Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Starrlight Traditional Semi-Sweet

Finally, the very long and overdue tasting of Starrlight’s Traditional Semi-Sweet mead.

When I first tasted this mead at a renaissance faire recently it was the third or fourth mead in the group that we tasted and it had an absolutely wonderful wildflower honey taste to it.  Given how much I love honey it was inevitable that I would fall in love with it and I just had to buy a bottle.  The price was only $16 a bottle and it comes in a very attractive blue glass bottle with attractive and easy to read labeling.

After bringing this mead home, we popped it open and poured a few glasses.  It’s a very beautiful golden color like a light apple juice and incredibly clear with no carbonation.  The mead also has a slight scent of honey to it if you’re paying attention.

On first tasting it didn’t quite have the same amount of honey flavor to it that the one at the faire did.  I later discovered, since I’m by no means a wine connoisseur, usually during tastings you start with the dry wine first and then work towards the sweeter ones to help accentuate their sweetness.  I wanted that sweetness, and I wanted it bad.  What had I gotten myself into?

Fear not fellow readers! There is hope!  I also discovered that a cleansing of the pallet can work wonders on the taste of a wine.  I just took a couple bites out of some bread I had laying around and it helped bring out that wonderful honey flavor with a wildflower honey finish to it.  I also discovered that I much prefer my mead cold.  Maybe that’s a personal preference or maybe it’s supposed to be served chilled, I’m not sure.

With these things in mind, my next few glasses as I went through the bottle were very enjoyable.  Taking sips of what felt like cold wildflower honey to warm the soul.  This mead is only rated around 12.5% alcohol by volume, but each sip sends a sweet and warming sensation all the way down to the gut.

Overall I would recommend this mead to anyone that:

  • Enjoys a good glass of wine
  • Enjoys a traditional semi-sweet mead
  • Enjoys an alcoholic beverage every now and then
  • Enjoys the taste of honey and is interested in what a traditional mead can taste like.

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