B. Nektar Barrel Aged Dry Cyser

Brewed by B. Nektar Meadery
Style: Mead
Ferndale, Michigan USA

Serve in Snifter, Stem glass

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375 mL bottle. Pours a clear pale yellow color. Aroma of apple, pear, honey, wood, berries. The taste is peppery wood, honey, vanilla, apples. Medium bodied, faint booze. Decent.

2012 Colorado Mead Tasting at Armin’s house. Pours a clear, light yellow appearance with no head. Just a touch spicy, lightly woody, red apple, spicy honey aroma. Tangy, dry woody, chewy apple, light lemon, herbal honey flavor. Pretty tasty brew.

Pour out of 375 mL bottle, thanks Aaron! Clear yellow pour, no head, aroma brought notes of brown sugar, hints of apple, virgin oak with slight vanilla in there. Taste is a nice mix of oak, lemon, some hints of vanilla, touch of bronw sugar, slight apple, lemon, finishing very dry.

Bottle to wine glass. Looks solid; honey-colored and still. Smells of honey and apples. Tastes like it smells with oak notes. Average on the palate. A solid mead.

Bottle courtesy of Sebletitje. Pours clear very pale golden with no head. Smell is very sweet with ripe apples, honey, lemon zest, vanilla, wood, alcohol and hints of cinnamon and cardamom. Taste is sweet and slightly sour with green apples, honey, lemon juice, wood, green grapes, smoke, vanilla and hints of grass and yeast. Mouthfeel is slightly dry, tiny tart and medium bodied. Finish is very tiny sweet ad tiny sour with apples, honey, wood and vanilla.

37.5 cl bottle consumed on May 4, 2012. Thanks to sebletitje!
Clear yellow color, no head. Honey, dough, alcohol scent, apple, white wine and spicy. Dry, white wine, honey, spicy, saffron, alcohol, apple, tart taste. Smooth mouthfeel, tart dry bitterness. Dry white wine and honey aftertaste.
Reminds me of apple wine, or white wine of some sort, more than a traditional dry mead I’m used to. Not bad though.

Bottle. Pours a clear pale gold with no head whatsoever. Aroma has light tart apple, a bit of honey and oak with a bit of bourbon and a white wine. Flavor begins with tart apple and white wine, but finishes with sweet apple, honey and a hint of bourbon.

Bottle from Discount Liquors. Pours still, pale straw-near water white. Super clear. Nose is curious. A bit of wood aromatics, faint straw & floral notes, light acid & apple skin. A bit of vanilla is noted and some funk. On tasting, it is nearly bone dry with just a suggestion of sweetness, quite austere. Medium acidity, medium-high level of tannin. Light vanilla comes through, but not really sweet. Overall a very curious dry cyser that I’ll keep working on to learn more of. Very interesting.

Appearance: light straw and pure pressed apple juice. Faint glimmers of carbonation with teeny tiny bubbles clinging randomly to the sides of my clean glass. A broken collar of tiny bubbles remains throughout the tasting.
Nose: rich honeyed floral notes and key lime in the back. Orange blossom. Lavender, honeydew, cantaloupe, and mango. Like biting into a crisp cold apple. Luxurious. Cinnamon mixes with the honey – just a smidge. Tickle of spice and heat in the back – vanilla with caramel edges and underpinnings of oak.
Palate: not as heavy and dense as the nose implied. Fresh apples and white oak are inseparable. Floral esters in every breath – lavender and rose. Fresh cantaloupe and honeydew in the back of each swallow. Lightly dry finish with key lime and lemon zest. Delicately complex. Big middle with a growing big finish as she loses her fridge chill, growing dryer with additional spice and oak notes.
Final Thoughts: I tend to prefer my meads on the drier side and the Barrel Aged Cyser from B. Nektar was just what the doctor ordered. Honey has many holistic and healing properties, not to mention it just tastes good. Ferment, bottle, and savor. I’ve yet to have a bad mead from B. Nektar and this one is tops.