Page 39 - the NOISE January 2016

with Cody V. Burkett
illustration By Kris Pothier
Iknow it’s perhaps a little un-orthodox of me to be reviewing a mead, but it’s closer to wine than beer ... so as far as I’m concerned, it’s reviewable! (Sorry Beer Captain, love you Beer Captain.) And the fact of the matter is, Superstition Meadery, located in the historic Courthouse district of Prescott, makes some really great ones, along with a host of ciders and pyments. They’ve won a whole slew of awards in national and international competitions for their creations, including taking home a bunch of medals at the Mazer Cup, which is the biggest worldwide mead competition. I’m reviewing an old favorite of mine from them, Honey Highway, which was released in their tasting room back in March, but you can still find a few bottles floating around here and there.
For those who don’t know what mead is, it is (according to Wikipedia’s definition, anyway): “an alcoholic beverage created by fermenting honey with water, and in other forms with various fruits, spices, grains or hops.” The defining characteristic of mead, therefore, is the majority of the beverage’s fermentable sugar is derived from honey, rather than say, grapes. Honey Highway is made from Arizona wildflower honey coming from various parts of Arizona (mostly the southern reaches, courtesy of Crockett Honey Company), along with prickly pear juice sourced from the Southwestern United States, which was made in Washington. It was aged in a new American oak barrel for six months. The winemaker for this mead, like all of the meads at Superstition Meadery, was Jeff Herbert. Highway 69 on the label is the major highway linking
Prescott to I-17, though historically it linked Prescott to Phoenix directly.
The nose of this mead is pretty complex. There is a great deal of mesquite and floral characteristics: peony, geraniums, lily, iris and vanilla, intermingled with sage. The American oak barrel this mead was aged in has imbued the nose of Honey Highway with subtle hints of bourbon, molasses and cedar. The tart fruity notes of prickly pear are, of course, also present. The palate of this mead is well rounded with a sharp cedar edge, which underlies the smooth honey, prickly pear and vanilla notes. There are some notes of sage, smoke and mesquite. The honey notes are reminiscent of various local desert wildflower honeys I’ve encountered and mixed in with my breakfast tea in the mornings. Honey Highway has a rich, velvety mouth feel that almost sticks to your tongue, with a slight creamy caramelized sugar note on the finish. I’d say there is a pretty low amount of residual sugar here, and the mead does seem to get a little sweeter as you sip. The finish is long, lasting for about 18 seconds.
My first instinct is to pair Honey Highway with some vanilla ice cream for dessert, but while there is some residual sugar here, I think this mead is far more versatile than that. I feel like this could go well with Chicken kebabs cooked on the grill with slices of prickly pear pads, onion and green peppers; use tofu instead for a vegetarian pairing. This mead is a little bit like your last kiss with your high school girlfriend which took place during the last storm of the summer monsoon, just before she went off to college. You look back upon that memory and smile, though the two of you broke up a long time ago. You still keep tabs with her on Facebook on occasion; she’s now a science teacher in the Pacific Northwest — married, with kids.
The tasting room for Superstition Meadery is located right off of Courthouse Square in Downtown Prescott, off Gurley Street. The subterranean cellar and tasting room has a lovely contemporary industrial feel; a delightful counterpoint to the ancient history of mead which goes back as far — if not farther, than wine itself. They constantly change their menu of meads, and they also serve up a nice selection of Arizona wines also. Only 280 Bottles of Honey Highway were created, so it might be gone by the time you get there, but Safeword is a good second choice.
| Cody V. Burkett sometimes indulges his sweet tooth, and his inner Viking. Follow his blog at azwinemonk.com
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