Hydromelix Strawberry Mead (Chouchen)
A strawberry mead offering from Liqueurs Fisselier, a prolific producer of traditional Chouchen (mead from Brittany). Given its fruit flavours, this is technically a Melomel (Fruit-flavoured Mead).
Strawberry is a fairly common fruit flavouring for meads. It’s a fantastic Summer flavour and pairs nicely with desserts and even salads.
Appearance
The colour is a deep red clearly taken directly from the strawberries. It might be indistinguishable from strawberry juice in colour, but there is a vibrant glow to it.
Nose
A huge bouquet of strawberry aroma hits the nose before you’re anywhere near the glass! The aroma’s intensity hints that the very essence of strawberry flavour is condensed into this drink.
Taste
Some tartness, sourness and alcohol stands out on the first taste. A well-balanced body of strawberry flavour and sweetness quickly follows and the finish is surprisingly complex with the fruit sweetness carried by a small amount of dryness. With the aroma, I would have assumed this to be sweet like a modern flavoured cider, but it’s definitely a much more interesting drink.
The bright colour of this drink would have you judge it as a sickly sweet “alcopop” drink, but with its complexity this could easily pair with a lot of fresh, Summer dishes such as salads and would actually be best to avoid with very sweet desserts as you want to keep your drink just that little bit sweeter than the food.