Viking Runes “mead” from Dansk Mjød.
One of my girlfriend’s coworkers (seems kind of odd using the term “girlfriend” when I’m 67 years old and she’s 49) was raving about this drink, so we tried it.
(What a lousy photo - I hate my phone’s camera.)
I don’t consider this to be mead - it’s a fortified honey wine at 19% alcohol - but it’s not bad.
It’s like a subdued Port with some Christmas spices. The mouthfeel is a bit watery, but much better/heavier when chilled. It would be a decent pairing with chocolate desserts. I wouldn’t buy it again but the GF likes it, so I suppose I will be buying it again
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a lot more words for anyone interested
Now, I’m not a mead expert, but as I understand it mead is made from only 2 ingredients, specifically honey and water. The addition of fruits makes it a melomel, so technically this would be a melomel. But maybe I’m wrong. Then again, the addition of spices is a metheglin, and this is spiced…
Anyway, this is a fortified “mead” - it has higher-proof alcohol added, which brings it up to 19% alcohol by volume. I don’t think mead was historically fortified, but then again, I’m not a mead expert, so maybe I’m wrong. However, I think that this would be more correctly termed a fortified spiced melomel. Admittedly, that term might be somewhat difficult to market.
To be fair, they call it a “honey wine” on the label.
The important question - is it good? Well, that depends. I’ve had a few meads through the years, including some from a couple of local meaderies. This doesn’t strike me as being mead, although, again, I’m not a mead expert. This presents as a fortified wine, sort of like a subdued Port. It’s quite sweet, but the spice content makes it taste less sweet than it is…but you can feel the sweetness. Like, feel it in your teeth
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The aroma is quite spicy, and reminded of something but it took a while to place that memory. At first I thought “Christmas-ish” then it hit me: it smells like my grandmother’s fruitcake (which was a very fine fruitcake that she nurtured for a year, periodically dousing it with a splash of rum; it was nothing like the sad fruitcakes that show up in supermarkets). Flavor-wise, it’s Christmas spices and sort of a sour cherry flavor.
I initially sampled it at room temperature and found it a bit watery in character. Chilling it gave it a better, fuller mouthfeel while not affecting the flavor much.
It’s a decent dessert-style drink. It would match well with decadent dark chocolate desserts. But I don’t think it’s mead, and I think it’s overpriced at about USD $28.
