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.

Clear gold. Not much to look at, but most meads aren’t. Awesome nose - floral perfume, hint of opium, honey, subtle sweet chiles, and a bit of alcohol in the background. Complex aroma, could smell it all day. Flavor is sweet, earthy, and floral up front. All are assassinated by the chiles in the second half and finish. The heat is dry and earthy with a touch of bittersweet (combine a jalapeno and habanero with some honey). Cool taste. Should pair very well with a number of different foods. Soft and smooth palate gets shock treatment from the heat. Lively yet soft. I like spicy stuff, so I dig it.

this was a surprise. A richer fold than your average mead. A much woodier nose than I’ve ever dounf on a mead with the honey playing second fiddle to the wood. Still as I’d expect from any good mead. The flavor was intriguing to say the least. An initial thrust of sweet honey is rapidly domnated by a strong pepper burn. This is not the horrid gut wrenching pepper of a certain bottom 50 beer but rather the sweet burn of a GOOD hot sauce. The finish is surprisingly smooth for the bite. Perhaps the best commrlercially available pepper flavored alcoholic beverage I’ve ever tried.

Holy cow and then some. The aroma on this one has now set the bar! To give an indication about my feelings on this one, I drew a big heart in my notebook at the top of the page! It smells just fantastic and I couldn’t take my nose out of the glass for several hours, or so it seemed. Even once the glass was empty I kept shoving my nose down in there. I can still imagine it. This was just a blast of flowers. Flowers flowers flowers. Perfumed. Its almost a baby powder type of floral perfume but certinaly not in a bad way. I found myself shocked that such an aroma could be created in a beverage. Sublime was just about the right word. As you can tell, I’m fascinated and obsessed with the nose on this. Flavor is equally floral upfront, with just a touch of flower honey that obviously gives way a burst of tightly focused prickly heat at the back of the mouth and throat. I don’t find the heat to be all that over bearing actually, somewhat medium. Certainly drinkable. Mouthfeel was a touch thinner than I’d like, especially after having Apis Jadwiga only a few days ago - this one doesn’t have that same full honeyed palate. I still love this one anyway! Yet another huge thanks to Brent for sharing.

I thought this was delicious. Definitely something that needs to be paired with food. It’s interesting to me the alcohol in the nose blends rather nicely with the heat from the peppers. This follows through on the palate, you get just a hint of heat that warms your whole body as it goes down. The mead is very light and delicate, but the pepper spice is great, and not overwhelming, but more like a nicely made salsa. Delicious!

(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!

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.

Astonished at the low rating on this one, though I did only sample an ounce, but mead is best in small quantities anyway. Golden honey colored. Ambrosic, heavy and sweet honey aroma with wonderful pepperiness. Could scarcely smell better. Flavor was of honey though not as powerful as the aroma. Medium-bodied with a decent peppery quality. Quite enjoyable to sample.