Yes, this is more of a winter mead, but it was a cool, rainy night in the northeast when I opened this up. The Spiced Mead is a seasonal offering in the Maine Mead Works‘s HoneyMaker series of honey wines.
Spiced Mead, with cassia, clove & orange peel! A perfect winter apéritif, and amazing when heated up in a mug!
Their sub-brand naming conventions make more sense now that they have the Ram’s Island and CiderMaker lines (session style meads and cider, obviously). When I reviewed their dry mead they only seemed to have the HoneyMaker line of products available.
The spiced mead pours deep gold color with a few lingering bubbles on the edge of the glass and thin legs. Poured at temperature, the aroma is sweet honey with warm spice – cinnamon, cloves and a bit of citrus on the tail end. The taste is similar to the aroma, yet the orange peel, citrus flavors are much more prominent. It has sweet honey up-front that gives way to the spice, and orange citrus carries it through to the finish.
The mouthfeel is smooth and coating. As I focus on the mouthfeel, the taste starts to be a little synthetic, cough syrupy (but not too bad). The flavors continue to strengthen and round out as it warms a bit in my hands. It reminds me of mulled cider. Definitely a warming winter mead, especially at 15.5% abv.
The label is a nice iteration of their standard HoneyMaker label – revised for the smaller bottle. Clean and crisp design. The rough edge of the black HoneyMaker tag shows attention to detail. The one note I would have is to try a different color than the spring-time green. One that speaks to the wintery spice contained within the bottle.
It’s a solid Metheglin (mead with spices). It reminds me of mulled cider. Definitely a warming winter mead, especially at 15.5% abv. If I come across it again come winter, I’ll be sure to pick up another bottle, since I’d love to try it heated up in a thermos on a cold cross-country skiing expedition.
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