me borderline drunk. Because mead is made with honey, which is mostly fructose sugar, your body metabolizes it almost instantly, and the alcohol gets into your bloodstream that much faster. I’m not sure where my buddy sources his honey, he says he sources local apiarists for honey, but whatever their bees are pollinating, it definitely was sweet. I wouldn’t be shocked if they were being used to pollinate fruit tree’s, berry field, or even grapes, as there is a lot of that production in the Willamette Valley. And what the bees are using to collect their nectar has an impact on how the honey will taste. For reference, the majority of honey produced is derived from clover field production, which leaves clover based honey as the “neutral” or “regular” tasting honey. As I stated above, there isn’t much bite to this mead, and I wonder if the base of where the honey is being derived from has an impact on that. I’m more or less guessing, and in no way am I being scientific about it.
Overall, this mead is a great mead. And I’m not saying that because my friend is the owner. I genuinely enjoy mead, and I think that mead is the perfect balance of flavor, alcohol by volume, and consumable in social situations. For reference, in the town I live, there was a meadery that sold meads that I would drink, but did not enjoy as much, because of how sharp the mead was. This mead goes down like a juice or a light soda, and that’s something I prefer.