Honey Gardens Melissa Sparkling Mead

What is this sparkling mead you speak of? Well, its a delicious new project from the head bee-keeper and the mead maker at Honey Gardens in Vermont. Just last November they decided to embark on a sparkling mead with their raw honey and wild yeasts. They decided to name the mead Melissa for the mythological Greek queen bee goddess and they got a little advice, help and equipment use from their friends at Shelburne Farm.  

We're grateful to have come across them at the VT Cheese Festival this year, because it has been a huge eye opening experience for us (wine snobs!) who have not really given mead a second thought. Sure, we love honey, but to take a wine-like beverage made from honey seriously was certainly out of the realm for us. We're happy to report we're so wrong about this Melissa Sparkling Mead.

Its got great bubble and really nice earthy honeyed undertones to it. It's not unlike beer in a strange way perhaps due to its texture, but it's got some fruit that's evolved from the honey and yeast and great acidity to balance all of that out. It is surprisingly good with hard cheeses like Ascutney Mountain or Gruyere. 

Melissa Sparkling Mead $17 a bottle

meet the meadmaker

Bees + Honey

So, unlike wine, mead is made from honey and not grapes. There isn't a single grape in there, but like wine there is yeast. Mead is regarded as "the ancestor of all fermented drinks" and its existence dates back to 7000 BC. There are many mead styles varying from spices, herbs and fruits to more common distinctions such as what kind of honey was used. All in all, it is a rather ancient way to produce an alcoholic beverage and one that many small apiaries seem to be taking very seriously.