On Wednesday the 6th of December, while visiting Barossa Valley Brewing, I met Tom the brewer who also produces Sunlight Liquor. This is sparkling mead made to be quite sessionable.
Tom studied botany and micro biology at university which led him into the occupation of brewing. He believes that Australia’s huge diversity of flowering plants lends itself to great flavours of honey that can be used to produce a wonderful variety of meads. He wants to make meads that are appropriate to Australia, meaning that they are perfect for drinking on a hot summer day. They should be of a reasonably low alcohol content, lightly carbonated, with a dry finish and available in cans. The individual flavours can be sourced from getting honey from different blossoms.
He is fortunate enough to be able to play around with his mead brewing after work hours using Barossa Valley Brewing’s equipment.
The meads that I sampled were:
1. Sparkling Orange Blossom, 4.0% abv, this has a slight orange tint to its clear appearance and a citrus and honey aroma. It has a sweet honey and citrus taste on a crisp dry finish. This is made with Australian orange blossom honey and infused with organic black tea and a hint of bergamot. Refreshing and delicious.
2. Gums and Roses, 4.0% abv, this has a pink colour and a subtle floral aroma. It has an interesting sweet strawberry and guava initial taste on a crisp dry finish. This is made with seasonal gum honey with hibiscus for colour and strawberry gum for flavour. Very easy drinking.
I enjoyed the meads from Sunlight Liquor and would like to thank Tom for his time and for the samples. These are a very viable alternative for people who want something different from beer and they are gluten free as well.