2021 Oak Barrel Mead
Honey
WA - Puget Sound
$33.00 / 750 mL Bottle
- Alcohol 14%
Every once in awhile a Mead comes along that is more than it seems. This Mead, traditionally made with just honey with nothing but time spent in a barrel for additional balance and flavor actually leave a lot of room for clever manipulation to the flavor while stating true to it's original recipe.
To start with, there's nothing saying I can't change the honey source. Y'all know I've done that before with really special results. Secondly, the barrel isn't *always* a previously filled Bourbon barrel though it usually is.
So what makes this one different? A lightly caramelized Wildflower honey with tinges of chocolate and caramel took a long nap in a freshly emptied Tequila barrel brought here from Mexico itself. How about that for unique!?!
How's it taste? In a word: Magic.
Much like the effect the bourbon barrel has on a Mead this Mead does not immediately taste like the liquor the barrel soaked up in it's previous life. A dangerous malty sweetness on the nose is vaguely reminiscent of a high end Tequila but the honey noyes come through in equal power and don't threaten to immediately bring back flashbacks of rough Tequila filled nights. (Just me who's had those? 😆) a tinge of oak hits the pallette that perfectly compliments the smoothness of this mellow, but complex traditional.