Pirtle Sweet Mead

Brewed by Pirtle Winery
Style: Mead
Weston, Missouri USA

Medium gold body with a little bit of legs. The alcoholic nose is balanced with some vanilla and pears. There is also some wet dog hair. The taste has notes of strong dandelions and a little bit of hay. There is also a hint of pears. Strongly alcoholic, even for a mead. This is a little hot and would probably benefit from some aging.

Flowery aroma, starts sweet but finished dry. This bottle was clean and less sweet than most commercial meads. Not bad!

750ml bottle. Aroma of sweet honey and flowers. Pale golden color, mostly clear. Tangy, sweet, but odd, almost rotten flavor, lingering strongly sweet aftertaste, some alcohol here as well. Smooth, pleasant body. Strange off flavor in the middle, though, don’t know what that’s about.

The first mead in our flight at Indra’s Mead, Cider and Sake Tasting on 8/31/07. Pours a sparkling light yellow, like a chardonnay. The nose is of honey and a funky note that reminds me of the juice in a jar of green olives; doesn’t exactly "blend" with the honey note. Light, smooth and clean on the palate the flavor is uber-sweet thin honey with a dry finish. This one’s OK, but it’s just way too sweet for my tastes.

<<RERATE 8/31/07>> First Mead of the night at the Indra - Cider, Sake and Mead tasting 8/31/07. Pour is clear, pale yellow. Aroma of honey, and certainly a bunch of sweetness. Taste is much as previously rated, though there is a definite metallic presence in the finish that was new.

<<ORIGINAL RATING>> Sample at Vineyard. Aroma is honey, though can smell oak as well. Taste is honey, though not overpowering. Finish is long and the body is big. I have not tasted many meads, but I liked this one quite a bit. ORIGINAL RATING 6,3,7,3,13 (3.2)

The wine bottle poured a perfectly clear, delicate pale yellow colored beverage that looked similar to a light Chablis and that left beautiful long legs on the inside of the glass as I swirled it round. The aroma was of ... you guessed it ... honey, primarily, but there were wonderful notes of oak and just a hint of whiskey. Was this mead aged in reused oak barrels originally used to age whiskey? The body was full with a syrup-like texture and a crisp, long finish. The flavor was initially quite sweet but quickly calmed down and the oak and whiskey characters came to play on the palate and lasted through the respectable finish. There was a slight alcohol warmth at the very end of the finish.