A short guide to our meads
On hydromel-and-hypocras.com we offer a wide range of quality hydromels. Each range is different and has its own characteristics.
It can be difficult to choose from such a wide range. The aim of this short guide is to give you an overview of the main characteristics of each range, so that you can compare them and make your choice.
First, a quick reminder: hydromel is one of the oldest drinks made by man. The recipe is simple: water, honey and yeast.
See our video on making mead.
To sum up, it's the honeys that make up the basic blend, their quantity, proportion and origin that will give the hydromel its main characteristics. The terroir is therefore of the utmost importance. The way in which the mead is made and the length and ageing of the vintages will also give the mead its typical character.
Oenological meads from Occitania
are made from honey from colonies of bees that forage in Occitanie. The Domaine Apicole is certified organic (FRBIO-11).
The honeys that make up the different cuvées come from beehives located in forests, garrigue, mountains or on the coast.
The cuvées on offer are made from all-flower, garrigue, thistle, rhododendron and other honeys.
Elixir de Dragon
Image Innée
Immuable
Immoral
The Elixir de Dragon : hydromel moelleux, is the most affordable in terms of taste: soft and sweet it's a good introduction for those unfamiliar with this type of beverage. It is one of our best sellers.
The rest of the range consists of Image Innée a hydromel in the same vein as Elixir de Dragon, a little more distinctive and elaborate, and a more original and distinctive demi sec in terms of taste (with less sugar): Immuable.
The range closes with the Hydromel Immoral, a top-of-the-range hydromel in terms of both quality and packaging. It's very mellow, so it's sweet and syrupy. It will give you the taste and sweet flavour of the honeys that make it up.
The entire range is homogenous, with differences in flavour due to the blends and the amount of residual sugar (sweet, mellow or semi-dry). You won't be too surprised when you go through the range, the residual sugar level and the mellow, sweet, semi-dry side are the main differences between the cuvées.
Chouchens
Marc'h
Vieux Doux
Vieux Sec
Tara
Dragon
Nektaruz
Origin
The Chouchen is a hydromel of Breton tradition. Historically, apple juice was added to the beverage. Since 1921 a law has reserved the term Chouchen for traditional mead production (water+honey only).
We offer 7 chouchens made by a Breton producer established since 1960. These are top-of-the-range chouchens, made and aged in oak barrels, sometimes for several years. Production is artisanal and deliberately limited in volume. As a result, there are sometimes shortages that can last several months. Chouchen knows how to make itself desired!
These chouchens are recognised throughout the world and many of them have won medals in international competitions. Many of these Chouchens are ageing products that will evolve over time.
March'H: semi-dry, aged for a minimum of 18 months, unblended with a green, fruity taste.
Vieux Doux: matured from 24 to 36 months, without blending with deep aromas.
Vieux sec: matured for a minimum of 24, really dry, very hard and surprising, this cru is reserved for demanding mead lovers.
Tara: spends 4 or 5 years in cask, then blended with other cellar-matured chouchens, a delicately fragrant, woody semi-dry mead.
Dragon: ferments for 4/5 months in oak barrels, then matures on the lees for several years before being blended with other chouchens.
Nektaruz: original product made from the fermentation of honeys and red fruits, maturing for 2 years on lees.
Chouchen Origine: a top-of-the-range product from the chouchen line, very sweet and even mellow/liquid, ancestral recipe, luxury packaging comparable to Immoral oenolic mead.
Sparkling meads
Litchi
Lime
Lavender
Organic cherry tree
Organic Jura Forest
The intention here is to modernise the hydromel, to bring about more festive and easy-to-drink drinks.
Sparkling hydromels are light in alcohol compared with traditional meads (4.5% Vol compared with 14%Vol on average). They are best enjoyed chilled, like champagne. They can be used as a base for cocktails. They are made in France: in the Vendée. The honeys come from France (Provence, Picardy, Normandy, etc.) and Madagascar.
This modern and festive vision of mead is interesting and allows you to discover and appreciate mead in a less traditional way. Our sparkling meads are :
Extra Brut fleur de cerisier bio
and extra brut fleur de forêt du Jura.
Each product is based on the same principle: a sparkling single-flower mead. It's up to you to make your choice according to your own tastes!
Arranged hydromel
Hydromel Tradition
Elderberries
Blackberry
White peach
With coffee
The intention here is also to modernise mead while remaining on the foundations of this ancestral drink. The hydromels arrangés are therefore made on the basis of a traditional mead from a blend of French honeys that are matured in casks with fruit.
These are rather upmarket and less traditional products, more innovative than classic meads. Even if the taste of the hydromel is still there, the fruit specific to each cuvée will bring very different characteristics, and that's the whole point!
The first in the range is the traditional mead, so it has no fruit. But it differs from the meads in our other ranges, such as Élixir de Dragon. It is more delicate and less distinctive than traditional meads, with a very interesting vanilla finish. In this sense, this mead with its touch of originality is very affordable in taste while retaining its mead character.
The Hydromel arranged with elderberries offers its fruit scents and taste, well rounded and delicate; the taste is not too pronounced and the final note is woody.
The Hydromel arranged with blackberry is the "sweetest". Nevertheless, the sugar is not overly present as it is in a liqueur, the fragrance on the nose and palate is well-proportioned and the taste of the original fruit is well-recognised.
The Hydromel arranged with white peach : with a light, delicate fragrance of white fruit and well balanced. It combines perfectly with the natural honeyed flavour of mead.
Hydromel arranged with coffee, the most original in the range with a pronounced aroma of Brazilian coffee and the delicate taste of coffee from which it frees itself of bitterness giving rise to a surprising and delicate mead.
Hidromel Valhalla
Valhalla Aesir
Valhalla Tradicional
Valhalla Freyja
Valhalla Doble miel
Valhalla Ragnarok
Bodegas Valhalla is a Spanish mead producer. We work exclusively with French producers. Valhalla is the exception that proves the rule.
We made this choice in order to offer an entry-level product of affordable quality in terms of price and taste. We're dealing with classic but quality products.
Traditional Valhalla : inspired by Viking meads: neither filtered nor clarified it could be described as "raw"hydromel.
Valhalla Aesir : a semi-dry with ripe white fruit aromas inspired by ancient meads.
Freyja : takes up the principle of meads arranged by including macerations of red fruits during its elaboration, aromas of red currants and cherries.
Double Honey : heavily dosed with honey during its production develops a floral aroma and an intense "old gold" colour, intense honey taste.
Ragnarok : offers rich, complex flavours, amber colour offering intense aromas of honey and caramel, notes of spice and vanilla.
We hope this short guide will help you discover our ranges.