Jhelbare Summer Solstice Honey Wine

Brewed by Jhelbare Winery
Style: Mead
Valley City, Ohio USA

Appearance: Clear and still with just a slight tint of yellow to the body. Smell: Fusel-filled aroma of questionable wax-based paste. Good grief. Taste: Sweetish waxy flavor with what, at best, can be described as a washed-out honey character. Somewhat boozey throughout. Dry finish to a disappointing beverage. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Still as a dead bee corpse. Drinkability: A hate to throw out the word "revoluting" but...

Pours a pale yellow color with no head. Aroma is paste, the lick and seal kind. Flavor is honey and more paste with a dry finish.

Date: 02/23/2008
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Cellar Party

Appearance: clear yellow, nice legs,
Aroma: sweet alcohol aroma,
Flavor: sweet honey flavor, touch of astrengent character, fusel alcohols, lasting sweetness

Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.7/5.0
Drinkability: 5/10
Score: *4

Bottle courtesy of crizay: Pours a still transparent pale champaign golden. Aroma of medicinal fusels and band-aids with some dry floral honey notes. Body starts with some more thickness and sweet honey notes with a touch of fresh greenth and mild oak. FInishes drier with some green apple tartness. Would be a decent mead except for the medicinal notes.

Very pale golden pour; legs practically nonexistent, seems to be stuck upon itself . The nose is arrid and dusty, unappealing in every aspect. Honey is disguised by a traipsing herbal character. This also disguises alcohol signifigantly, so we have one positive. The nose is nutty, lightly perfumed, overrun with vegetal and stale cupboard-kept herbal tendencies. Minor hints of apple and dried white flowers sift softly through the mire. The alcohol generates a very distinct kerosene note with greater inhalation, an awful segue into a daunting task that is repeated analytical sipping. The flavor is semi-sweet but dries the palate out and leaves plenty of herbal resin behind. Acidity is strained and douses the alcohol out that sits on the tongue in a dizzying array of herbal spice. Honey is muzzled and lost in the earthy and dusty mix. There is nothing refreshing, interesting or likeable about the flavor. The finish brings accelerated warmth, lasting green and herb notes, mild honey and lingering semi-sweet multi-fruit notes. The mouthfeel is light bodied, grainy, mangled by alcoholic and herbal spice and only a hair over the line that separates the drinkable from the truly disgusting. Terrible. I’ve had better meads that were the result of first-time-homebrewed mistakes. At least some of those had honey as a primary character trait.

Pours a clear, syrupy light yellow color. Smells of mild honey, mostly apple juice, some grapefruit, and mild alcohol as well. The flavor is very fruity, big apple in there mostly. Definitely needed more honey to it, as it basically had no semblance of it whatsoever. Wasnt offensive in the flavor, but the alcohol was overly present most of the way through, and the apple was too much. Drinkable, but less than exciting.

Tampa RB Gathering Beer #1....light yellow body with no head, of course....nose of apples, pears, muted honey, and fusels....flavor is very sweet, but not honey sweet, seems to come from the other fruits....light bodied, semi sticky palate....finish medium length and very sweet....average at best

Clear sparkling golden pour. Aroma is biscuity and floral with honey as well. Flavor is fairly sweet and is straight honey, no fruits or spices added to this one. The taste is very sparkling, crisp, and refreshing. Hints of sugar in the background with an a floral touch to it. Alcohol is noticeable in warmth but not flavor. This is the best mead I have had it’s is incredibly well made and just so clean that it’s very hard to describe in words. I will re-rate this many more times as I try to pull more out of it.