A good bottle of mead can be the soul of any moment, be it a roaring, lively festival or quiet evening at home with good food and company. There’s enchantment to be found when you finally chance upon an array of flavours that delight your senses with every sip, a tangible sense of the magic mead holds. I’ve encountered this feeling on precisely three occasions over the last three or four years. Once with Apothecary Mead‘s Signature, again quite recently with Lancashire Mead Company‘s Aegir’s Mead, both remarkable, near symphonic deliveries of exceptional taste.
The third time was, as you may have already guessed, is Nidhoggr Mead Co‘s Blueberry & Blackcurrant. After Sour Cherry, which was something of an acquired taste for me, this mead held my attention fully in its grip from the first mouthful. So if we’re all onboard with the idea that this is a very good mead, I’ll get to explaining why you should already have a bottle of this in your house.
Nidhoggr Mead Co’s Blueberry & Blackcurrant Mead – Enchanting fruit, luxurious honey
Blueberry & Blackcurrant is spellbinding from the start. You’re treated to a magical purpleish 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.
Happily, the taste more than lives up to the standard set by the glowing purple colour and powerful aroma. There was an entire swirl of possibilities and hopes running through my mind as I went to take my first sip. Blackcurrant, for one, has a tendency to make anything taste like fruit squash if deployed in too great a force, and combined with alcohol that can make a lot of drinks that use it feel downright medicinal. Nidhoggr, however, have wielded it with finesse.
First, a bright splash of fresh blueberry that demands your full attention, waking your tongue up from whatever absent lolling it was doing. The initial taste of Blueberry & Blackcurrant is easily my favourite thing about it, a veritable firework of flavour that slowly relaxes into a hint of blackcurrant. These two fruits work so well together in the balance Nidhoggr Mead Co have found. The blueberry provides a beautiful burst of slightly acidic but sweet fruit while the blackcurrant slides in to accentuate the touch of tartness and bring the blueberry’s first explosive round of delight smoothly into that trademark Nidhoggr lingering sweetness. That sweetness is perfect after the fresh, raw earthiness of the combined fruits.
You’re left with a tangy, cleansing aftertaste as the honey’s kiss fades and mere hints of blueberry remain. It’s a glorious collision of flavours fit for a king. Or in my case, a moderately lazy writer.
Nidhoggr Mead Co Blueberry & Blackcurrant Mead – 5/5
This is an utterly excellent melomel that fuses three incredible natural flavours together in perfect harmony. It’s smooth, deep and refreshing, both beautifully simple and a little bit mystical. It’s quite interesting to me that Sour Cherry seems to be Nidhoggr’s biggest seller – while it’s very good, Blueberry & Blackcurrant is in another league when it comes to flavour.
This is as good as blueberry mead gets, and without a doubt the best straight melomel I’ve had the pleasure of sampling this year. No fuss, no complications – just excellent, fresh flavours in a powerful balance. In each bottle of Nidhoggr Mead I’ve sampled thus far, this has been the statement. Just great, simple, natural taste delivered to modern people by ancient tradition.
If you’d like to try this excellent (and apparently underrated) mead for yourself check out Nidhoggr’s website here.