Brimming Horn to release gold medal winner April 5

Brimming Horn Meadery’s mead-maker Jon Talkington won a Gold Medal in March at the 2019 Mazer Cup International mead competition, the world’s biggest mead contest. There are over 500 entries in the commercial categories alone, including meaderies from all over the United States, Europe, Scandinavia and South America.

Brimming Horn’s winning mead was entered in the varietal sweet category. Castanea is a sweet traditional mead made from Italian chestnut honey. It has complex aromatics and flavor with hints of forest, leather, ripe grape and spice. Last year, Talkington took home a silver medal for Freya’s Kiss, his semi-sweet traditional made from mesquite honey.

The gold-medal winner will be released under the name Chestnut Blossom Friday, April 5, at the Milton brewery. Castanea was a mead club exclusive and only available to Brimming Horn’s club members. Chestnut Blossom is the same mead, but it was aged in oak barrels and will be released to the public for all to enjoy.

Talkington said, "I'm always excited to work with a new variety of honey, and in this case it was chestnut blossom honey from Italy! When I tasted the dark, molasses-like, earthy and leathery honey with a slight bitter flavor, I knew what had to be done. I didn't want to add anything to this unique honey; I wanted its complexity to shine. So I chose a unique yeast strain to carry out the fermentation, which gave this mead very fruity aromatics, and the mead sat a full year before we bottled it. Making this mead felt like paying homage to my ancestors since my mom's family came from Italy and that made it even more special. I was very excited to hear the mead took a gold medal at the Mazer Cup International Mead Competition. We always strive to make world-class mead at The Brimming Horn Meadery, and winning a gold at the Mazer proves that we do!"

Chestnut Blossom will sell for $19.99. The public will be able to sample the mead for $4 at the meadery.