Bottle. Pours reddish purple Kool-Aid with pink head. Quick dissipation of the head. Nose and taste is clove forward with blackberry, honey, vanilla, orange peel and berry fruit. Finishes with a bit of a disjointed clove note in the late finish. Lighter bodied.

500ml? bottle - split amongst some co-workers. Poured a very clear, almost grey-yellow color without anything more than a wispy head that disappears. Aroma is sweet honey, some light fruits. Black pepper came out after it warmed a few minutes. Flavor was light, sweet honey. Not cloyingly sweet. There were some very light notes of pepper on the tongue. Interestingly low ABV for a mead as most of the ones I’ve had are in the double digits.

Bottle, courtesy of my sister 15_2_Kuhnhenn, pours with a clear watery gold body and very brief near white head. The aroma offers up honey and slight apple cider notes before tropical hard candy is noticed. Well above those notes is a delicate vague peppery sense. The taste has carbonation thinned honey sweetness that gets into a mild vague tropical sweetness. It ends on the dry side. Pretty neat.

Bottle at Chriso’s Pre-GBBF Shindig 2013. It pours deep amber with a small white head. The nose is juicy cherry, honey, earth, caramel and dried fruit. The taste is juicy cherry, lemon, honey, apple, oily, tangy citrus, light tart edge, date, prune and dried blueberry. Medium+ body, low carbonation and oily mouth-feel. Juicy and well-balanced. I thought this one worked rather well.

Bottle, courtesy of my sister 15_2_Kuhnhenn, pours with a clear watery looking body that has a yellow sort of tint to it. The aroma is sweet with smooth honey, lime sweet pear notes and then booze. The taste delivers smooth sweet slick honey mixed with sugary syrup pear like notes and a moderate degree of waxy honey. Nice smooth sipper but I was expecting a bit of prickly pear funky earthiness. Nice though.

Bottle. Pours with a clear peach to rosé hued body with a white ring of foam. More legs than lace. Spicy aromas with pronounced pie cherry, floral honey, fusel alcohol and a lot of barrel. Some odd, anise like spiciness that vaguely reminds me of angostura bitters. Lots of tannin and a good bit of heat. Flavors are medium dry, boozy and tannic. Cherry skins and barrel. Pie cherry sweetness and floral honey. Lowish but more than petulant carb. Lingering spicy character. Tannins dry things out. Slightly off dry, but not sweet, warming, thinner body is blustered by carbonation. All in all it’s taste as long as I don’t try to overthink it. Good but busy.

Bottle from Taylor’s Market in Sacramento, CA. Pours rather orange with a pinkish tinged slight white head. Aroma could be cherry and honey. Near med body. Flavor is fairly tart cooking cherry. A little honey, but this is cherry tart. Nice drink. With time the honey seems to get stronger, and I’m licking my lips and finding sweet. Still seems tart tho.

Bouteille de 50 cl, courtesy of and shared with Ibrew2or3. Thanks Dave for hauling this one to Belgium. Dorée claire laissant un col blanc disparate qui retombe vite. Arôme donne immédiatement le ton avec un léger bouquet poivré qui domine sans pour cela nuire à l’expérience olfactive. Retrouve en rétro-nasal ce bouquet typique de miel avec un ajout modéré, voire faible, de la mangue. Palais est mielleux, et ce dernier, aux notes habituellement liquoreuse-sucrée se retrouve plus léger et compenser par ce profil effervescent qui pousse l’enveloppe vers un cidre, mais sans l’astringence. Le côté poivré évolue tout au long de la dégustation et n’est pas franchement dérangeant. On retrouve en retrait l’ajout doux et tropical de la mangue ponctué par le miel. A seulement 6%, c’est facile à boire, complexe et reste dans une catégorie qui lui est propre. Un peu dur de classer cet hydromel tant on n’est pas dans un style habituel pour ce genre de produit.