Most of you know that I rarely drink alcohol – VERY rarely. I had a few sips of champagne when I got married in 2013 (yay!), a few sips of Guinness beer since then (not bad!), and one shot of whiskey (whisky?) several months ago (OMG it was horrible, more about that someday).
But I’ve been kind of obsessed the last few years with fizzy…something. Bubbly liquid. Fizzy stuff. Carbonated beverages.
Carbonation is delightful, for me, and I’ve enjoyed some fizzy grapefruit “soda” from Q (quite a lot, actually, it’s amazing), some fizzy limeade made by my wife, and even occasionally a blueberry-flavored Red Bull.
And while watching a TV show a few weeks ago, I saw references to mead, and someone mentioned carbonated mead. I quickly learned that mead is “fermented honey water, is an alcoholic beverage, sometimes with various fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The defining characteristic of mead is that the majority of the beverage’s fermentable sugar is derived from honey. It may be still, carbonated, or naturally sparkling; dry, semi-sweet, or sweet.”
Hm. Well, honey is pretty cool (bees are awesome!), so I figured that carbonated, fermented honey might be worth a shot. Did some quick searching for “carbonated mead” and found a seller – right here in Montana, no less! It’s the Hidden Legend Winery over in Victor. and sure enough, they make and ship carbonated mead.
So I ordered four bottles of “Bearded Saint” – and check this out – ordered it on Monday, delivered on Tuesday evening! Each bottle was about 18 ounces.
Opened one up, and took a few sips…and sadly, was disappointed. It tasted like fizzy wine. Rather – tasting it immediately transported me back in time about 45 years, when I was allowed to sip wine at Friday night synagogue service. Amazing how a taste can conjure up such decades-old memories.
My wife was surprised at how sweet it was, but also didn’t care for it.
Now don’t get me wrong – it wasn’t bad at all – just not tasty enough for me. I can easily understand why some people enjoy it, though.
BUT! There are other types of mead – spiced, apple, elderberry, huckleberry, etc – so we will likely try another type at some point.
As for Hidden Legend Winery – if you’re inclined to try mead, by all means check ’em out!
