Makana Meadery Meads

Mead is made by the fermentation of honey sugars to alcohol. The yeast we use normally makes about 12% by volume alcohol, so if we add a lot of honey, there will be honey sugars left in the mead and it will be sweet. If we add just enough honey, the yeast will turn all the sugar to alcohol, giving a dry mead.

With any fermented beverage experience, one tends to learn how to drink a product category with sweet products and then gradually migrate to drier more subtle products

We provide a range of meads to suit all tastes and preferences:

Honey Sun African Mead - Herbal

Our prize-winning mead  - Gold medal award winner in the Speciality Category at the 2006 International Mead Festival in Boulder, Colorado.

A semi sweet mead (approx 20g/l residual sugar) with rooibos, honeybush tea, cinnamon and apple. The herbs provide a smooth structure to the mead with a lingering honey aftertaste. Ideally served at 12-14 degrees Celsius, in a large red wine glass to allow development of the nose.

A good stand alone sundowner, a well matched partner to spicy dishes and stir fries, game and poultry and a companion to desserts and coffees.

Honey Sun African Mead - Sweet

A sweet mead similar in sweetness to a late harvest wine. This places more emphasis on the honey notes, which vary from batch to batch depending on honey source.

A more subtle product, best served at white wine temperatures with fish, vegetable dishes and light meats, or as a sun downer.

Honeysun African Mead - Dry

This mead is enjoyed by those who have learned the subtleties of mead and can savour the extremely discreet honey notes and pleasant almond aftertaste.

Best served chilled with game, red meats and curries. A sociable after dinner drink that will assist the consumer in solving the worlds problems (in theory)!

Honeysun African Mead - Chilli

This mead is somewhat of a shock to the senses. African Birds Eye Chilli or Habanero Chilli lends an interesting wooded nose to the mead, which is entirely overwhelmed by the first sip, which clears the sinuses in a way similar to that of eating half a cup of Wassabi with a sushi roll. This mead is best served as an ice breaker at dinner parties, especially if the food will be hot. It is also quite amusing later on in a dinner party to circulate a bottle of Chilli mead when some of the guests become competitive.