BogusOwnz
Well-Known Member
Why is it that everything that says "mead" ends up being apple wine with honey or white wine with honey. I've yet to find a real traditional commercial mead.
Why no commercial meads?
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remilard
Well-Known Member
You are probably looking at the wrong place. I can get probably 25 commercial meads in KC (half from either Pirtle or Redstone). I went to a store in the Twin Cities at NHC that easily had 40-50 including a lot of polish mead.
No matter where you are in the country you probably need to be in a metro and at the best shop to get a good shot at mead. They are there, just hard to find.
No matter where you are in the country you probably need to be in a metro and at the best shop to get a good shot at mead. They are there, just hard to find.
Check out:
http://www.montezumawinery.com/mtz_order.taf?_function=view&ct_id=1
Their meads are about 1/2 way down the page. My wife and I visited them last weekend on our anniversary, I found their mead and t'ej to be very good, but the raspberry melomel was a little like cough syrup.
Eric
http://www.montezumawinery.com/mtz_order.taf?_function=view&ct_id=1
Their meads are about 1/2 way down the page. My wife and I visited them last weekend on our anniversary, I found their mead and t'ej to be very good, but the raspberry melomel was a little like cough syrup.
Eric
JMG680
Well-Known Member
We have a few bars in the area that even offer Mead. I picked up 3 Bottles of Mead last week, a Traditional, Spiced, and a Fruit.
I've also heard that there are a lot of federal liquor issues with naming conventions and that mostly only traditional mead can be called mead. Pyments and melomels are fruit wines with honey.
Bogus.
I have only found one store in my area that sells mead. It is made by Honey Run Winery in Chico, California. I think it is excellent, but then again I have nothing to compare it to, other than what I am making! Best of brewing!
I have only found one store in my area that sells mead. It is made by Honey Run Winery in Chico, California. I think it is excellent, but then again I have nothing to compare it to, other than what I am making! Best of brewing!
Just because you haven't found them, doesn't mean they don't exist. Hell, we even have one in Detroit that wins awards.
http://www.bnektar.com/
http://www.bnektar.com/
Our Meads
We have many varieties of meads ranging from Dry to Sweet.
Regular Line-Up - Limited Releases - Ken Schramm Signature Series - Xtra Limited Releases - COMING SOON
Regular Line-Up (Available Year-Round)Orange Blossom
Our orange blossom mead is made from the honey of orange and other citrus trees, and is aged on American oak. The flavor and bouquet will transport you to warm climates, where citrus groves stretch on for miles and miles. This mead will continue to mature wonderfully in your cellar.
Wildflower
Made with Michigan wildflower honey. This mead captures the essence of the natural beauty of Michigan. It has a wonderfully complex floral aroma and flavor. We use a ‘no boil’ technique in our mead-making that preserves the subtleties of the raw honey. Aged briefly on American oak for complexity.
Wildberry Pyment
A ‘Pyment’ (pie-ment) is a mead made with grapes. This one is made with clover honey, shiraz grape juice, and natural wildberry concentrate. It is full bodied and semi-sweet. Makes a great sangria or try it over ice as a spritzer. Our most popular mead.
Vanilla Cinnamon
A light colored, sweet mead made with whole cinnamon sticks and vanilla beans. The beans are sliced open by hand before being added to the mead to ensure maximum flavor extraction. This recipe continues to win awards wherever it goes. Try this mead served warm on cool nights with someone special.
Limited Releases Pineapple Coconut Melomel - NOW AVAILABLE
Our Pineapple Coconut Mead is so delicious, our dear late friend Jon once called it ‘God Juice’. Orange blossom honey, pineapple juice and coconut make this one of our most exciting releases to date. The flavors will take you to tropical shores with warm breezes. 14% ABV - Sweet (FG 1.023)
Bourbon Barrel Mead - NOW AVAILABLE
This very limited batch shows just how complex a mead can be. This mead is made with a blend of orange blossom and buckwheat honey, then is aged in a bourbon barrel. This process mellows the mead and adds a noticeable bourbon flavor for a wonderful sipping mead. This mead ages well. 17.5% ABV - Sweet (FG 1.026)
Yo Momma's Strawberry Pizzazz - SOLD OUT
This fantastic mead recipe was shared with us by guest mead maker Jamie VanKuren (known on Gotmead.com as Yo Momma). Almost 3 pounds of fresh wild strawberries were used per gallon to deliver a beautiful aroma followed up by incredible flavor. Simply a classic mead to share with someone special.
Tupelo - SOLD OUT
Our tupelo mead captures the unique aromas and delicate flavors of the honey from tupelo trees, which grow in the swampy areas along the Gulf Coast of the U.S. Beehives are kept along the river swamps on platforms or floats during the tupelo bloom to produce the rare, certified tupelo honey. This mead ages well.
Buckwheat - SOLD OUT
This mead is not for the weak or timid. The bold, rich taste of buckwheat honey, in all of its glory, carries through into this mead. Buckwheat honey has a very earthy, almost malty, flavor and aroma. We use only 100% pure buckwheat honey in this mead. Enjoy with your favorite barbecued foods.
rhoadsrage
Well-Known Member
Binny's has a whole section of mead. They have Wild Blossom meads, from the south side of Chicago, to Redstone to Jadwiga and many more.
LightningInABottle
Well-Known Member
Hey REV, I just picked up a bunch of the B-Nektar releases. I got some of Yo Mamma's Strawberry Pizzaz (he posts here), the dry Shiraz Pyment and the Dry Tupelo. I missed the Ken Schramm's by a half a day at whole foods, though I was on the fence about that one because it is a sweet mead. I do like their wildberry pyment for sweet meads.
Bogus- Try looking in near the Port or Sherry section for the meads. You can almost always find Chaucers in a party store that carries a decent selection of wine. Most grocery stores in my area carry mead.
Bogus- Try looking in near the Port or Sherry section for the meads. You can almost always find Chaucers in a party store that carries a decent selection of wine. Most grocery stores in my area carry mead.
There's a meadery in Iron River, Wisconsin that is great. I first saw their stuff at the NHC this year, and drove through there last week.
I'm sure they must have a website, or can mail order, or otherwise distribute since they're a growing business. https://www.whitewinterwinery.com/ I loved every one that I tried- I'd recommend them.
I'm sure they must have a website, or can mail order, or otherwise distribute since they're a growing business. https://www.whitewinterwinery.com/ I loved every one that I tried- I'd recommend them.
Kauai_Kahuna
Well-Known Member
I made my first mead over a decade ago and loved it even though I drank it all "hot", and I knew it, but I could not help myself.
Then I tasted some sweet "Chaucer" (sp?) that was horrible, but I kept on making more myself.
I have to again thank hightest for his FAQ that is a sticky above that has improved my meads greatly in the last year or so.
I finally found and bought a Redstone traditional mead that has been sitting in my fridge for around 6 months now that I'm saving for a good time to taste it. Needless to say I have hight hopes.
Then I tasted some sweet "Chaucer" (sp?) that was horrible, but I kept on making more myself.
I have to again thank hightest for his FAQ that is a sticky above that has improved my meads greatly in the last year or so.
I finally found and bought a Redstone traditional mead that has been sitting in my fridge for around 6 months now that I'm saving for a good time to taste it. Needless to say I have hight hopes.
2ndGenBrewer
Well-Known Member
You should probably enjoy the Redstone. It's a little on the low ABV side for me (I tend to make 14-15% meads) but is a decent commercial product.
Kauai_Kahuna
Well-Known Member
Thanks, I have high hopes for it, I just need to get some friends over with better pallets than I do, to do it right.
The goal is to make great meads with minimal cost. I have yet to meet someone here that makes good mead, so maybe I'm a trail blazer of sorts, not really but it's just a goal of mine to make some :rockin: traditional meads that will make a Norseman go Viking.
summersolstice
Well-Known Member
You are indeed looking in the wrong palce. I helped judge over 150 commercial meads at this year's Mazer Cup International.
OP
OP
BogusOwnz
Well-Known Member
I've went to numerous alchohol super stores in the Chicagoland area and zero meads. Makes no sense to me.
nepatsfan1
You do drugs Danny? All the time
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I bought my wife a bottle of B Nektar's Orange Blossom Mead and it was awful. Very strong sulfur taste and just was not good. When my wife states that Chaucer's was better thats not a good sign. Maybe I got a bad bottle but having tasted mead and having here own mead it just was not what we expected and I highly doubt we will try it again.
LightningInABottle
Well-Known Member
Sadly I don't like B-Nektar's sweet meads either with one exception, the Wildberry Pyment! I also liked the Strawberry Pizzaz, but it was a limited run. I have 2 bottles of their dry, a dry shiraz and a dry tupelo. I will post back taste results soon. Try the Wildberry Pyment. Its foofy but good. My personal tastes tend to drift to the dry end of the mead spectrum. Just because honey is used in mead making doesn't mean that it has to be sweet, some people just expect it to be that way, especially people new to mead.
TheRabidKumquat
Well-Known Member
Like others have said, if you have a Binny's near you, they stock Wild Blossom. Sam's might, also. I'm only a few miles away from the meadery, and they have mentioned Sam's once or twice, but that might be the way of getting around a strange old law regarding the wet and dry side of neighborhood. I think Binny's ships, and WB might, as well.
Just because you haven't found them, doesn't mean they don't exist. Hell, we even have one in Detroit that wins awards.
http://www.bnektar.com/
Thank you so much for this, Rev. I'm going to be up in Grand Rapids in a few weeks for a wedding, and I'm totally bringing a bunch of mead back home.
jonalexdeval
Well-Known Member
They're hard to find unless you've got a really special shop that imports or else find a local mead at a larger chain.
Found out not too long ago that there's a local place around here that makes and sells a wide range of meads and pyments. Had a black-currant pyment that was very... interesting. A lot more tart than I expected. Still don't see a ton of them around the local packies (these happened to be for sale at the local whole-foods co-op).
