White Winter Black Harbor

Brewed by White Winter Winery
Style: Mead
Iron River, Wisconsin USA

Rating number 2400 (and number 100 on the Outciders list) if I can figure out how to open the wax on this bad boy! Huge thanks to tytoanderso for this gem and some of the other white winters! Pours thick, like a port, but a darker and slight brown tinge to the otherwise red hue. The alcohol legs on this thing are monstrous! Huge and thick, stuck on as if by glue. Tons of alcohol on the aroma, but a not nasal burningly so. Currant berries that are a bit bitter, honey, vanilla, wood tannins, a bit of butteryness, raspberry, grappa. Taste is thick and soothing with a lot of berry, oxidized brown sugar, vanilla, wood, port and a decent amount of burn to remind you of the 21% ABV. Long, long, long duration that keeps evolving, with the currants and oak tannins taking a strangle hold on the honey wine. Now I am ready for another sip, yes, alcohol, and then rich jam and Madeira notes, brown sugar and vanilla oak, but still surprisingly low residual sweetness; not even remotely close to being cloying (like many detractors of Jadwiga can claim). Definitely thick and supremely alcohol, but not as viscous as one would expect on a mead of this alcohol (grain spirits are added which may cut this quite a bit). Deccadent, and pretty good. This stuff will get make one merrily smashed. Love it!

Mor maroon in its color than the balck, same nice wine like appearance. Smells even sweeter I’d have to say cherry in it though from the aroma not currant and a light wood note. Great full well coated palate. Tastes like a PORT sweet sugars a little currant, a big warm swallow. Deliciously port like & I love port!

Great Taste. Near the end of the festival, when one has the fortitude to hit the high alcohol meads. Notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, toast, apricot, and buckwheat honey. Very viscous, as a good mead should be. Perhaps not quite as complex as Jadwiga, but very good nonetheless.

[Bottle, at GTMW ’09] Pours blood red and leaves very nice legs. Aroma is a little boozy, but otherwise good, with a lot of fruit and maple syrup. The taste has a lot of black currant, a little maple syrup again, and notes of blackberry. Good, thick mouthfeel with a long finish. This was a good mead that reminds me a little of Kurpiowski (although not as boozy, and lacked the port notes) and was enjoyable.

Bottle sampled at the Great Taste of the Midwest (8/9/08): Pours a viscous dark amber with nice sticky legs. Aroma of rich sweet caramel, brown sugar, and dark fruits. Body starts fairly full and caramely dark honey sweet with a touch of tart fruity balance. Pretty smooth and hides the alcohol fairly well. A very complex and enjoyable mead.

Sampled @ DLD 09 courtesy of skyview. I begin by saying my experience with meads has been fairly limited. The pour was clear reddish much like some wines. The aroma is a pleasing blend of sweet honey and various dark reddish fruits with the added depth of oak. The flavor was honey sweetness in the beginning with tart fruits taking over mid palate. Was the alcohol present, sure, but not 21 % worth. Nice change of pace.

4/25/2009: White Winter Black Harbor is sweet with high alcohol and a dry finish. After the initial honey sweetness, the pleasing tart fruitiness tickles the palate. This mead has a pale violet color and doesn’t seem over the top. However, a 21% mead for #2 of the day is probably not the best way to start, but what the hell, why not?!

Sample from bottle at Dark Lord Day 2009. Rating #27 for this beer.

Sampled at DLD thanks to skyview light golden red like a marsala aromas of alcohol,fruits,honey,wood taste was like a fine brandy a real warmer with a 21 abv a sipper after dinner