B. Nektar Buckwheat Mead

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

Sampled during Great Taste of Midwest ’09 in Madison, Wisconsin. Pours a still golden amber colored mead with a clean disk top and average viscosity tears inside glass. Aroma of buckwheat honey with some light maple syrup and a touch of earthy herbs. Taste is maple and honey, a hint of vanilla and a touch of dried Mediterranean apricots. Finish is smooth, average mead palate with a sweet Buckwheat honey aftertaste that quickly disappears. A touch sweeter than most dark Buckwheat honey I’ve tried.

GTMW. B. Nektar was a major surprise with a stellar lineup of sweet meads. The buckwheat came through very strongly giving the mead a distinct grainy flavor and aroma that contrasted nicely with the honey sweetness.

Great Taste, 2009. I tried small tastes of 6 of their meads, and for the most part, found them very sweet and not overly complex, although the cinammon vanilla one was fun. This mead and the tupelo honey mead brought the most to the table. The spiceness of the buckwheat plays off well against the sweetness of the body. Notes of vanilla, raw sugar, and apricot add some complexity. Not as good as some of the great Polish meads, but still a solid drink.

Pours a rich and inviting chestnut color. The aroma is unique, as I have never had a mead in which the "spirit" of the base honey shined through as well as it is has here. The buckwheat note is dominant, with the a fore mentioned malty notes, along with some Oolong tea, jasmine and some honeysuckle notes coming through as well. Flavor is sweet, with a nice slight bitterness on the finish. Notes of sweet pie spices round out this nice mead.