Honey Sun Iqhilika (Mead) - Chili

Brewed by Makana Meadery
Style: Mead
Grahamstown, South Africa

Name: Iqhilika African Birds Eye Chili
Date: December 04, 2009
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting
Appearance: clear gold, thick and viscous
Aroma: sweet honey aroma with lots of chili peppers
Flavor: flavor starts of sweet before the peppers kick in big time, lingering chili finish
Overall: even with the huge chili character the base sweet honey mead adds the needed balance
Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 12/20
Rating: 3.1/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: ** /4

The best mead I’ve tasted so far. Reminds me of Church Brew Mole but mexi mole’ is actually an almost black opaque stout and this is yellow and clear. Spicy aroma, you know its gonna be hot. Spicy feel on the tongue. Hot and spice. No carbonation. A little whiskey in there too. Nice for a mead and pleasantly surprizing. Fun. Hot wings finish. Nice mead experience for a change. I thought meade was a lost cause! Yes, something like chilli creek but much higher quality and viscosity.

Glass from bottle, Bavarian Lodge. I had their herbal mead a few months before, and, as a chile-head, thought this would be a slam dunk. Not quite. No faults with its golden mead color. But when I smell it, I get the expected pepper, which I thought were more like jalapeños, but also a whiff of vinegar. Bottle’s nearly empty, I think, maybe there’s been too much air in it. But there’s the vinegar in the taste, too. Pepper profile is like Cave Creek Chili Beer. Even so, I score it a little higher than I probably should; maybe I need to sample a fresh bottle, but I’m in no hurry to look for one.

Bottle. Pours a nice honey gold with decent legs. The aroma is mild honey, some floral notes, and a hint of sweet pepperiness, and a distant tar note. The flavor is simple, uncomplex honey with a very distinct peppery note, a little bit of paper, and a touch of rosewater. The finish is gentle and anassuming, but without much character. The aftertaste of the first sip or two, though, gives a tingling of capsaicin heat. After several sips it becomes quite spicy, and in a pretty sophisticated way. The base mead is unimpressive, so the pepper really adds to it in my opinion. I could drink more of this if it cost less.

Very spicy. Quite pleasant though it takes some getting used to. Definitely for sipping only.

PPWD Show. Probably the most unique thing that I tried at the show. Very different. This mead was quite smoky in the nose and the initial flavor being honey, the end being that spicy chili, hit you right in the nose, like it says like wassabi. Very nice. I couldn’t drink a lot but I could see it used as a nice apertif.

Ok, the bottle is the coolest thing here. Thanks for sharing, csbosox. The body is medium gold. The aroma was sweet honey with some chilis. There was also some gym sweat socks that have been soaked in nail polish remover. The taste was lightly sweet at first with a spicy finish. There were some hints of oxidation. Certainly a unique experience.

Pours crystal clear and golden. The aroma has some dry-ish honey with a bit of chili pepper. Overall the aroma is more on the honey side than spicy with lots of smoothness. Medium thin body that starts out a bit smooth and then ends harsh grainy and a bit abrasive. From some of the review I’d read I expected the taste to be far more spicy and brutal, but I have quite tolerance for spiciness, so not much phasing occurred, although there is apparent spice. The taste has definite chili peppers in the front, but not too harsh. There is also some honey and smoothness of mead to balance things off a bit. I had this on its own, but I suspect for spicy food lovers this would be a fine thing to have with some kicked up Indian or Mexican food. It is enjoyable, but doesn’t show any nuances as the chilis take away any of those trait. A fun mead, but quite one dimensional. If you just get one from this brewery, go with the herbal since it is a thing of beauty, this is merely a nice novelty.