Ok, so this is completely out of my realm. This is our 3rd mead that we're reviewing. Technically, it's a wine, but at the same time, it's brewed. So, therefore, we review. Honeyrun is based out of Chico, California.
So, as I'm not a wine taster, I am a beer taster, I will use my wordsmithery to describe this to my best capabilities.
This pours a deep purple, almost blackberry color. No head, obviously as it's a honey wine. The aroma is honey, elderberry, and some alcohol kick. The flavor is intriguing. Again, as I go back to the 2 reviews of Brothers Drake (from our Fiery Foods Fest adventure), I've not had too many meads, so I don't really have a base scale to go off of. The flavor profile is some dark fruit, cherry, then the elderberry hits, followed up by a mellow honey flavor that sticks around, while finishing with the honey and elderberry flavors melding in a sweet bliss. How's that for using my wordsmith capabilities?! This finishes.... HOPSUS DAMN IT MCAFFEE SECURITY SCAN! OFF YOU SHALL FUCK! WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU POPPING UP RUINING MY STREAM OF CONSCIOUS BLENDED WITH GONZO STYLE WRITING! Ohhh, if I could shove my size 15 into your Ethernet modem, believe I would. The only thing holding me back from that is the fact that this is my token computadora. If I were to kick it like Drew Basil, I'd have no way to review libations. Hmm, I guess sometimes you have to take a trade off and see what's more important, the persistence of the damn anti-virus pop-ups, or the knowledge that this little box with 640 GB hard drive is your output to the world. It makes you take a step back, breathe, maybe have a smoke, if you do that, and remember, 'oh yeah, I have a review to do.' And with that, pending any interruptions by the multitude of programs on this little black box that controls the world, I continue on with this review. Where was I? Oh yes, The finish. This finishes... rather sweet, while being dry at the same point. I don't know if this is proper wine terminology, as, once again I state this, I'm not a wine reviewer. Although I will say that I would love to do a review on any wine that's made by Maynard James Keenan, while doing an interview with him. He's just one of those guys who seems so damned interesting, that I (and I definitely know my feminine counterpart agrees) would love to sit down and pick his brain. Not about music, not really about his wine endeavors, just more of whatever comes to mind at the time. Which, judging by my flying fingers, as they are flying as fast as the brain is thinking, would be some crazy conversations with lies, sarcasm, and belly-laughs. Shit. I was supposed to be reviewing this.... Um... Yeah. This finishes, ah hell, I wrote that already. The 12% ABV is noticed in the flavor. This drinks like a cheap wine, but it doesn't at the same time, if this makes sense. It has an initial taste of cheap wine, with a Carlo Rossi-esque flavor, but finishes tasting like honey. This may be because this is a mead, but I've only had 2 meads previous to this. So, yeah, I don't really know how to judge this aside from it's not bad for a $12.99 bottle, but it's not as good a Brothers Drake.
3/5 caps? (corks?)
-Nathan-
How the hell does one follow up that?! And as a bit of an oenophile (that's wine appreciator for you zymurgists), I think he did quite well with describing the mead. Wine. Whatever the fuck this is. All I know is that I was passing through Wine & Brew Emporium's wine section today, mourning the loss of another Founders Doom. I saw this, said, "Hey, I like mead, and I like elderberry. How can this possibly go wrong????"
I think we both found it interesting that this poured like any decent red wine, from a clear bottle, natch... that deep claret color that makes you either shrivel in fear or shiver in excitement. Because I have bottles and cans and just clap your hands. Sorry, Nathan just found some Beck on the music channels. In the nose I get a lot of honey, mixed with some cheap red wine. And let's not forget the alcohol content, because it definitely comes through in the aroma. This is unique. It's not like the meads I've had from Brothers Drake. And if you're not in Columbus and can't access Brothers Drake, I highly recommend B. Nektar, as they've been making huge waves in the craft beer scene. Alas, I've not had any yet. But this... this is somehow subpar compared to those. Let me also state that I am not a fan of sweet wine. I can stomach one here or there, but not here and there. And this tastes like honey maybe mixed with Yellow Tail's Sweet Roo, if you've had that. I've not, so at least it does in my mind. The elderberry... oh man, I just got cropdusted by our littlest cat, nicknamed Beastlette. Give me a minute to recover... ok, we're good again. The elderberry kind of gets lost among the honey in this. It's there, it's somewhat prevalent, but it's not nearly good as the elderberry in, say, Magic Hat's Elder Betty. The mouthfeel on this is, as expected, sticky sweet.
Honestly, it's just not nearly as complex as I would like to see. And since apparently it takes a lot of honey to make a batch of mead, and since honey is expensive, and this was about half the price of a bomber of Brothers Drake or B. Nektar, well, I suppose caveat emptor.
Damn, now I want a kick-ass, strip-the-enamel-from-my-teeth, hoppy-as-hell IPA. Good thing I also picked up a sixer of Brew Kettle's White Rajah today. That's totally not an indication of what the next review will be.... or is it?
3.1/5 caps. Or corks, as Nathan would say.
-Jennie
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