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matrix4bHere's a review from one of the people at Gotmead.com. He brews a lot and was who I got my Buckwheat Honey and Orange Blossum honey from. I did a bit of a bottle trade with him.
Matrix4b came up and got some honey from me (I buy 55G drums) a while back, he left a bottle of Pineapple Lime Mint 
mead with me. I finally got around to drinking it, and found a thread of his with a very similar name. I've not read the rest of the thread, other than title and author...
Aroma: Slight sweetness, light fruits like apple or pear, some light brown sugar. There's a bit of earthiness in the aroma - maybe alfalfa, wildflower, or another earthy honey. Most likely a mix of wild flower and alfalfa, leaning toward more CO wf. A slight cinnamon note. After a few sips orange and lemon come out in the aroma.
Appearance: Very clear, orange/yellow color with small thin legs, no head/carbonation.
Flavor: Slight sweetness, semi-sweet, maybe alfalfa honey? Some brown sugar. Fair bit of pear/apple. There's a fair bit of bitterness/harshness on the flavor right after the sweet/alfalfa flavor.
As the mead sits on the tongue I get a sweet citrus/acidic flavor that fades to mint as it gets warmer. I swallow I get harsh tannic/mint followed by a fair bit of acid, then a drying mouth feel. While my mouth dries I get tons of pineapple and a fair bit of mint flavor in the aftertaste.
Overall: I love the aroma (apple/pear/brown sugar), the flavor is good, and the aftertaste is refreshing. However, the 3-6 seconds between swallowing and the aftertaste could use a fair bit of improvement. These flavors are (excuse the harshness) tannic, harsh, and distracting. I believe they are because of spices and tannins. This could be made better by increasing the residual sweetness with honey, using less mint (or making a water tincture/tea - perhaps exploring something similar to cold brew - and/or adding smaller amounts), perhaps reducing/eliminating the pith (from the lime), and/or perhaps reducing the acidity slightly with something like CaCO4. The pineapple adds very minimal benefit other than an acid balance and a pleasant aftertaste. I'm unsure if the lime adds anything significant. You may be better served by using an Orange Blossom honey as your base or not mentioning the lime and using more pineapple.
For such a contrasting set of ingredients I'm quite pleased. Reducing/smoothing/eliminating that harshness between swallow and aftertaste will make this amazing!
Thanks,
Kyle
All in all a good review and I understand where he was coming from, Refreshing to hear that another mead maker liked it and Taking some of his suggestions to heart and being more careful and more thoughtfull on my future batches. If I remember correctly I just sort of threw the pineapple lime mint together with no real plan. I have a better idea now on my mead.
Dave
mead with me. I finally got around to drinking it, and found a thread of his with a very similar name. I've not read the rest of the thread, other than title and author...Aroma: Slight sweetness, light fruits like apple or pear, some light brown sugar. There's a bit of earthiness in the aroma - maybe alfalfa, wildflower, or another earthy honey. Most likely a mix of wild flower and alfalfa, leaning toward more CO wf. A slight cinnamon note. After a few sips orange and lemon come out in the aroma.
Appearance: Very clear, orange/yellow
color with small thin legs, no head/carbonation.Flavor: Slight sweetness, semi-sweet, maybe alfalfa honey? Some brown sugar. Fair bit of pear/apple. There's a fair bit of bitterness/harshness on the flavor right after the sweet/alfalfa flavor.
As the
mead sits on the tongue I get a sweet citrus/acidic flavor that fades to mint as it gets warmer. I swallow I get harsh tannic/mint followed by a fair bit of acid, then a drying mouth feel. While my mouth dries I get tons of pineapple and a fair bit of mint flavor in the aftertaste.Overall: I love the aroma (apple/pear/brown sugar), the flavor is good, and the aftertaste is refreshing. However, the 3-6 seconds between swallowing and the aftertaste could use a fair bit of improvement. These flavors are (excuse the harshness) tannic, harsh, and distracting. I believe they are because of spices and tannins. This could be made better by increasing the residual sweetness with honey, using less mint (or making a water tincture/tea - perhaps exploring something similar to cold brew - and/or adding smaller amounts), perhaps reducing/eliminating the pith (from the lime), and/or perhaps reducing the acidity slightly with something like CaCO4. The pineapple adds very minimal benefit other than an
acid balance and a pleasant aftertaste. I'm unsure if the lime adds anything significant. You may be better served by using an Orange Blossom honey as your base or not mentioning the lime and using more pineapple.For such a contrasting set of ingredients I'm quite pleased. Reducing/smoothing/eliminating that harshness between swallow and aftertaste will make this amazing!
Thanks,
Kyle
All in all a good review and I understand where he was coming from, Refreshing to hear that another mead maker liked it and Taking some of his suggestions to heart and being more careful and more thoughtfull on my future batches. If I remember correctly I just sort of threw the pineapple lime mint together with no real plan. I have a better idea now on my mead.
Dave