Chaucer’s Mead - 4 Pack
$39.95 + $5 shipping
CONDITION: Mead
PRODUCTS:
2 Chaucer’s Mead 750 mL
2 Chaucer’s Raspberry Mead 500 mL
So this thread will be named the Decanterberry Tales…
sorry 
I’ve really enjoyed my experiences with Chaucer’s Mead, fwiw.
Chaucer’s Dessert Wine Four-Pack 11/21/07 1 blog discuss
Chaucer’s was my 2nd woot and my worst thus far. I’ll pass on these as well.
Sadly, I have to give an absolute, unequivocal, complete recommendation AGAINST buying this. I got a similar set (with olallieberry in place of raspberry) in a Woot-Off last spring, and the mead was thin, cloying, and metallic-tasting. It’s clearly made on an industrial scale, and you can almost taste the stainless steel vats they make it in. It was a distinctly unpleasant experience (and the olallieberry was even worse!).
I think I still have the second bottle of each around here somewhere, and have no plans or intention to willingly subject myself to their contents any time soon.
I’ll spare you the “the only good mead is homemade mead” lecture and say that even for a commercial mead, this stuff is utter crap. Sorry, WD.
DO NOT BUY. Nothing but hatred on this review. http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=28415
I feel the same. This product isn’t on the same level of quality that Woot usually strives to maintain.
Though I’d love to see some gourmet meads offered for once, maybe Woot could at least look into propositioning some decent meaderies around the country that have distribution already in several states. Places like B. Necktar, Redstone, or Long Island Meadery. They all make decent to very good(& sometimes astounding meads) at different price points, & on occasion have lagging stock offered through their newsletters/websites(which could very well be offered here instead).
[QUOTE=k1avg, post:6, topic:304710]
…mead was thin, cloying, and metallic-tasting. It’s clearly made on an industrial scale, and you can almost taste the stainless steel vats they make it in. It was a distinctly unpleasant experience (and the olallieberry was even worse!).
[/quote]
I bought the same set, I think, and the mead was sickenly sweet by itself. However the mulling spices that were packaged with it made it pretty good, and took the sugary edge off a bit when simmered. (I kinda liked the olallieberry wine, actually).
If this is the same mead, I’d wouldn’t drink it without the mulling spices.
Wiki-mead – the history is interesting, even if the offering isn’t…
This was one of my first woots a few years back, and I liked it enough to get me interested in mead. That being said, you can homebrew your own pretty mindlessly and achieve the same quality. Bottom line, if you’ve never had a mead before, it’s a decent buy, especially if mead isn’t easily found in your area, but it’s nothing to write home about.
Did they involve drinking the mead?
I just want to say that, in my experience, you don’t have to be a homebrewer to enjoy great mead.
Many years ago, when I first saw mead on the shelf in a local beer store, I made the connection to movies about knights and castles I had seen as a child, in which some swashbuckler would bellow “bring flagons of mead!” at some serving wench.
Since then, I’ve tried quite a few brands and styles, most of which ranged in quality from poor to pretty decent. I also had some homebrews, which were indeed better. However, a local producer sprang up recently, and they make quality stuff - nicer than a lot of the homebrew, and certainly with more variety.
I haven’t had Chaucer’s (love the name, though), so I can’t compare it. But I will say this - good mead can be addicting.
Here are some mead recipes from The Joy of Mead…
maybe the mead is meant to be put on display only. id quote homer simpson on this one by saying, “booooriiiiiiinnng!”
I think he keeps saying SoCal, but then he says the winery is outside of Santa Cruz. Dude, I don’t think Santa Cruz is SoCal.
I will also chime in to NOT recommend this. My first wine.woot was a three pack (only one raspberry) and did not enjoy it.
First bottle was drank straight, and then mulled, by my two male roommates, two girls, and myself. All of us found it to be an unfortunate experience. We are adventurous beer & wine drinkers fwiw. Quite frankly it turned us all off to mead, which none of us had tried before.
I gifted the second “straight” bottle to a friend with a professed love of mead. He never got back to me with any feedback, read into that what you will. 
The raspberry bottle is in box somewhere, un-tried, but I do not have high hopes from what I have read. For that matter, how long does mead keep?
I will give mead another try or two sometime, as I have NOT heard anyone say, “take it from a mead connoisseur, this is great mead!”
Hey Woot, It’s Thursday and it’s supposed to be the day when you have some type of Artisan food. I can’t get any sort of wine in my state and look forward to your Thursday’s food offering. What’s up?
What they all said. Mead in general is lovely, but Chaucer’s Mead is not. If you want the good stuff, check out Redstone Meadery. Or buy a copy of The Compleat Meadmaker and try your hand; it’s not difficult at all.
Olive Winery in Bloomington, IN makes some pretty tasty meads. Maybe woot should contact them?