Chocolate is an ingredient you often find in dark beers like porters or stouts, but don’t see very often in mead. Superstition Meadery has their sweet white chocolate “Berry White” but with this one, Sap House Meadery explores the darker flavors of the cacao.
Made with 100% fair trade roasted cacao nibs. Aromatics of real dark chocolate and honey. Notes in your mouth that thread the fine lines of roasted coffee, earth, leather and of course chocolate. Real chocolate. A nice balance of acidity and sweetness leave your palette with a dry, quick finish.
It pours a lovely golden amber color with no carbonation. The aroma is earthy and mildly floral – like early spring (or mud season as we like to call it in New England) before the flowers come up.
The flavor is quite earthy as well – with sweet honey up front giving way to a more nutty chocolate taste. It finishes on the dry side with hints of roasted tea. As the initial sweetness gives way, the boozy flavors of the alcohol become a little more present than I would like – but it doesn’t ruin the other flavors.
It has a bit of an unfiltered feeling to the sip – grainy in a way – the way tea gets as you near the bottom. Its a pretty clear mead, so it is an interesting element to find. There is waxiness in taste and feel throughout – but very mild.
I like the Sap House branding – but I feel like the illustration on this one falls a little short. It’s a high-end, expensive bottle but i feel like the drawing is a little too cartoony and childish.
Overall, the Sap House Meadery Chocolate is a “down-to-earth” mead. The flavors are stylish and unique and it was great to try, but not one that I will being going back to frequently. It would pair well with a hearty Porter braised short rib meal (my wife made this and it was amazing) or with a dessert like a Porter Bundt Cake (she made this too, I guess we had a lot of porter around).
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