B. Nektar Vanilla Cinnamon Mead

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

Sampled during Great Taste of Midwest ’09 in Madison, Wisconsin. Pours a still sauvignon blanc colored mead with a clean disk top and average viscosity tears inside glass. Aroma of sweet clover honey with some vanilla and a touch of white pepper and earthy herbs. Taste is sweet honey, a hint of vanilla and a touch of dried white pepper and some cinnamon. Finish is almost smooth, a tad light with a cinnamon spice hindering the sweet mead’s smoothness. An interesting spiced mead.

Crystal clear light golden yellow. Aroma is sticky sweet with loads of vanilla and a tough of peppery cinnamon spice. Flavor is very sweet, touch of sweet apple and vanilla pie with light spice. Pretty interesting and quite good. Thanks MicroGrog!

Bottle graciously shared by MicroGrog at BCTC. Pours a very still clear yellow. Light vanilla esters and cinnamon notes, and something lurking behind it that I couldn’t quite figure out that was just a tad off putting. Very light cinnamon in the body, but nothing compared to the huge amount of vanilla in here. Somewhat overdone and one dimensional falling strongly on the vanilla side of the vanilla/cinnamon equation. Not a lot of balance. Finishes with a little sweet burning cinnamon.

Bottle brought to BCTC. Wow, you guys actually drank this one. Saving a half pour for a proper rate. Poured into my now sanitized baby Duvel glass. Alcohol is listed as between 12%-14%. Clover honey. Color is a clear bright 10k gold. Simple enough. Smell is pepper, slight citrus, plastic, & vanilla extract(yes, I read the label, real vanilla beans). Fumey, but not exactly what I want to smell. Taste is soft, slight with lemon honey. Midway, vanilla comes through gently, but quite in full. I can’t get the cinnamon. Vanilla is delicious. It lingers faintly, rolling on your lips, eventually turning powdery, fuming back through your nose. Apple-like citrus cuts with some light bitterness & a squeak of tartness. That shows early though. Sweet, but not repulsive, or even rich. Body is on the lighter side for mead. Still very much a delicate sipper. Alcohol is about as expected. If only for the smell, this would be divine. I so want to give this a higher score.

bought a bottle while on vacation in MI--shouldve bought 10 more! great stuff. first impression of aroma was wet cardboard--but not off-putting. light yellow, thick "legs" taste was sweet but not sugary..strong honey and still a bit of the cardborad-but in a way that "dryness" was a good offset to the sweet flavor. didnt get muchof cinnamon...but lots of vanilla. i loved this. serve a VERY SLIGHTLY chilled, got better as it warmed up. best mead I’ve had to date

Bottle shared by Rogueone. Clear yellow color. Smells like you would expect with cinnamon, vanilla, honey and alcohol. A few other things in there that I can’t pick out and sorta don’t belong. Sweet vanilla flavor up front, followed by the spicy cinnamon and a dry finish. Pretty good overall.

Thanks to Jen for this bottle: Right off the bat, the aroma of this scared me. Aroma is of wet, moldy basement that may or may not have been peed in. The pour was clear and light, and looked like white wine -- not what I was expecting. I was skeptical to try, but the flavor of the mead was fantastic. The vanilla bean is right up front, cloaked in sweet honey. Cinnamon and perhaps a slight nutmeg fade in beneath the honey and create a really nice deep, spiced flavor that I can see being great served warm or chilled. Light woody character does a great job of balancing out the sweetness. I was really impressed with the marriage of these flavors. Well done.

This is very sweet - yet some of the most unique and best tasting mead I’ve ever had. I feel like I should be celebrating a holiday (christmas?) when drinking this.