Redstone Meadery in NYC

Redstone Meadery made its debut in NYC this week.  I had the pleasure of meeting David Myers, Chairman of the Mead, and tasting his delightful beverages at beer table on Tuesday evening.  Mead is an ancient fermented beverage, probably a bit younger than beer, made from honey.  I was first exposed to mead a few years ago at New York City Homebrewers Guild meetings and found it delicious.  Unfortunately, I’ve found that most commercial versions do not compete with the homebrewed stuff.  Redstone’s meads are an exception.  David is an entertaining guy – ready with the jokes and very knowledgable about his products.  Redstone Meadery was the first company in the US to offer a line of draft meads and is the only meadery with a carbonated line (I didn’t even know carbonated meads existed!). They produce two primary lines – purple labels indicate an 8% carbonated nectar while yellow labels are 12% mountain honey wines. A very limited Reserve mead is produced every other year and is available only in the tasting room in Boulder, Colorado or on the website.

The tasting began with two of the nectars, the Sunshine Nectar and the Black Raspberry Nectar, moved on to two mountain honey wines, the Traditional and the Juniper, then ended with the special Nectar of the Hops on draft.  My favorite of the bunch was the Sunshine Nectar, a light but complex drink that is a perfect aperitif.  Apricots are added in the process to give this a more traditional dry flavor.  My second favorite was the Nectar of the Hops, which I found had less depth than the Sunshine but a very nice citrus hoppiness which balanced the sweetness of the nectar.  This nectar is dry-hopped with 50% Amarillo and 50% Centennial hops.  The Black Raspberry is the flagship product and the first mead Redstone sold, debuting eight years ago.  The Juniper honey wine has lightly-toasted French Oak added to give a tannic balance to the mead.  All of the meads tasted were quite good and I am quite happy that we have a quality commercial mead available in New York City.