Wild Blossom Nau-t-gal / Nau-t-guy

Brewed by Wild Blossom Meadery & Winery
Style: Mead
Chicago, Illinois USA

What a bottle! Huge thanks to Rayboy for giving me a sample. The nose is the perfect blend of whiskey and honey, as is drinking this itself. Smooth and flavorful, I would of liked a bit more expressiveness in the mid and finish. Great stuff.

A huge thanks Rayboy01 for a pour at DLD ’07. this was the biggest surprise of the day. Just unbelievable. appearance was a clear deep rusty golden with no head. nose has alcohol, but more importantly honey and wood, vanilla and caramel and actually some floral hints as well. the flavor was probably the sweetest syrupiest thing ever, but it was not at all cloying and, much to the contrary, quite delicious. somehow despite being so sweet there was a sense of balance and craft within it. a surprising sourness also was there on the sides of the back of my tongue at the end of the profile. texture was great. the word "mellifluous" kept coming to mind. usually you mean that to apply to speech, but it somehow is the most apt word for this mead i can think of. incidentally, way better than the other mead i have had: Bells Cyder.

Bottle, labeled as 16%. No head (still). Body is medium amber. Aroma is notes of whisky/bourbon, vanilla, honey, butterscotch, alcohol, wood, light notes of plastic, vegetables (sauerkraut-ish). Flavor is heavily sweet, lightly acidic. Finish is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly acidic. Medium to full body, syrupy texture, flat carbonation, moderately to heavily alcoholic. Uncomfortably sweet and not particularly clean, but I can understand why it’s highly rated; it’s big and bold like Jadwiga, so is sure to please the Imperial Stout lover, etc.

500ml, 2005-Sweet Desire vintage. appearance is a nice copper with yellow tint. looks sorta like a lighter color brandy. looks very sexy. nose has really nice bourbon, honey, and smoke. wow!! that flavor soft bourbon notes that rich and complex that finishes mildly sweet honey. the bourbon and honey works so well together. other taste notes include strawberry, coconut, and port wine flavors. the alcohol is very well hidden, no taste, no bite, just a little warmth. mouthfeel full, rich, and perfect. wonderful flavors, perfectly balanced and complex. this was really something special and unique.

2006 500ml. lab bottle. Clear yellow/golden color, obviously still. Beautiful aroma! First thing I smelled was whiskey, not bourbon, along with vanilla. After a few sniffs, the smell of sweet honey comes on strong, along with some oak, wildflowers and a bit of smoke. I must have sniffed this for at least five minutes before taking my first sip, and what a great first sip it was! Sweet, but not nearly as sweet as I expected. Honey, apples and vanilla meld together perfectly on the tongue, with the whiskey flavor right behind, but much more subdued than the aroma led me to believe. Silky mouthfeel with a very warming alcoholic finish. Fantastic mead!

500ml @ 16%abv....had this sitting around for awhile and decided to bust this one out as a great way to ring in he Thai new year!...appearance: smooth amber and has a great pair of legs like a glass of wine would....aroma: whoa! molasses, brown sugar, bourbon, vanillla. sweet. did i mention bourbon?......taste: the sweetness associated with honey. a little swirl in the mouth invites a slightly sour texture into the mix and some alcohol pervades in the background. the texture is pretty thin but not in a negative way....i’m really enjoying this first glass and am bound to have it again. can the jadwiga live up to this? i will soon find out!

500 ml bottle. Big thanks to drewmeadme for this one. Pours a clear amber orange glowing and beautiful. Nose is a little too much alcohol for me at first but that fades with enough swirls to bourbon, brown sugar, fruit, and some sourness. This mead is balanced so well with fruit, strawberries, honey, and sugar flavors. A little bit of heat comes out but its not overdone and some how is balanced really well in this style and at 16% it is very well hidden. If you rate this to style I can’t imagine a better tasting mead. A damn fine beverage thanks again to andrew.

Rating #1400

Sweet Desire’s <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/beerimages/full_size/ packaging complements the intrigue and sexiness which we’ll later find is already inherent to the mead itself. (And when this bottle was uveiled at our December get-together... let’s just say that Winston wasn’t the only Wood in the room! ) Pours still with a deep, amber color and thick, sticky legs while a haze of dust hangs in motionless suspension. Bottle design adds a point to appearance rating. Aroma has a well-honeyed base with a smoky lean and notes of whisky, moss, tree bark, sweet apples and finally light alcohol which only creeps in at the finish. Smooth and soothing in the mouth and throat, but I find a slight burn as it reaches the stomach so I might suggest to pair this with a biscuit or some cheese. Flavor is sweet and powerful, with every essence of the aroma rolling around the tongue in sweet ecstacy while every nuance of the aftertaste elicits a lingering afterglow. After sampling a bottle on my own (over the course of a month), I can safely say that I can find absolutely nothing wrong with this and thereby offer it my first ever "5".

<font size=-4>Bottle purchased from <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Place/illinois/chicag , Chicago, Illinois 60643, after sampling at the <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/events-detail.asp?eve "Monthly" Chicagoland Ratebeer Gathering</font>

Edit, 2/15/08:The rating above was for the ’05 Vintage. I sampled "Sweet Desire" again (the ’06 -gal along with the ’06 -guy) some months ago and, along with other afficianados whom have sampled both vintages, cannot believe they have been so carelessly lumped together. Incredibly bone-headed decision. My rating for the ’06 averaged to a 4.1 (7/4/7/9/17), but I refuse to alter my score above. They are two separate meads. ’06 poured a still, pale golden with big legs. Much alcohol up front with mild licorice and apple. (The "-guy" shows notes of vanilla, it’s true.) There was a huge, harsh burn upon tasting, but a big honey sweetness came back around quickly to soothe. Tart apple makes a nice showing as well. Not as complex as the ’05 but still, a very, very good mead.