Top Hopped Meads for Hop Heads

02 March 2014 by meadist in Drinking Mead - 1 Comment

Hops are the flowering cone of a perennial plant that is a close relative to the cannabis family. Hops are one of the primary ingredients in beer. They impart the bitter balance to the sweet malt sugars and also have antiseptic qualities to prevent bacteria growth. Hops provide beautiful floral, piney, and citrus notes to both aroma and flavor. Hop-heads are beer drinkers who seek out beers with full hop flavors, which are most present in the India Pale Ale (IPA) style.

While the hop plant has been widely revered by beer drinkers, it is only lately making its way into mead making. Here are four hoppy meads sure to convert those hop-lovin’ beer drinkers to the sweeter side of craft brews.

HoneyMaker Dry Hopped Mead

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Maine Mead Works adds whole leaf Cascade hops to the mead as it ages through a technique called “dry-hopping.” Cascade is a ubiquitous and versatile hop variety that yields nice grassy, ﬂoral tones to the aroma. The hops also add slight bitterness and grapefruit notes. It is a drier mead and overall it leans more toward a floral wine than a hopped beer.

Brothers Drake Hopped Traditional

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Brothers Drake is a unique meadery and music venue in Columbus Ohio. They use Oregon sourced Cascade and Chinook Hops in their Hopped Traditional Mead with local Ohio wildflower honey. The hops provide citrus & pine notes and a little bitterness on the finish. Its hard to get outside of Ohio, so if you are near columbus, definitely stop into Brothers Drake.

Crafted Hop Nectar

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Hop Nectar from Crafted Artisan Meadery is a semi-sweet mead made with Ohio wildflower honey. This traditional mead is also dry hopped with Cascade Hops. The hops provide subtle bitterness to balance the sweetness of the honey and an floral aroma. Drinking the Hop Nectar is like sipping from a meadow.

B. Nektar Evil Genius

b_nektar_hopped_mead B Nektar leads the way in bridging mead and craft beer drinkers. Their Evil Genius is an IPA-style mead is a testament to that. The Evil Genius uses three different hop varieties, Chinook, Cluster, Cascade to attribute big hop aromas and flavors to the Michigan wildflower mead. In addition to the traditional floral and citrus notes, the hop mixture also adds tropical fruity flavors.