Medovina Classic Mead - Off Dry

Brewed by Medovina Meadery
Style: Mead
Niwot, Colorado USA

A hazy light yellow mead - ofcourse with no head. The aroma is sweet with strong notes of honey, while the flavor is sweet with notes of both honey and rosehips.

Date: July 16, 2006
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting
Appearance: slightly hazy very pale yellow
Aroma: hot spiced honey aroma
Flavor: very hot flavor, nice spices covered up by the hot alcohol
Overall: undrinkable due to too hot

Date: September 30, 2007
Mode: bottle
Source: tasting
Vintage: 2004
Score: 2.0 to 2.6
Aroma: heat has faded and the aroma is now sweet and slightly spicy
Flavor: flavor is still hot but the alcohol is fading allowing the honey and spices to come through
Overall: still needs another few years

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 2.9/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: *4

2004 vintage: Pours a transparent pale champaign golden with thin legs. Aroma of fresh floral honey with a touch of citrus and clover. Body starts semi-dry as the name suggests with some floral grassy notes and honey complexity. Finishes dry and warming. A pretty decent, crisp mead, but I like a little more sweetness.

Purchased at Liquor Mart in Boulder. Clear soft yellow... sweet honey and candy-like aroma of white grapes, vanilla, pears and sugar. Mouthfeel is slightly prickly, certainly dry, and it affects my mouth in the same manner than wine does, something which I don’t entirely like. Thin palate, it leaves a nice residual sweet honey and pear coating in the mouth but also leaves the mouth parched. I like the dry characteristics of this mead but I’m not as impressed with the flavor.

RBSG 2006 - DC Grand Tasting Lineup Yellow, clear, nose of honey, kiwi, melon, strong musky alcohol. The honey is always present, but the flavor’s tart and fruity. Eh, not that great of a mead.

2002 vintage (bottled in 2003). No head (still). Body is hazy light yellow. Aroma is notes of honey, flowers, orange, vanilla, caramel, hints of lime, grass, alcohol, and oak. Flavor is heavily sweet, moderately acidic. Finish is moderately sweet, moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Medium to full body, watery/syrupy texture, flat carbonation, lightly/moderately astringent. Very similar to the Semi Sweet, but (as expected) a tiny bit less sweetness and body. And just as similarly, one of the most insanely drinkable and delicious meads I’ve ever had. The aroma is relaxed and gentle, but very attractive and clean (no gasoline or other off notes). But it’s in the mouth where it really shines...nice tannic grip, like wine, and an excellent balance of sweet and tart (and maybe a hair of bitterness). Not sticky, like many meads, this is more like wine than a honey/syrup concoction. This meadery’s products are my girlfriend’s favorite as well, and she has sampled virtually all the meads that I have (including Apis Jadwiga). Recommend serving at about 55F and letting it breathe (and warm)...like wine, aeration and gradual warming (up to about 70F or so) improve the nose. Unfiltered, natural, and something I’m seriously threatening to buy a full case of (the Semi Sweet) to let age and further evolve.

Sampled at RBSG 2006 grand tasting. in bottle. scent: honey. yummy flavor, with alcohol making an imprint on the tongue. an amazing mead.

Evenly hazy; pale yellow hue. Sweet and vinous nose was very inviting. Mouthfeel was delicate and lightly carbonated. Sweet and sugar-water-like base (but not too sweet) complemented by a strong alcohol center (but definitely not too alcoholic). Notes of honey, spicy flowers, subtle wood … and a curious note of lime (as Ernest suggested) in the finish. I haven’t had too many meads before, but this one seems very nice, and it’s very drinkable (not overly sweet and/or cloying). It has a white wine-like element for sure, but it’s very different from white wine. I found it very enjoyable to drink.