Honey Sun Iqhilika (Mead) - Chili

Brewed by Makana Meadery
Style: Mead
Grahamstown, South Africa

Bottle from Belmont Station
Burnished gold colour. Some legs on it. Still. Spicy, very herbal piripiri-like aroma. Massive heat - it starts out like it’s going to be really abrasive, but finishes quite sweet with cinnamon, mace, a fresh red chile flavour and lingering heat. Unique, powerful and complex...I love it.

Bottle... O-Town Throwdown... Clear, light yellow mead. Perfumy nose with notes of orange blossom honey, leather and subtle southwestern chili pepper. Tart, dry flavor that doesn’t bite right away, but the heat builds up slowly in the mouth and throat. Light-bodied with just a rumor of carbonation. Tangy, tongue and throat-warming finish. Interesting for certain. Thanks to boboski for the sample!

DO NOT WANT! Hibiscus flowers and fuesal chile aroma, with a good dose of porta-john chemical cleaner. Hits the tongue and burns, tingles and stuns the palate. Just below hot, it sits on the tongue and fizzles and frys and tastes like pepper-ladel gasoline. Clark is right, the base mead for this thing is hideous. I need to figure out what to do with the rest of this bottle.

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.

This bottled mead from a bottle shop poured no head at all. The body was a transparent uncarbonated pee-yellow color. It had amild malt spice thin start and a tingly hot shit hot spice finish! Warning HOT SPICE! Will burn! The flavor is very peppery hot. It is soft at first and fools you then BAAM! The burn comes on like a rocket. Hot spice sweet peppers in the finish. Drastically soft at first then it sneaks up on you and BAAM! the heat hits you like a brick. Way too hot to drink. Months later it is still untouched in my fridge. Its a lot like a Cave Creek Chili beer. Good for hot lovers I guess bu t not for me.

Glass at Sunset Grill on 8/13/07
Clear, chardonnay-colored mead, with feeble legs.
Is this a novelty mead? The commercial description, which I assume is from the brewery, certainly makes it sound like one.
And tasting it, I would wholeheartedly agree. I barely even remember the aroma. The chilis make little impression in the nose, just like in a chili beer, while there is some mineral and phenolic activity, more akin to white wine and white pepper. Dry in the nose, and with mostly well-concealed alcohol.
Then the flavor. First of all, there are few bigger fans of chili beverages out there than myself, so that’s not the problem. No, I think the problem stems more from the fact that the mead in here tastes like it’s actually cheap, boxed blush wine. Chablis, anyone?

(750ml bottle) Courtesy of Oakes. Clear amber. Nose of cinnamon hearts. Flavour is highly spiced with cinnamon, mint and chili. Lasting spiced flavour with a finish mixed with perfume and pepper. Unbelievably good stuff. Great experience!

Bottle at patrick767 gathering. Transparent and a yellow hue. Nose was a little bit of honey, sweet and spicy. Flavor was some honey, spicy, HOT and peppery. Mouthfeel was HOT and spicy. Light in body. Oh my God was this HOT. I needed ice water after this one! I like hot and spicy, but this was way over-the-top in that category. Never again!