Kuhnhenn - Dry Apricot Sack

Kuhnhenn Brewing Co makes beers, wines, and meads out of Warren Michigan.  Dry Apricot Sack is a dry, still mead released in 375mL bottles in the fall of 2016.  It was for sale at their taproom only and I want to say it was  either $18 or $28.

Dry refers to the sweetness of the mead, there are 3 categories of sweetness: dry, semi-sweet, and sweet.  A dry mead doesn't have to be bone dry just a like a sweet doesn't have to be cloyingly sweet, there's can be some blurring of the lines sometimes.  This mead finished fairly dry and definitely falls into the dry sweetness category, but there is a bit of sweetness underneath.

It is also a sack, which refers to the strength of the mead, i.e. alcohol content.  The 3 categories for strength is hydromel, standard, and sack,  Sack being on the higher end, usually considered 14% or greater.  This Dry Apricot Sack is 15% ABV.

Kuhnhenn's description: Apricot is a stone fruit that is known for it's subtle flavor and aroma.  Both are captured nicely in this crisp and delectable mead.  The finish is long, dry, earthy, and warm.

My thoughts:  This is an interesting mead.  The nose is fruity and floral.  There's a nice bouquet of fresh stone fruit, apples, and honey sweetness.  Very reminiscent of a cyser.  The color is a decisively clear, pale yellow.  Like a watered down apple juice (in a good way).  A very nice looking mead, and well filtered (it says on the label Sulfites used),  The taste is dry with a little sweetness, unripe apricots, and a bit our granny smith apple skin tartness. It may be the dryness that adds to that tartness, but there's also an interesting secondary interplay of a slight sweetness complimenting with a slightly sweet earthiness of a King Oyster mushroom.  It's a unique flavor profile that at first is a bit jarring but as you sip it became more enjoyable.  There's also some fusal flavors and heat, which might be expected with a dryer, 15% mead.

Overall I enjoyed this mead, although in about a 6 oz quantity slowly sipped over the course of about 30 minutes.  It's definitely a unique mead and not a style of mead that's as prevalent in mead these days.  It's a welcome change of pace from sweet melomels and an interesting use of apricot.

Schramms - Red Agnes (batch 2)

Schramms Red Agnes is a red currant melomel that clocks in at 14% abv. Batch 2 of this mead was released in October of 2016 for a retail of $32, so this particular bottle was drank about a month after release.

Full disclosure I've had both b1 and b2 Red Agnes multiple times so I'm not new to this mead.  However it is always a treat, and each time I drink it I take a little something different from it.  First the color on this mead is stunning.  It's a very robust red.  The above picture doesn't give it justice, it gives it a dull reddish-brown tone, but this mead is a striking deep red.  And the clarity is beautiful too.  The nose is also lovely.  It's not overpowering but there's a nice fruity tartness to the sweet honey smell.  The taste follows the nose but in a much fuller way.  The flavors are bursting.  Juicy red raspberry-like tartness from the currants.  It seems that red currants are slightly less acidic and tannic than black currants, so I taste a more juicier, fruitier berry.  I also love the balance of the tart and sweet, nothing overpowers, everything is in perfect harmony.  I can't stress this enough with any mead, but this mead really shines as it warms from a cool 50 degrees up into room temperature in the 60s.  As the mead warms in opens up more layers of flavor and complexity.  A truly enjoyable mead and a wonder example of a well balanced melomel.

RELEASE: Schramm's A Smile of Fortune (ASoF)

A Smile of Fortune Release - Saturday at 5:00pm!

$48 per bottle - Bottle limit of 1 per person.

"A Smile of Fortune is an incredibly well-balanced Black Currant, Lutowka Cherry, Heritage Red Raspberry and Oregon Boysenberry mead. The tannic, tart and acidic flavors marry beautifully with responsibly-sourced Orange Blossom honey. With flavors reminiscent of Madeline & The Heart of Darkness, batch one bottles of this limited mead will be an instant classic."

Bottle count for this mead is unknown at this point but it's low.  Schramm's has confirmed that there are less bottles of ASoF than Amelia.  Also, Lifetime members will have 2 bottles reserved, Annual Mazers 1 bottle.  So I'd venture a guess that half or more of these bottles will be for Mazer club members, making the availability to the public limited.