Polish Meads at Stawski

My name is Jordan Liebman. I work for a company that imports mead from Europe, specifically Poland. The reason I am writing is because I now have some of the best mead I have ever tasted, which until last month was contraband according to FDA and BATF.

In my experience, when I tell home-brew-mead-makers and other people that my mead is commercial, their typical reaction includes gagging and eye-rolling and other antics, generally followed by negative descriptors based upon their opinion of the few commercial meads they have tried. And, truthfully, while many of our meads I consider exceptional, some of the other meads that my company has carried in the past were not so good. Fortunately it is my job and my pleasure to change that. Which brings me to the primary reason for this letter.

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A few months ago, finally, after years of waiting and generally being a 'nag', I was able to convince the right people to allow us to import the best and rarest mead in Poland. The consensus was that there really was no market that was ready for such products. They are pricey, exotic and very rare. My boss thought it was too much of a risk to bring them to the States. The meads are 'Kurpiowski', 'Koronny' and 'Jadwiga'.

Poland's mead making is documented to the 12th century, and for over 1000 years before that, the Slavs made mead there.

Kurpiowski: . It is a Dwojniak Mead, made of primarily acacia honey (proportion of one part honey to one part water), with black currant aromatics. The bottle mentions that there are spices added. I don’t detect any in the flavor, so it must be quite minimal. This mead is pronounced (ker-PEE-ahv-SKEE). It comes in a 750-ml. bottle. It is made at APIS (an acronym for agricultural something something beekeepers), in Lublin, Poland, which is in the Central Eastern Poland, closer to Russia. Kurpiowski is aged a minimum of 5 years, up to 2 years in large oaken barrels. Kurpiowski is very thick and sweet. Kurpiowski is full bodied, with a good viscosity. The color is pale to straw, with good clarity. It is very well balanced and quite sweet. It shows much of the perfumed, floral qualities in its aroma as well as the honeyed aromas one would expect. There is also a black currant aroma, but almost no currant flavor. Black currants are added early in the process and while the currant aroma stays, the flavor dissipates. On the palate it is soft, and lively while the flavors unfold. The middle is quite sweet, fading to somewhat of a drier finish with a slight pepperiness.

Koronny: A 10 year old Mead made with primarily acacia honey (one part honey to one part water, with an additional 20 % black Morello cherry musts (basically skins, seeds, stems, juice and other "squeezins") added to the blend. It is aged in oak barrels up to 4 years. It is a dark mead, which is less common. The cherry gives it some color, as does the aging in oak. Koronny means "crown". It is made at Milejow, Poland, and comes in a 750-ml bottle with a rope-capsule. This is one of my personal favorites. Koronny is very sweet. The color is dark, with red highlights, medium opacity and very long "legs". It is well balanced, very sweet and immediately cherry like. The flavor is not sour, but sweet like black cherries, and well integrated with the honey flavors. It is very soft on the palate, and very round. There is a sniff of oak, as that is the style, which is pleasing while playing off of the cherry's acids, and adds to the whole flavor development. The middle is filled with palate coating flavors, while remaining balanced, elegant, soft and gentle. The finish maintains the cherry and oaken flavors and fades to a subtle dryness.

Jadwiga: this is the world's queen of mead; historically, literally and figuratevely. Jadwiga was the queen of Poland who ruled in the 14th century. She married Jagiello, the King of Lithuania, and thus, planted the seed for Poland's Golden Age. Jadwiga ruled from Krakow and resided in the castle Wawel. At that time, Krakow was the capital of Poland. The story goes that this recipe was presented to celebrate Jadwiga and Jagiello's wedding. That was about 635 years ago. Therefore, this is possibly the world's longest continuously prepared commercial mead recipe. Jadwiga is a poltorak mead (pow-TOO-rhak), meaning it is three parts honey to one part water. That is some RICH mead. It is aged an average of 25 years, of which up to 10 years is in oak. Jadwiga comes in a wicker-wrapped bottle with wax seal, ribbon, rope and metallic medallion inlay. The color is deep amber in the glass with excellent clarity. It is extremely sweet. Ultra sweet. As sweet or sweeter than maple syrup, and at least as viscous. It has huge "legs" in the glass. The bouquet is instantly floral, with honeyed-scents of lavender and lilac. The flavor is powerful with impressive weight, yet restrained. Truly a religious experience. Jadwiga takes over your whole mouth and grabs you by the tonsils. It is essential and corporeal. It is heavy yet balanced. Despite its sweetness it is never cloying. In the finish, you are left with an enigma, which begs a "next" glass and then a "next" and a "next". There are only a couple hundred cases available now.

We have a total of 11 meads available now, but these three I believe are the best.

Vicky Rowe
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