With 2024 almost behind us and the specter of Yule/Christmas already looming large on the horizon, it seemed like the ideal time to recap the very best meads I’ve reviewed this year. Each meadery I’ve been lucky enough to work with this year has brought their own individual magic to the drink, and I believe that the bottles I’ve selected for this list are the best they have to offer. Buy one for a great night, buy all four for a really great night. Here they are – my favourite meads of 2024.
BEST VIKING’S BLOOD: KVASIR’S BLOOD, ARCANE ALCHEMIST
I bumped into Arcane Alchemist for the first time, happily and totally unexpectedly, at a local food festival. I had no idea any mead-makers would be in attendance, and their selection caught my eye instantly. With a refreshing, whimsical take on branding that eschews the typical serious fantasy theming, it was equally invigorating to discover that they took the production of their mead extremely seriously. I happily sampled the whole range, but we took a bottle of Kvasir’s Blood home with us.
“This is a wonderfully well-rounded mead, suited to drinkers who enjoy semi-sweet wines with a few extra layers of complexity. The sour cherry taste is delivered on a deep bed of warming spices, all delicately wrapped up in the quiet, gently floral mystery of hibiscus, dancing on the edges of sweetness. A mead worthy of its name, for sure.“
If you want to dive into something slightly sweet and mysterious this Christmas, Kvasir’s Blood is the way to go. You can read my full review here or just grab your own bottle from Sam’s website.
BEST TRADITIONAL MEAD: SIGNATURE, APOTHECARY MEAD
Apothecary Mead have a special place in my heart – I wrote my first reviews about their bottles and enjoyed every sip. Each bottle is steeped in tradition and folklore, wearing mythological inspirations proudly on each label. From the mystical, brooding acerglyn Nevermore to the clean, bright flavours of Summerisle, each drink offers a curated and unique experience.
“This was what I always dreamed mead tasted like before I’d ever actually tasted it, and in a roundabout way, that’s the biggest compliment I can pay it. With the right honey in the right hands, you can make mead that tastes legendary. And I don’t mean that in the modern parlance. I’m talking mythical. Signature could well be the mead of poetry itself. It contains a wealth of experience within those amber depths, distilling mead’s ancient, powerful history into a real drink you can taste now. If you’re just getting started with mead, start with a bottle of this.“
Their hydromel, Signature Mead, is without a doubt one of the finest traditionals available in the modern mead industry. I cannot praise it enough. The amount of natural flavours it retains from the raw Welbeck honey is nothing short of magical.
BEST MELOMEL: BLUEBERRY & BLACKCURRANT, NIDHOGGR MEAD CO
Inspiration can be fickle, but in the cases of all the meads featured in this list, the reviews came exceptionally easy. Blueberry & Blackcurrant Mead by Nidhoggr Mead Co stands apart for me as one such motivating mead – putting words to page about this particular bottle was exceptionally easy, and I was absolutely shocked when founder Peter Micheal Taylor informed me that this spectacular mead wasn’t even close to being a bestseller for them.
Blueberry & Blackcurrant is spellbinding from the start. You’re treated to a magical purple hue in the glass, not quite as deep and dark as Sour Cherry but this serves as a hint of this mead’s lighter taste. The smell is another spellbinding suggestion of flavours to come, predominantly a beautifully clear honey scent with broad strokes of blueberry and a blackcurrant edge. If, like me, you spent a long time wondering what mead actually tasted like after spending years absorbed in fantasy realms, the scent of Blueberry & Blackcurrant alone will almost match up to those mythical expectations. Ironically enough, the smell is so earthy and real that the mead seems fantastical in comparison to a lot of modern, artificially flavoured drinks. This is a product of ancient times, of far-flung histories and sagas.
This mead is a must for lovers of fruity flavours – Nidhoggr Mead Co are masters of the melomel and this is a symphony. The full review is here, and as always the best place to buy a bottle of your own is directly from Nidhoggr.
THE DRUNKEN DICE MEAD OF THE YEAR: AEGIR’S MEAD, LANCASHIRE MEAD COMPANY
Aegir’s Mead is without a doubt the finest mead I have covered this year. While each of the meads in this list brought something spectacular to the table, Aegir’s Mead by Lancashire Mead Company remains the stand-out.
“The scent is a subtle, muted hint of what’s to come. Light citrus and some other sweet, subtle fruit notes you might to attribute to the nose on a good brandy. As you take your first sip, you’ll be met with an astonishing citrus burst across the palate, a bright splash of flavour akin to biting into a tart, zingy wedge of actual fruit. The taste slowly deepens and expands into mellow orange notes accentuated delicately by a touch of sweetness from the honey.
The real genius comes in the finishing touch. As soon as that crashing citrus wave recedes, there’s a masterfully crafted dose of palate-cleansing astringence from the tannins, rounding out the initial peak with a soft dryness and a lingering, nearly buttery note in the mouth. Pleasant without being overpowering, which is a key victory when balancing the components of a good mead. This ensures that your second taste will be every bit as potent as the first, making Aegir’s Mead akin to a rolling tide that delivers the same deeply refreshing mouthful every time.”
This is an inspired bottle of mead. If you want to start your mead drinking journey with a seriously powerful and distinctive beverage, look no further. A drink worthy of the gods, indeed. You can get your own bottle of Aegir’s Mead at their website.
2025 – A year of sweet discovery
This has been my first full year of writing about mead, and I have been lucky enough to work with some incredibly skilled mead-makers along the way. I’d like to extend my sincere personal thanks to Apothecary Mead, Lancashire Mead Company & of course the champions of mead for the masses, Nidhoggr Mead Co for supplying me with bottles to write about. Their support has allowed me to build a fairly comprehensive list of fantastic UK meads in relatively little time, and I hope it helps you find your next favourite drink too.
Though we’ve covered plenty already, there’s still much more to come. More meaderies yet to write about, more bottles from the meaderies we’ve already extensively reviewed. Thanks for reading – let me know at lars@drunkendice.co.uk if any my articles have inspired you to grab a bottle of mead, I’d love to know your thoughts.