Artesano is a craft meadery in the small town of Groton Vermont. I picked up a bottle of their Traditional and Poets Mead (which I have yet to open) when I visited their facility for a tour and tasting. Since then, they have expanded their offering significantly. If they had all the mead they have now, i probably would have left with more! The Artesano Traditional Mead is a great example of a standard show mead – the only ingredients being honey, water and yeast. Here is the commercial description:
This golden wine accents the floral aromas of Vermont wildflower honey. Our Traditional Mead is crisp, light and refreshing, and can be served as an aperitif, a dessert wine, or with an artisanal cheese plate. This is nature’s bounty captured in a bottle!
It pours a pale hay yellow color with a little bit of cloudiness. The haziness, i assume comes from the addition of more honey after aging to achieve the desired amount of sweetness prior to bottling.
Artesano uses no heat in their mead making process, and it is noticed on the aroma of the mead. The mead has a sweet honey aroma which came through as warm and buttery. Floral pollen elements are also present throughout.
The Artesano Traditional Mead is sweet, but not overly so. Coming in at 12.4% alcohol, I think it could’ve used slightly less backsweetening to balance it out. The added honey also made for a little thicker, buttery mouth-feel. There was an earthy woodiness to the flavor and some light fruitiness on the finish.
It came in a 500ML bottle, a unique shape that i’ve seen with the Kookoolan Elegance as well. Its blown shape lends itself to the artisanal brand. You can tell that Artesano considered all aspects of the bottle, from the bottle itself the shape of the label (though it was crooked) as well as the swirl icon on the collar detail (though it should’ve been faced toward the front) and the wax stamp over the branded cork.
Overall, a very nice offering from Artesano.
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