Lurgashall Reserve / Special Reserve Mead

Brewed by Lurgashall Mead
Style: Mead
Lurgashall, England

Bottled at Stockholm Beer Festival (as Lurgashall Malmesbury Reserve Mead, 17%). Clear still golden. Concentrated menthe-like honey aroma. Sweet and full bodied. A powerful, liqueurlike mead, complex and arousing. The sweetness gets evermore intense. Finishes with warming alcohol.

Bottled@SBWF2008 (as Lurgashall Malmesbury Reserve Mead). Yellowish golden colour, no head. Aroma is honey and fruits along with some alcohol and wood. Flavour is bigtime wood and honey along with some warming alcohol. Complex and nice.

(2002 Vintage) Clear light apple juice body. Aroma is moderately sweet, whisky, vanilla, light rum -- the overall effect is strongly alcohol, and not particularly inviting. Taste is light whisky up top, quickly overtaken by an incredibly strong honey sweetness, finishing honey and whisky, some wood, light rum. Once I can convince my hand to pick up the glass again, the tongue does adjust its threshold to handle the treacly sweetness. Still, the key here is tolerate, not enjoy. I assume there is a market for this beverage -- to each, his/her own.

750ml bottle from Utobeer, London. A friend bought this for me for Christmas and I have been savingit for a special occasion, which for me is Easter Sunday late afternoon. Let me straight away that I love mead. This is deep luminous gold wiht no head. Some nail varnish (acetone) but then nutty nougat. Thick unctious in mouth with rich honey and then white choc, nougat and praline. Deep, rich and satisfying, but light and agile at the same time. Oh and then it is very sweet. Rather gorgeous

Bottle... 2005 vintage... Clear, almost colorless. Sweet, honey nose with a touch of earthy wood, vanilla and maybe rum. The flavor is sweet up front with lots of honey, followed by an alcoholic, tangy, dryness. Full-bodied and syrupy with the tiniest rumor of carbonation. Finishes sweet, then warm and dry. I like it. A sipper for certain.

This smells like honeycombs, wax and all. Mingled with that is a woody, earthy aroma with some rock candy sweetness. The body is an ultra-pale gold and there’s no signs of carbonation. This is very smooth and warm in the mouth. The taste is honey, alcohol, damp soil, whiskey, and hard woods. The finish is sweet, but very, very dry. Alcohol warmth fills the mouth and sinuses. This is a mead I will definitely be drinking again.

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2005 Bottle at 48 degrees. Poured clear golden color with good legs. Heavy honey aroma. Light to medium body with a smooth texture. Medium honey sweet flavor with a medium sweet finish of moderate duration. Pleasing.

2004 vintage. No head (still). Body is clear light yellow. Aroma is notes of paint thinner, turpentine, gasoline, acetone, hints of honey, lime, and spruce. Flavor is heavily sweet, lightly acidic. Finish is moderately sweet, moderately acidic, unclean. Full body, syrupy texture, flat carbonation, moderately alcoholic, lightly astringent. Hope you like fusel alcohols, ’cause this is full of ’em. It’s meads like this that make me thankful that a world class meadery like Medovina is right down the road. Embarassing, awful, drain pour.