- Honey Mead -

The Solstice is here and as always the mead is in my hand. Litha is upon us and the hilltop solstice and its fires call for the strengthening of the sun. But what has this to do with the mead? Well, actually nothing: a happy coincidence. The Medium Honey Mead is the core of the Afon Mel range in my opinion; it is the spring from which the Afon flows. This is the mead I return to again and again. I drink it for festivals, for special occasions, to introduce people to real mead, for fun, because it has been a hard Tuesday. In short, this is Mead, the Mead. A strong claim I know but I will stand by it.

The medium honey gives this mead the perfect mix of sweetness combined with an edge that stops it becoming too much. I have not been able to drink enough of this mead for it to become too sweet, and mentioning no quantities I have pushed the numbers high enough to be confident in my claim. This mead sits happily in company or alone. Some love to drink it with softer foods, allowing the muted sweetness of the mead to complement their dishes. I prefer this mead as a stand alone drink as I rejoice in the flavours and wholistic experience of drinking it. This is what the world would drink if it had been allowed to remain innocent.

This is The Great Drink.

Hi and welcome to my first Meadiator review! I'm kicking things off with Afon Mel's honey mead, a mead very much suited to my tastes.

I'm a bit of a traditionalist and a purist when it comes to mead although I'm looking forward to that being challenged in my coming reviews so it was with high hopes and much anticipation that I opened this bottle on a warm summer evening after a day at work.

The first thing I do when I open a bottle of mead is to sample the aroma as a clue to what flavours it might hold, and this was rich with an almost musky honey scent.

Mead is steeped in history and myth - among the Norse and Germanic gods mead is associated particularly with Odin and there are stories of him acquiring the mead of poetry through trickery, shape-shifting, and deceit and of him relying purely on mead for sustenance and giving all food to his ravenous wolves Freki and Geri.

So it was only right that the father and chief of the gods should join me for this sampling in the hope that he might help me to find some words for my first review.

What we found was a mead that was lighter, brighter, and fresher than I expected with a lingering complex sweetness on the palate that makes for a wonderful summer drink to be enjoyed at a leisurely pace. There is no tannic drying of the mouth that might be expected of its 13% strength, just smooth lasting natural and balanced sweetness.

I'll be honest I was expecting something heavier and more syrupy - a bit of a winter warmer but the surprise was indeed a pleasant one on a hot summer's day and just goes to show the scope and range of flavour available in the purest form of mead.

In summary, this was an absolute joy and something I would be eager to introduce a newcomer to mead as a starting point on their explorative journey, a truly traditional, pure honey mead that is everything that mead should be. I'm no culinary wizard but I imagine this mead would be a perfect accompaniment to cheese and cooked meats. For me it was just a nicely paced way to wind down a summer's day, the lingering palate making it a perfect social sipper.

This mead is the all-rounder mead in my opinion in Afon’ Mêl’s range. It is an every day, every occasion staple mead. Is there such a thing as a staple mead? For those of us who drink mead, I would say yes, and this is it.

When you open the bottle take in the distinctive smell of pure honey. Open it, sniff it and you’ll be transported to thoughts of hot summer days. A light but full of flavour mead that is easy to drink and not too sweet. This is mead in its simplest form without any additional fruits or flavors. It doesn’t need any, it is perfect and a mead for all occasions.

A celebratory mead, a toasting mead, an evening mead, an after-dinner mead, a before-dinner mead. Drink it alone, or serve it with a meal or dessert. I like to drink it with thinly sliced honey-drizzled Manchego cheese. Cheese and mead is a winning combination.

This is perhaps a convert mead for those who haven’t really tasted mead before or those who have experienced inferior meads. I shared it with friends with one friend stating she didn’t like mead as it was ‘sickly and too sweet’. This mead converted her.

If you are considering buying a bottle my advice is don’t; buy two and gift it to friends as this beats a bottle of wine as a gift any day. I suggest this mead to parents holding welcoming or naming ceremonies for a baby to toast their new edition.

If you are new to mead, a regular mead drinker, or want something different than wine, this is a great mead that doesn’t disappoint.