Beer – #987 – Lone Bee – Sparkling Mead
What even is a Mead? Lone Bee Sparkling Mead is going to help me find more about this exotic and unusual concoction that I’ve only seen in ye olde television series and movies. Gluten Free too.
on a mission venturing far and wide
This is a 500ml bottle of beer that is 5.3% ABV, and it’s only about 159 calories a serve, This is 2.1 standard drinks in NZ. It’s also Gluten Free, always like the something for nothing thing.
Brewed by Lone Bee in the style that is a Mead and they are in Auckland, New Zealand
Lets Bee having you …
A Lone Bee is on a mission venturing far and wide to find the very best nectar with which to make the very best honey. We have been on our own mission to create the very best sparkling mead using only the very best Clover & Manuka honey from the wide open spaces of New Zealand.
Proudly independently made in New Zealand with no added flavouring, preservatives or sweeteners. The result a crisp, surprisingly dry and refreshing sparkling mead
So, What could possibly go wrong?
The artwork on the label is outstanding, gold on black, has a Moa, Skeleton, Ghost, Sea Monster, a Bee, another Bee, a Shark Fin and some mountains, a Volcano, and more, excellent!
Mead then smells like a cider, with honey, thats a low key aroma that isn’t too scary.
Pour is so pale it’s like lemon juice pale, and the little whisper of a head fell away, leaving a lightly carbonated beer sitting there bubbling gently to itself.
The honey in the aroma is there, faintly, but it is there.
Sweet, the sweeter again, the fix carries this over the tongue and finishes with, surprisingly more sweetness.
I sat her pondering then realised I’d drank the all of it. It’s a softly compelling kind of a drink, the level of honey sweetness is clearly just right for this, and the soft carbonation also seems to work for it.
Obviously I didn’t get overwhelmed or worn out by that level of sweetness and enjoyed it.
Is it good though? It’s not really memorable, it’s just a soft drinking carbonated drink that happens to have some alcohol about it and a dash of honey.
The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 7 of its things from the thing. Mead!, Who knew? Well I can tick that off the list of things I need to try, and I’m sure there are more takes on this than a one off in New Zealand from left field. This would be a fine summer drink as a great alternate to cider
The double dip review
- Where did I get it? The FWDC in Constellation
- Am I enjoying it? Clearly yes I drank it in a thrice
- Would I have another? I would, this would be a lovely change to a cider on a summer day
- Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? You know the answer is yes, for sheer audacity and unusualness this is clearly a beer to share. Just don’t do it first because that much sweetness does not set a platform for a larger hoppier beer that’s to come.
Music for this: Exit Index by Gooms on the Spotify
Grooms‘ Exit Index combines the abandon of pop with the unease of American life in 2017, cloaking its hooks in a clamor of samples and distortion, its agitation.
Mead
Honey wine, which tends to be quite strong and alcoholic-tasting, as honey ferments very well. Mead is often made with other ingredients for flavour, be they fruit or grain. The latter is known as braggot
A life just as ordinary 