This meadery has been on my radar for a while, and I finally was able to pay a visit this weekend. Wild Blossom Meadery and Winery is located in Chicago, and is a convenient couple minute walk from the Red Line train stop at Beverly Hills.
I was quite impressed with this meadery. It has an absolutely huge variety of flavors available. My girlfriend and I each got a flight of 6 varieties, and there was still enough left on the menu for nearly 3 more flights’ worth. The majority of their menu was mead, but they additionally offer a few different wine varieties as well. On top of the main flavors, they also have a few suggested hybrid mixtures of what they have on tap (half of one and half of another), as well as several mead-based cocktails.
If you’re ever in the area, I definitely recommend checking them out. I have also found some of their products in beverage stores around Illinois, and they also sell from their website at http://www.wildblossommeadery.com/.
They offer flights, glasses, bottles, and growlers.
Prairie Passion – This is their traditional mead. Light and sweet. Nice honey flavor.
Raspberry Peach Nectar – This was my least favorite of the bunch. Peach is a tough flavor to get to come across right. I found this one to be a bit astringent on the back end. The hint of raspberry tamed that a bit.
Blueberry with Coriander & Cardamom – This was one of my favorites. It has a strong floral nose, with a strong hint of the spices it contains. The berry flavor hits your first, but the spices quickly catch up. Instead of being completely distinct flavors, the fruit and spices blend very well in this drink, complimenting each other. It was quite refreshing.
Chocolate Honey Buzz – I was surprised by this one. It’s appearance is very unassuming for something with chocolate in its name. It’s a pale yellow color. However, you can immediately smell the chocolate when you go to take a drink. It’s a slow build with the flavor as well, you get that honey taste up front, and slowly the flavor of chocolate builds. It was a sweet, full chocolate flavor, much unlike a lot of cocoa infused drinks that have that bitter bite to them. I really enjoyed this one.
Lemon Ginger – A sparkling mead. This was a refreshing drink.Light, lemony, sweet, with that gingery spice at the end.
Wolfcraft – Another sparkling mead. This was blood orange featuring Mandarina and Amarillo hops. We both really enjoyed this one, and actually got a growler to bring back. The hops were there more for their flavor than that bitter bite. I’m not much for very hoppy drinks, but this one was very nice, and it melded with the rest of the drink, instead of being an overpowering presence. It was quite refreshing, and had a light fruitiness to it. It was very flavorful, though. Combined with the effervescence, a sip caused your whole mouth to feel involved – lighting up all the taste buds.
Hibiscus – This was a newer flavor they just put on the taps, and wasn’t on the menu at the time of my visit. Very strong floral nose.
Hibiscus Lime – This was similar to the above, but had a refreshing lime note to it.
Halcyon – This was a mixture of several types of berries, I believe cherry and raspberry were among them. It had a floral nose, and a very berry flavor. Kind of like a fruit punch or kool-aid, so this is a good one for those who prefer a less prominent alcoholic flavor.
Cherry Nectar – This had a very nice, sweet cherry flavor. A light touch of cherry on the nose that doesn’t reveal how full the flavor actually is. It had a medium body.
Sweet Desire – Traditional with Buckwheat honey, aged in a bourbon barrel. This had a very strong bourbon scent to the nose. It was fairly sweet, with a rather thick body. I got a nice caramel flavor on the back end. This had a real complexity to it, and the flavors seemed to morph and shift into each other even after you’ve swallowed.
Blueberry Pomegranate – This was another sparkling mead. It had a nice, light, refreshing flavor to it. A pleasant mix of fruits, and was one of the more carbonated of the sparkling meads on tap.
Pirate’s Blood – Mead infused with 3 chili peppers (if you purchase a bottle, they’re still soaking in it). This has quite a bit of heat to it. It’s a nice, thick mead, and is fairly sweet. If you do try this one, definitely do so last, it will cover up pretty much anything you drink after it. It was very good, though. And comes in a cool skull-shaped bottle.