Moonlight Meadery - Stock Up

Stock up is a small batch mead  by Moonlight Meadery in New Hampshire released in the Fall of 2016 and was available in 187mL nip bottles.  This is a blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry mead that clocks in at 10.35% ABV.

The color is a dull ruby color, almost a burnt orange hue.  The clarity is very clear, although there is some sediment on the bottom.

The bottle opened with a faint hiss.  There was light carbonation on the mead.

The aroma first was a wave of fresh blueberries, then tart raspberries with some muddled astringent alcohol vapors.  At first it was bursting with fresh fruit aromas, but the more I let the mead sit and open up the more muted fruit I received.  As odd as it sounds, almost as if the fruit ripened then turned in my glass.  An aromatic microcosm of the ripening and decay of an orchard.

The taste was a prickly fruit, from the carbonation.  I don't believe Stock Up was intended to be a sparkling mead, and I believe it would have worked better without the bubbles.  The fruit was nice, a light tartness, almost all raspberry and blackberry.  I didn't pick up blueberries.  But given that there didn't appear to be a ton of fruit per/gal the fruit never overwhelmed the mead.  There was still honey in there, in fact I could see what I believe to be residual sugar clinging to the glass.  Although it could have been fruit particles as well.  This mead also has some of astringency to it from the alcohol heat that sometimes can be amplified by raspberries.  

Overall this was a nice mead.  If it was a home brewed mead I'd say it would have been well done, but as an offering from a reputable commercial meadery it left a bit to be desired.  However I respect the small batch experimentation, and the fruit flavor profile is in line with other Moonlight offerings.  This was a fun little mead to try.