Church-Key Purple Loosestrife Mead

ACtual name on bottle was Riders of the Purple Loostrife. +1 for the name, I really like it. Does mead have a head normally? This does not. Very stron sulfur like scent. Very thick and very sweet. A rather nice mead but very hard to rate as a beer.

Enriched yellow colour with thin crown of little bubbles. Fizzy carbonation. Thin mouthfeel and astringent for a mead, even one brewed with hops. Half a cup is enough.

Dark yellow w/ small white head. Aroma of sweet honey w/ floral notes. Light, syrupy feel. Dry, spicy honey flavour that warms a little in the finish.

From the brewery. Translucent gold, with just a thin film of head. At first smells horrid; like old, warm red wine. But if you work at it you get the herbal notes - almost like dried wildflowers. Sweet honey taste (not too sweet). Something else in there I can’t place. Definite alcohol flavour at the end. Very wine-like.

On Tap, ad Smokeless Joe’s, summer 2006. The first mead I actually enoyed. Nice golden color, wicked honey flavour, and some citrus (lemon, orange) nice and sweet, but not too sweet, quite refreshing.

I’m going to bring this one down just a bit, only because the bottle I bought from the brewery did not reach the same level as the fresh draught sample from the brewery previous. The flavour was less intense and it seemed over carbonated and almost wine like. Still a great mead, just not outstanding. On tap at the Church Key Spring Revival 07. Dark yellow,small white head. Really nice aroma of sweet honey and citrus fruit, mixed with floral notes. Body is surprisingly well carbonated - almost like a champagne. Taste is sweet, but nothing overpowering or syrupy. Nice tingle on the tongue. Alcohol well hidden, but you do know it is there. A really tasty and drinkable mead - really well done John.

really nice, john u did a great job of this not too sweet light bodied, honey and grain, mild and dry but good flavour

Draught at Smokeless Joe. Wow, 1300 ratings and this is my first mead, I’m not even sure how to rate a mead. Oh well, here goes: Pours a clear bubbly pale yellow with a small lasting white head. Sweet aroma of honey, grain and apple -- pretty nice. Flavour: hmmm, strange: starts mild, dry and sweet but really kicks in halfway with alcohol and bitterness and there’s not as much honey as the aroma suggests. Pretty light bodied. It’s alright but I can only handle a small amount of this, I can’t imagine someone drinking a full glass.