Garagiste Meadery - Yucatan Sunrise

Garagiste describes Yucatan Sunrise as the following:

Yucatan Sunrise is our concept mead made with Dragonfruit, Guanabana and Yerba Mate Tea Leaves. The interplay between the tea and fruit is very nice. For those who've had Guayaki fruit teas it will taste pretty familiar.

This is a mead made with Dragaonfruit, also known as pitaya.  It's that pinkish fruit with a typically a white center.  While the fruit looks and sounds interesting it doesn't really have much taste.  The best way I can describe it is a white kiwi in terms of flavor and consistency.  They're usually not very sweet like a kiwi, actually they tend to be bland or sublte, so I thought this was an interesting choice.  I think it's not so much the flavor of Dragonfruit that grabs people's attention but rather the idea of the exotic looking fruit.

Dragonfruit

Guanabana Fruit

Another component is guanabana, also known as soursop, which is a green prickly looking fruit that has a sour citrus flavor that's kind of like a combination of pineapple and strawberry.  It also have a bit of creaminess like a coconut.





The final ingredient is Yerba Mate tea, which is a bitter, tannic tea typically drank in South America.

Yerba Mate tree

The nose and taste of this mead is unique, and much like it's individual components, is an acquired taste.  Conceptually this is a very innovative and beautifully thought out mead.  Taking unique, exotic flavors more commonly used south of the boarder and combining them into a really tasty beverage.
I'll be honest, I loved this mead, but most of the others I tasted it with did not.  It is a polorizing drink, but like his Bangkok Garagiste pushes the envelopes and makes you consider these unique flavor combinations that might not have even been integrated into a mead before.  I really respect and applaud him for that.