Afon Mêl Honey Mead
This is a “Welsh honey mead” from the New Quay Honey Farm. They produce a variety of flavours, but this appears to be their “pure” honey mead offering.
The farm is based in Ceredigion and has been a bee-keeping farm since 1995. Today they produce honeys, meads, sweets and other products dervived from honey.
They claim to ferment at ambient temperatures using Wildflower Honey from their own hives before maturing in casks for a mature flavour. Their process supposedly takes two years, so we would hope for some good results at the end of that period!
This classic mead comes in both a sweet and medium versions. It is the sweet version tasted below.
Appearance
This mead is a quite light in colour, but not as light as something graped-based like Lindisfarne mead. The legs really cling to the glass which made me think it was a lot stronger than the 13% ABV as it says on the bottle.
Nose
This is definitely not shy on the aroma! Quite a few simple means manage to summon only a whiff of sweetness, but this packs a sweet and tangy punch that opens up your nostrils.
Taste
The initial taste brings a duality of sweetness and acidity. There are notes of apricot perhaps and it finishes with a toastiness (toasted broiche?).