Lietuviskas Midus Stakliskes

A grand looking Lithuanian mead in a stoneware bottle, and another gift from a Polish friend. Generous friends are helping make this a cheaper journey, but its confusing my idea of doing a price/quality comparison.

The bottle is more impressive than the picture but my camera seems to have exploded so this is what you get. The description on the website is a little dull:

Lithuanian mead Stakliškės is named after the town where the company is located. It is made with natural honey, flavored with hops, lime blossoms, juniper berries and other valued herbs. This drink with little alcohol by volume (12%) is matured by the method of natural fermentation up to 12 months. It is very savory, and goes well with the desserts.

And I’m hoping its less lethal than some of Midus’s other meads, at 12% abv it should be a more civilised drink than the others.

Breaking the paper seal is always exciting, and something about the neck reminds me of Sake bottles. The scent is quite sharp with a sweet fruity follow up.

The first sip has an initial rush, it’s been a while since I’ve drunk mead, followed by a flood of sweet flavours, that hint of fruit and the bitter tang.

All very pleasant and given the slightly nihilistic mood I’m in the bottle is unlikely to survive the night.

Auray Chouchen-hydromel

Ah it’s been a while since I’ve found a new frontier in the world of Mead, my last boundaries being various drinking vessels. God I am such a geek.

After a certain amount of abuse of work contacts, a friend brought me two bottles of Chouchen back from Brittany at what worked out to be about £2.50 each.

I think I’ve written a rambling post about Chouchen 'the drink of the elves' before, I’ve found a facebook page and so I’m clearly not alone in my odd forms of geekery.

This bottle seems quite exciting, it’s a corked bottle and the cork is encased in wax, so I’m guessing this has been bottled with some care. I think the Chouchen is unnamed, or at least my French isn’t up to the translation:

Chouchen-hydromel
“Aux Ruchers d’Armorique”
Plougoumelen 56400 – Auray
Servir tres frais

Which thanks to Babelfish I think means?

Chouchen-hydromel
“With the Apiaries of Armorique”
Plougoumelen 56400 - Auray
To be useful very fresh

The scent is quit sweet but with a bitter honey tang, there’s a cloudy hint and the first sip is that of a sweet mead with a mild white wine tang, and a honey taste. Pretty pleasant for something that’s cheaper than anything I’ve ever tried before.

I wonder to what extent the French government subsidies it as an artisan product, or at least grants tax breaks. At £2.50 a bottle there can’t be much money to be made here.

As the glass empties there is an after taste, a sort of bitter tang, and I think this will be better with ice, but a fairly wholesome start to the world of Breton meads…