As a strange place to start Morrison’s appear to be the only London supermarket stocking Mead. Waitrose let me down, and the organic folk (Fresh & Wild, Planet Organic etc) are too small to do much more than wine and beer.
Cheap at £3.76 for a 70cl bottle at 13% alcohol, Harvest Gold is a sweet, slightly sticky mead, which seems to keep well, but doesn’t seem to sit in my wine rack. The caps leak, dripping gently on the bottle below forming sweet strands of honey round the rim (quite tasty).
Described thus:
An original recipe inspired by the classic Mead enjoyed since Celtic times. This delicious English tipple blends the finest ingredients to produce a delicately sweet, mouthwatering flavour and a rich golden honey colour
But of more concern
is the classic interpretation of traditional Mead, the storied drink of ages
What does an interpretation look like, what industrial processes have intervened to make this not Mead but an interpretation of Mead.
The bottlers CWF Ltd seem to neglect to mention Mead on their website, although there is a reference to their speciality fruit wines. I’ve heard of various Meads that are no more than light wines with added honey, so perhaps this is one such.
But it’s cheap, it’s available from the supermarket down the road, it's perfectly drinkable, and so far Medb seems appeased.
just been to Morrisons to check the price and Harvest Gold has gone up to £3.82/bottle, which is still ridiculously cheap.
ReplyDeleteEspecially so when you consider some of the prices the online sellers are charging. Beers of Europe lists Harvest gold at £8.99. Drinkswell at £6.95, the Drink Shop £9.78 and the Musickick discount warehouse at £10.50
All goes to show really.
Anyway I reckon Harvest Gold will make a good norm to compare other Meads to, so I've stocked up.
wow I started a blog today based on reviewing meads and it looks like you have covered all the ground. lol good on you. never-the-less I will continue drinking and reviewing mead for loves sake. I am glad I have stumbled across this blog, I have been looking for mead drinkers in the UK to talk with.
ReplyDeleteI am quite the fan of Harvest Gold, and while I appreciate the irony of drinking something that may well be brewed in industrial vats, in a one-of-a-kind mead leatherbound mead horn, I greatly enjoy the drink nonetheless. If Harvest gold is mass produced, it is mass produced in the way that stella artois is mass produced - none the worse for it.
ReplyDeleteAn enjoyable drink, and a favourite of mine.
does anybody have an up to date price on this mead, i got a bottle last year and havent for some reason had the time or chance to get another, but i will be going for a look tomorrow hopefully. and to add, this mead is a very nice tasting drink, i recommend it !!
ReplyDeleteHello, just wanted to chip in here. I've been a fan of Harvest Gold mead for years, don't care how its made it tastes very nice, really easy to drink. Got 2 bottles last weekend from Morrisons in Glasgow @ £4.34 a bottle, just finishing off my last glass, need top get some more lol.
ReplyDeleteOh and it is on CWF's website http://www.continental-wine.co.uk/products/Fortified-Aperitif-Drinks.shtml
ReplyDeletebeen buying this Mead for a while. you like it or you do not. I have tried others, however I find this a nice cheap easy smooth mead. so until I find something better I will drink this from my goblets or dinking horn.
ReplyDeleteNot a fan - it tastes slightly watered-down to me, and somehow like artificial sweeteners - almost like someone were trying to make mead flavour, instead of actually brewing it. Maybe if they said that it was wholly produced from lavender honey, that would explain the peculiar taste, but there's nothing about the source honey. I'm glad it was only a few quid.
ReplyDeleteHarvest Gold is a beginner's mead, a mead with training wheels. For a full bodied mead recommend you try and review the offerings from the Lancashire Mead Company. It is four times the price, but it's definitely more for enjoying the flavour of the mead, rather than effects of the alcohol.
ReplyDeleteHarvest gold is utterly foul. Honey is expensive so there can be precious little of it HG at that price. You get what you pay for. Get something decent from
ReplyDeletehttps://www.themoremeadcompany.com/
WHERE CAN I BUY BOTTLES OF MEAD
ReplyDeleteI will recommend this company: https://www.stonecirclemeadcompany.co.uk/
DeleteQuality mead, produced by people who know and love what they're doing.
I agree with a previous reviewer - this stuff is utterly foul. Do yourself a favour, get a bottle of proper mead, not this ersatz crap. Bleeurgh!
ReplyDeleteIt's a fortified wine, but they don't even have the decency to add honey. It is a powdered flavouring. Yes, it's cheap. Not, it isn't mead.
ReplyDelete