B. Nektar "New Wave Lemonade" Mead

I don't know why I think that I'm an old hat with mead, as this will only be the 6th mead that I've had. I think one problem is that I had the very first one when I had no idea what to expect, so I didn't really know how to rate it. It unfortunately resulted in, I believe, an arbitrarily low rating for that mead that may very well have been pretty good.

The pink of the beverage was unexpected, but the sweet lemon-wine aroma is just about spot on. I'll admit that I have had quite a bit of lemonade and pink lemonade lately, and the smell is right in line with those, but it has that wine heaviness and almost a blueberry added to the wafting scent. The presentation is pretty simple for all of these meads, so it's pretty simple here, too.

First sip is sweet and dry. It is more wine-like than the previous drink from the Nektar boys. The lemon part of the lemonade is asserting itself well enough, and the honey adds a lot of sweetness to the whole mix. The dryness makes this so much more like wine that it's striking how much difference there is between the wine cooler feel of the previous beverage and this one.

Holding it in the mouth a little bit allows the intense sweetness of the tip-in to mellow into an agave mist that falls on the lemons to simulate that lemonade - and it does it well. When the sip goes down the gullet, the wine-like mouthfeel and alcohol turn it into an adult beverage before the dry finish fully nails this to the adult beverage tree. 

Bottom Line: A little simple, but well done

3.0/5