Misbeehavin' - The Great Gats-bee

The Great Gats-bee by Misbeehavin' Meads out of Valparaiso Indiana is a Lemon and Lavender mead released at their taproom in early Summer 2016.  It came only in 750 mL bottles.

The nose on this mead has a lovely sweet floral sent.  You pick up the lavender aroma but the honey adds an additional layer of sweetness.  A slight lemon twinge but it's subtle in the background.  The taste is interesting, there's a nice balance of sweetness from the honey with citrus from the lemon and floral.  I did get some soapiness from the lavender and the lemon taste veers close to the Lemon Pledge spectrum, but it's not off-putting.  Lemon and lavender are difficult ingredients to use and definitely give off those flavors described.  Especially if you use fresh Lavender, you tend to get that soapy flavor.  The one thing I would change about this mead is using dried lavender, or even lavender root, to reduce that soapiness.

Overall this is a very nice mead.  Unique in its own right, and makes for a nice, lighter sipping mead.  Because this is a big 750mL bottle I actually drank the bottle over the course of a week, just taking a pour, recorking, and putting it back in my fridge for a few days.  I found that helped to soften the edges of the mead a bit and really integrate the flavors better.