Apis Póltorak Jadwiga

Brewed by Spółdzielnia Pszczelarska Apis
Style: Mead
Lublin, Poland

RBSG 06. Sweet lord, this is mead. Aroma similar to a tawny port. Red, golden; headless. Huge notes of honey, with hints of berries at the edges. Sugar, layered honey, huge in the mouth; complexity of sweetness suggests a dense Sauternes. Alcohol is far better hidden than the tawny port its nose suggests. Exquisite.

Sampled at RBSG06. Clear golden honey color, coats the glass, beautiful legs. Sweet honey aroma with some light spice. Sweet honey flavor, hints of berries. Very smooth.

"Beer" #19 RBSG 06. I’ve been wanting to try this for ages. It didn’t even remotely disappoint. Medium to light amber, looks like a cognac. Legs on this thing were unbelievable. Rich honey and grape aroma, specifically Muscat. Dear God this is good. Utterly smooth. Rich flavor of honey and berries. Honey doesn’t do this justice as a descriptor, it is like honey, but with allof honey’s good attributes magnified by 10 and all of honey’s poor attributes completely taken away. Freaking awesome, far and away the best thing I sampled over the evening. I’ve got to get a bottle of this.

Sampled a batch from 1997, bottled in 2004 (16% ABV). The pour was interesting. Nice golden amber color, pretty clear and thick (and no head). The fingers, as E mentioned, were wild. The aroma was sweet and oakey. The flavor was a bit overly sweet but very good. Honey comes through clearly and the alcohol doesn’t hide. The oak aging permeates every aspect of the flavor. Mouthfeel was syrup-like and the only downer to the beer, in my opinion.

It looks like a thick, fine brandy in the glass but smells of honey, oak, meadow flowers, nuts, and alcohol. Dangerously smooth and easy to drink, a light fruitiness and a suble smokiness are additions to the flavor. Very, very good. My favorite mead, to date.

<font size=-4>Thanks to <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/ViewUser.asp?UserID=1 frankenkitty for sharing this with The LoSBD.<font size=-1>

Bottle thanks to JohnC: Syrupy waves of ether pulse through the rich scotch colored liquor. The legs clutch the glass like a suckling child begging for more. The nose is smoky with dark chewy tamarind, maple syrup and pure aged honey. The flavor is dusty yet sweet. Smoky yet fresh and pleasant. Very different than other meads I’ve been used to drinking. Perhaps it’s the raspberries or wild rose, but this is just extremely foreign and beatiful. Like an exotic desert that you find after a long journey into the unknown. Yum!

Super sweet and syrupy. Very complex. Flavors of honey (obviously), apple, maple, flowers, raspberry, mint. A bit of a medicinal touch at times, like nyquil. I guess this would put you to bed just as easily. Since this is the only mead I’ve ever had, I can’t compare it. But, it is complex and tasty. I just wouldn’t be able to drink more than an ounce or two at a time. Rerate: After finally finishing the bottle, I had to take the score down a bit. It’s just too cloying and sweet to deserve a 4.4. Nice complexity of flavors, as I said, but it gets very medicinal and nauseating very quickly. Also, I don’t like raspberries, so that might have an effect as well. Glad I got a chance to try it, but I definitely won’t be coming back for more.

Looks like a quality bourbon in my glass. Smells like a cognac or rich sherry. Tastes like a dessert wine with strong alcohol, honey, oak, and floral highlights. I find it just so overwhelmingly sweet that I would be hard pressed to drink more than a few ounces of this stuff at a time, though.