Ramapo Valley Passover Honey Beer

Brewed by Ramapo Valley Brewery
Style: Mead
Hilburn, New York USA

What a huge amount of foam this beer has! It pours a honey golden color with a very lively soapy head. The liviness passes but the foam remains for quite some time. It took a while before the glass would hold the entire 12 ounces. There is a significant amount of carbonation that bubbles up from the bottome. That combines with the soapy bubbles of foam to make this a very physically active beer. The aroma is honey, yeast and hops. First taste is honey but with some tartness as well, perhaps green apples. As a matter of fact, it tastes a lot like a cider. Interesting beer.

Pours a one finger, white head that quickly fades to a ring leaving no lace. Nose is crushed apple peelings. Clear pale amber color. Light carbonation and light-medium bodied. Starts and finishes with a slight sour apple/vinegar flavor but sweetness is there without any noticeable hops, doesn’t really taste like beer. In fact is it beer? Gluten free means no malt. Think of it as a sweet mead. $1.60 for a 12oz bottle from Colonial Spirits Acton, Ma.

Interesting beer in the fact it is brewed with out any malted barley, and is really a mead, not a beer. Pours to a bright, deep golden color, with a tight white head that fades, and a moderate amount of carbonation. The nose on this beer is sweet, with aromas of clover honey, and grassy notes. The palate is soft, and slick on the tongue, with lots of honey sweetness, and light syrup. This beer finishes with more honey sweetness, and finishes with some hop bitterenss, but ends cloying with honey sweetness. A tasty and sweet mead, but clearly not a beer. Worth a try, and imagine one to enjoy if you are Jewish, and observe Passover, and want to enjoy a "beer" during Passover.

Golden coloured with no head. Stinks of honey, way overdone. Way too sweet in mout, like liquid watery honey, and light lemony notes. This is a rather bland mead, if this is what this is. Bottle at the Sunset Grill, Boston, Feb. 11, 2006.

2006 bottle consumed 2/24/06. Crystal clear copper, with light, rosy orange hues. Head immediately fizzles to ring. Large bubbles cover the sides. Light hoppiness initially (light grass), pollen, flowers and then large amounts of fermented honey/molasses notes. Lightly sourish, cidery notes, or however you describe that distinctive aroma. Moderately sweet, no yeast. Flavor of light molasses, or honey, can’t tell the difference yet. Some light bittering hops on the end and maybe a touch of DMS or meatiness. Medium attenuation, definitely sweet, but the hops do balance and the sharpness from fermentation does too. Unfortunately, I do get a fair amount of tin on the finish. Large bubbled, somewhat sharp carbonation, lightly sticky, honeyish texture, though watery on end too. They definitely should not be calling this a beer on the label.

Bottle at the sunset grill,Boston... Aroma:Chemical honey... Appearance:Clear gold,no head.... Flavor:Strong honey flavor,watery... I rate it like a beer not like a mead...

Honestly, I don’t think this was a mead. The body is light golden with a thin white head. The aroma is peaches with some cinnamon and honey. The taste was sweet with honey, pears and cinnamon. I found this to be very sweet. However, after realizing it was a mead, that is not out of line.

12 oz bottle, well chilled, purchased at my place of employment (City Market, Burlington). Pours an oily, clear light amber-gold with a tiny fizzy head quick-diminishing....simple floral-honey aroma, not unpleasant but rather weak and extremely sweet....fizzy, cidery mouthfeel, flavor is pretty much all honey and a touch of apple, really not bad at all except for the fairly strong mineral-iron quality near the finish...much like a cheap 6-pack-type cider (Woodchuck, Ace et al.), more readily drinkable than any mead I’ve had but without much character or interest.