Mead Help?

[BethLong]

Hi! I'm a complete newbie about wines but my best friend appreciates them and he often has folks over for dessert and wine. His birthday is coming up at the end of August and I thought he might like a nice mead (probably sweet). However, since I don't have the time nor the technology to make my own and the local shops don't have any meads, I turned to the Net. I found four different varieties but I'm a little wary of ordering them from the Net without having any clue whether they are good or not (especially since I was told at the local that the only good mead is a homemade mead).

The four are: Chaucer's Mead, Sky River Sweet Mead, White Winter Winery Sweet Mead, and Earle Estates Honey Mead Traditional.

I would really appreciate it if anyone out there could give me some reviews on any of these or on any other mead I might be able to order before mid-August. The places must have reciprocality with Wisconsin. Thank you very much!

[Innkeeper]

Hi Beth, and welcome to the Wine Board. Seems like all our meadiacts are out of town. Perhaps by bringing this up to the top of the thread will garner some interest.

[BethLong]

Thank you! I was getting a little worried there. <G>
I've found a lot of places on the Web that tell you how to make your own mead, but very few that review any of the commercial meads. Though a few of my friends have offered their services to 'test' any that I order. [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]

[Botafogo]

Oh, DAMN!!! I thought Jerry was coming back from the great beyond to help us!!!

Beth, I can't help you with the mead but you need to know that one of the founders and most loved members of this board was the now departed (as in deceased) Jerry Mead.......

Curmy, we STILL miss you, Roberto

[Bucko]

I am very familiar with Sky River Mead. They have three sweetness levels. I just judged them at the Indy State Fair and all three won Bronze medals. They do a good job and are recommended for Mead fans (I am not, but am still objective).

Bucko

[chittychattykathy]

The Sky River Mead <http://www.skyriverbrewing.com/> is very good, I prefer the Medium over the sweet or dry, and yeh, I am a sweet wine drinker, but between her (Denice) three meads the medium is easily the best, the sweet is too much. Also, her labels are beautiful, and make me almost wish I enjoyed the contents a bit more. Another Mead from the Seattle area is Ambrosia by Kristy <http://www.amead.com> a tasty mead with a great presentation, they use a honeycomb shaped bottle & a bees wax seal. Kristy has a really delish punch recipe on her web site that has peaches in it, great for parties! BTW, Both are very nice ladies!
(P.S. I am not a Chaucer's fan myself, and have not tasted the other two you mention.)

[BethLong]

Thanks Bucko and chittychattykathy for the Sky reviews. I was hoping for a not-overly sweet mead, so finding out the medium of the Sky's is better than the full sweet is a lot of help.
chittychattykathy, how do they get a honeycomb shaped bottle? I'd think they would be harder to ship in a case...

Botafogo, I've been reading through many of Mr. Mead's reviews. <G> He sounds like a great guy to have hung around with.

So many choices...I may have to just by one of each! [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img] Let's see...with Ambrosia added, that's 5 different kinds..that can work for a 25th birthday....

[Botafogo]

I was in an Ethiopian Grocery and Gift shop last week (we have a block here in LA with FIVE of them on one 50 foot stretch) buying gifts for my Afro-Indian princess and saw that they offered six different Ethiopian Honey Wines, some aged, some flavored with fruits and spices, some sanctified. I was on my bike or I would have bought some to try, maybe next time. Anyone have any experience with these?

Robertinho com muito saudade para Salvador