Chilli & lime mead. That’s what we’re looking at today – our penultimate bottle of Lancashire Mead Company‘s extraordinarily distinctive mead, and it’s a bit of a twist on what we’ve experienced from them thus far. It’s the same quality mead – a spin on their Jarl’s Mead blossom honey recipe – this time adorned with a kick of heat and a bright, sharp edge of citrus. Sweetness, heat and citrus are fine friends when it comes to food, but how have one of my new favourite meaderies captured that volatile combination in a bottle of mead?
This is quite the perplexing mead. I know we tend to refer to anything with an element of heat as having a ‘kick’ of chilli or some such, but the chilli really forms the main body of this mead’s body, almost teetering on the edge of being present in too great a volume. It’s not necessarily the heat level, as this is mellowed out rather nicely by the sweetness of the honey and an inspired flash of lime we’ll discuss shortly, but the chilli peppers add an oddly savoury sensation to the drink that continued to puzzle me to the very last glass.
It’s an intriguing mix for sure. Personally I felt as though the chilli could be brought down a little bit to help this mead really step up to the obscenely high standards Lancashire Mead Company have set. It does overwhelm the beautifully delivered, clean, fresh lime. It cuts through the heat, but not quite enough to be totally satisfying. The chilli pepper flavour is very well preserved, which is what gives this mead that curiously savoury texture. But the lime notes are magnificent, and I think much of my discontent with that spicy body is due to the diminishing effect it has on the citrus.
The depth of the chilli pepper flavour does not linger, fading into a gentle undercurrent as the lime comes into play. Though the lime doesn’t cut through quite as sharply as I might like, it does do a reasonable job of muting that subtle heat. Both of these elements sadly mean the beautiful core honey flavour gets lost quite quickly, and that’s such a strong, distinctive trait of Lancashire Mead Company‘s products.
As a result I found this mead worked best as an accompaniment rather than a tipple to enjoy by itself. Mead and cheese boards tend to be my favourite combination and the combined spice/sweetness of Heimdall’s Mead make it a perfect partner for that. You don’t want to pair it with any mild flavours, as the chilli pepper is so prevalent and full that it will overpower many tastes.
Lancashire Mead Company: Heimdall’s Mead – 3/5
This is a mead built on Lancashire Mead Company‘s robust foundations, but the flavour balance just does not land right in my mildly experienced opinion. A touch more lime, a touch more sweetness, or perhaps a reversal of the heat/citrus balance and this would stand alongside the rest of their range as another titan. As it stands, this is a mead I wouldn’t seek out again, though I’d encourage any fans of full-on chilli flavour to give it a go. You can’t go wrong with a bottle from Lancashire Mead Company.
If you’d like to try Heimdall’s Mead for yourself, the best place to grab one is always direct from Lancashire Mead Company‘s website.