Which commercial meads are the best?

[gunit00]

Hi Folks,

I am having trouble a finding good tasting commercial mead. You know, the kind that you would want to drink again and again.I have tried a few, Honey Maker's Blueberry mead, Bnektar's Blueberry mead, Queen Sheba's mead, and Dansk Mjød hopped mead 19% abv, and Moonlight Meadery's Kurt's Apple Pie. None of them impressed me. Although, I did enjoy Green River Ambrosia's Winter Warmer. I know there are more meads out there. Which ones would you recommend?

 

[LostBoyScout]

Superstition's Berry White changed my life. But not exactly something you can pick up at a local shop.

 

[NibblesMN]

The Kurt's Apple Pie is one of my favorites for sure, so my opinion may not mean much to you : )

Here are some of my favorites
Moonlight Meadery "Fury" - spicy peppers
B Nektar "Necromangocon" - mango and black pepper
Redstone Meadery "Black Raspberry Nectar"

 

[MarkKF]

When I buy cider or mead I try to get it from small artisans. Drinking a Green River Ambrosia now from Greenfield, MA.

 

[ReDim]

I could not find mead in the store and started brewing. I even found a recipe for Viking Blood, you have called it Dansk Mjød. I changed that recipe a little tiny bit.

2 years later I was drinking my mead and accidentally found the Viking Blood in the store. I tried the store one, and even took some pictures. I thinning if I poor the store bought one down the toiled, I can the awesome bottle it came with !

I think that if I would have tried store bought mead before I brewed my own, I would not be brewing it .

 

[stella_tigre]

My first mead was by a wonderful private maker, no funny business, straight mead. I am hoping to duplicate it. Since we prefer semi dry, are there any commercial ones like that?

 

[OleBrewing]

i have made 2 meads. I have not sampled any commercial meads for comparison. My second mead at around 18% is fantastic, you wouldn't no it was that high of alcohol besides the minor burn after the first taste. after that watch out it goes down fast.

sorry i have no input on commercial meads. but there is a meadery that opened up 100 miles away and i might have to swing in and sample maybe bring in one of my samples for judgement.

 

[SerifSansSerif]

I haven't tasted many but the ones I have were earlier before mead became popular. (basically known to few, and mostly diehard rennies). They were often heavy on the honey, (and either clover or wildflower honey, which I hate the taste of quite honestly), and quite sweet. A cherry one I tasted actually tasted like fresh sweet cherries with honey drizzled on them. Ok, but too sweet and dessert-like (cherries are sweet enough, and the honey was a bit much). That was one of the better ones...

I have sampled out meads I have made, and, from what I get as a response, the consensus is that commercial meads now seem to taste like wines sweetened with honey. And, the general consensus there is that they are somewhat reviled. (mine, however, has been celebrated. I guess it's not hard to make something that tastes good when the rest is fairly bad).

So, I believe, in general, commercial meads are not good, and it's not worth searching for. Like most commercial ciders, the ingredients are not being respected for what they, in and of themselves are, and instead, are trying to get a flavor that they assume the audience is looking for. (which is sad, because these commercial brews are what are actually defining the drinks).

 

[gunit00]

I haven't tasted many but the ones I have were earlier before mead became popular. (basically known to few, and mostly diehard rennies). They were often heavy on the honey, (and either clover or wildflower honey, which I hate the taste of quite honestly), and quite sweet. A cherry one I tasted actually tasted like fresh sweet cherries with honey drizzled on them. Ok, but too sweet and dessert-like (cherries are sweet enough, and the honey was a bit much). That was one of the better ones...

I have sampled out meads I have made, and, from what I get as a response, the consensus is that commercial meads now seem to taste like wines sweetened with honey. And, the general consensus there is that they are somewhat reviled. (mine, however, has been celebrated. I guess it's not hard to make something that tastes good when the rest is fairly bad).

So, I believe, in general, commercial meads are not good, and it's not worth searching for. Like most commercial ciders, the ingredients are not being respected for what they, in and of themselves are, and instead, are trying to get a flavor that they assume the audience is looking for. (which is sad, because these commercial brews are what are actually defining the drinks).

It is good to know that I am not alone here. There is nothing worst than mediocre meads in fancy bottles. I guess the industry has a lot of room to grow.

Keep posting your favorites. I think this list will be helpful for all.

 

[Maylar]

Only one I've tried so far was Main Mead Works Honeymaker. It's a dry traditional. It's OK, but boring.

If I had tasted that before making my own I probably wouldn't have.

 

[fuelish]

Only one I could find locally (couple years ago, perhaps there might be more available, now that mead is growing) was Chaucers, and it was horrible....gaggingly sweet, I drank a half glass, my wife drank a half glass, and the remainder of the bottle ended up going down the sink the next day. There's a time and place for sweet (as a counterbalance, say.....I have what what might be deemed a sweet oaked ginger-habanero bulk aging, it's sweet, but the sweet somewhat offsets the incredible heat and bite from the peppers and the ginger......I love it, but it would be disgusting if it were a plain mead. Gonna have to hit up a few wine stores again, as maybe, just maybe, there's some decent commercial mead available here in east TN....would love to try something professionally made that actually tastes good

 

[gunit00]

It sounds like there is a commercial mead crisis. It is no wonder mead has not taken off yet.

I have a question regarding Dansk Mjød Vikingernes Mjød. In this video, (https://youtu.be/AOkAq4IwHp8?t=69) , the owner of Dansk Mjød says that he adds alcohol to stop fermentation. Has anyone tried or heard of this method? I wonder what kid of alcohol he uses. Vodka? It almost sounds like a cheap shortcut to killing the yeast and getting a high abv wine. This might be one the main reasons I did not like the taste of Dansk Mjød.

Please continue to share your thoughts!

 

[Vex3521]

Agreed. Can't get it locally and not sure I'd want to hearing the feedback. Friend that flew home for the holidays found some local and hated it which set up the begging her to test mine out issue I got faced with, luckily she caved and saw that there is a difference and I won her over on mine. Makes me wonder if commercial is speeding it up and the added processing is leaving the homebrew vs commercial brew to be so different?

 

[Maylar]

It sounds like there is a commercial mead crisis. It is no wonder mead has not taken off yet.

I was at my local restaurant bar recently and their liquor distributor rep was there. I asked if they had any meads available and she said no, but they've had some requests for it... so maybe mead's time has come?

 

[SerifSansSerif]

It sounds like there is a commercial mead crisis. It is no wonder mead has not taken off yet.

Just the opposite. It's VERY much like the cider market which was nonexistent 4-5 years ago, now there's a million options exploding onto the scene. The problem is that it's new and that nobody knows what it should taste like

Trust me, A friend of mine introduced me to cider right around the time I was hoping to start brewing it about... Jesus.. 5-6 years ago? It was good, but it was a one off seasonal thing in a large city from a local brewery, blah blah blah...

For the next five years, I had to be content with Woodchuck while brewing my own. It's only in the last year to year and a half.. Probably juuuuuuust before Angry Orchard started hitting the bars with their MASSIVE advertising blitz ( major brewery trying to capitalize on a tiny yet growing trend and to utterly DOMINATE the market and thusly define cider), that public awareness hit and grew.

Mead is in a similar boat. It's just now getting recognition and it's tough as hell to find. When you do find it, it sucks.. and sucks hard from what I hear. The one difference is that there isn't a giant wine brewing and distributing company trying to go out there and promote the ever loving f*** out of their mead in order to capitalize on the trend and define what mead is. (which is a blessing and a curse. If commercial meaderies don't straighten up and create a decent product, the trend will die. On the other hand, it does allow for everyone to produce their own take on the brew).

In short, it's not a dying market, but an infant market.

 

[bob1852]

Lots of good meadery's out there. Not lots of good distribution channels. Yet.

Avoid Chaucers (many of their products aren't true meads anyways).

I like Moonlight, B-Nektar, Meridian Hive, Schramm's, etc.

 

[MarkKF]

The owner of Dansk Mjød says that he adds alcohol to stop fermentation. Has anyone tried or heard of this method? I wonder what kid of alcohol he uses. Vodka? It almost sounds like a cheap shortcut to killing the yeast and getting a high abv wine.

That's the age old method of making port or brandy or both.

 

[stella_tigre]

Glargh, so nice decent mead is not to be. We are, in Iowa, where we can get some pretty nice local cider at Sutliff cider. Ain't seen to mead place yet.

 

[loveofrose]

Lots of good meadery's out there. Not lots of good distribution channels. Yet.



Avoid Chaucers (many of their products aren't true meads anyways).



I like Moonlight, B-Nektar, Meridian Hive, Schramm's, etc.

+1. Excellent commercial mead does exist. Getting it in your state is the real trick.

 

[CrimsonYeti]

Brothers Drake out of Columbus Ohio is a decent Meadery. I particularly like their Sour Pawpaw fruit version.

 

[Maylar]

+1. Excellent commercial mead does exist. Getting it in your state is the real trick.

Bingo. I went looking for B.Nektar recently and the liquor store owner gave me the scoop on what it takes for a new brand to be approved for sale here in Connecticut. It cost money to apply, and the labels have to pass inspection, blah blah blah. A small meadery would be hard pressed to justify the expense.

But I do see mead as an up and coming thing. What we have to hope for is that when some major producer breaks into the market and starts big time advertising (ala Angry Orchard and Strongbow) their product isn't some sickly sweet rot.

 

[bob1852]

Bingo. I went looking for B.Nektar recently and the liquor store owner gave me the scoop on what it takes for a new brand to be approved for sale here in Connecticut. It cost money to apply, and the labels have to pass inspection, blah blah blah. A small meadery would be hard pressed to justify the expense.

But I do see mead as an up and coming thing. What we have to hope for is that when some major producer breaks into the market and starts big time advertising (ala Angry Orchard and Strongbow) their product isn't some sickly sweet rot.

Moonlight out of New Hampshire seems to be in the best position for this, based on what I've seen.

 

[gunit00]

Keep posting your favorites! I think it would be helpful for everyone to know who is making yummy mead.

 

[ThatVideoKid]

Moonlight is right near my house, Lust is fantastic

Btw they are now making a 14% apple wine(not Kurts) that is great, but sweet

 

[phoenixmead]

Medovina from Niwot Colorado. Now if any of you know where that is without looking it up I'll be impressed.
The owner is extremely nice and knows his craft well. He only distributes locally so finding his product outside of boulder County is almost impossible. Damn good mead and he makes a kicking hard cider. If you are ever in the area look him up.