Week 7: Mead Base [52 Whispers From The Muse]
Mead Base
Overall Rating: 4.3
Appearance: 4.0
Louche: 4.0
Aroma: 4.5
Flavor/Mouthfeel: 4.5
Finish: 4.5
Overall: 4.5
Style: Verte
Country: Czech Republic
Appearance: While not green, Mead Base is a beautiful Yellow/Amber which does invoke an image of bright golden honey.
Louche: Some hints of turquoise as the louche is forming but mostly clouds of yellow and white ending in a nice, milky pale yellow.
Aroma: I was happy that a bit of the honey sweetness of the mead was noticeable. Wormwood, Anise and Fennel also came through as well balanced.
Flavor/Mouthfeel: Very flavorful, still with that hint of rich mead undertone. Creamy, full and unique.
Finish: This stays with you for a while and you can take your time to sort through all of it’s complexities.
At some point when I was perusing some lovely French and Swiss bottles online, the site I was ordering from announced that this Mead Based Absinthe was available. I was as instantly intrigued by its, well, base of Mead but was also instantly put off seeing that the country of origin was the Czech Republic. I had not heard of Martin Zufanek yet so at this point a desperate, internalized conflict commenced… though it was very short.
A scene opened up in the lowest, busiest depths of my mind as my inner voices came to council. A supercilious, nerdy part of my mind protested with metaphorical clipboard in hand and stated “There is no good to be had from a Czech absinthe. I know this based on experience!” To counter this seemingly infallible argument my hereditary Cossack and my inner Viking both stood up from their feasting tables with sabre and axe in hand respectively, stared at the little nerd over their flanks of meat and overflowing drinking horns and grunted a single syllable, “Mead.” This ended the debate so I added a bottle to the order and will praise the distilling prowess of Martin Zufanek of the Czech Republic until I die… probably in an argument about drink.
