This Dwojniak style mead (1:1 honey to water) is 16%, has raspberry juice added and has been aged in oak for 6 years. The tartness from the raspberries plays beautifully against the dominating honey sweetness. With light oak tones this 6 year old mead is smooth and has a full body and mouthfeel despite its 16%. I have yet to try any domestic raspberry mead that even comes close to this flavor and refinement.
The up side to this and most of the meads from Poland is that they do not over do the fruit and or spices. Even though this has raspberry juice added there is not so much that it dominates the flavor. No matter what is added the flavor is still about the honey first. The other upside is that most of the Polish meads I have tried are aged 2 years +, this one being 6. This greatly helps smooth out the alcohol and meld the flavors. The only down side (if you consider it a down side) is that most are very very sweet to most palets and I for one take quite a bit of time to make my way through a bottle. Most bottles American mead do not get to see the dawn of the following day but these Pollish meads may take 3 to 4 days to finish (even as tasty and fine as they are).
Cheers
Matt
The up side to this and most of the meads from Poland is that they do not over do the fruit and or spices. Even though this has raspberry juice added there is not so much that it dominates the flavor. No matter what is added the flavor is still about the honey first. The other upside is that most of the Polish meads I have tried are aged 2 years +, this one being 6. This greatly helps smooth out the alcohol and meld the flavors. The only down side (if you consider it a down side) is that most are very very sweet to most palets and I for one take quite a bit of time to make my way through a bottle. Most bottles American mead do not get to see the dawn of the following day but these Pollish meads may take 3 to 4 days to finish (even as tasty and fine as they are).
Cheers
Matt
