Beacon Meadery is a fairly recent entrant to the industry, but they have set a high bar for themselves, using traditional wine-making techniques and only real, natural ingredients. Their first three varieties have just become available, so Beacon generously sent samples in exchange for a review.
In case you’re unable to find their wares being sold near their Long Island location, they do deliver to most states from their website: Beacon Mead.
Meads
Blueberry
This mead is a vibrant, deep, crystal clear red color.
It has a strong berry scent, with a bit of sweetness, as well as a hint of citrussy tartness.
Although it is still, its mouthwatering acidity made it taste almost carbonated. It has a light sourness, reminiscent of lemon. The berry flavor is light – tough to pick out on its own – but blueberry is often a fairly subtle flavor. It is semi-dry, but the berry flavor helps it to present as sweeter than it is. It finishes with a pleasant tartness and clocks in at 13% ABV.
Overall, this is a nice, easy drinker.
Raspberry
The raspberry has the same rich, red color as the blueberry; however it has a slight haze to it.
The initial whiff is of strong raspberry, which dissipates pretty quickly, leaving behind a light, sweet scent.
This mead has an appealing acidity and citrus flavor up front. It has a slight heat on the back end, which is not surprising given its 15.5% ABV. There’s a prominent, sweet raspberry flavor in the middle before that tart returns on the way down. It also gives a pleasant, subtle cooling sensation similar to mint as part of its aftertaste.
Black Currant
This is the darkest of the three: a crystal clear, deep, crimson red that’s almost purple.
The scent is difficult to describe. It smells dark, but is still rich; sweet, but overall very subtle.
The 14.5% ABV variety opens with a bright spark of tartness before presenting a dark, berry flavor. I’m not familiar with what currants taste like on their own. This is the sweetest of the three.
A mouthwatering acidity similar to the other meads shows up to finish. It was a bit delayed compared to the previous two, but it was still welcome.
This was my favorite of the three. Very rich taste, but balanced the sweetness with the tart while allowing the complexity of the berry to still shine through.
Overall, Beacon Meadery impressed me with both the quality of their product and their professionalism. Not only were the meads well-produced, but they are also a good value. They also have fairly high ABV compared to many other commercially available meads. Features uncommon to meaderies such as shipping to other locations show foresight and will serve them well in the future. I would definitely recommend giving Beacon a visit if you are in the area, and I will hope to do the same!