Pre-XMas Stop at Silver Hand

Now that I’ve gotten to know Kenny a little and his recommendations and palette seem to align with mine, we stopped in at Silver Hand Meadery where he works while visiting Williamsburg for ChristmasTown at Busch Gardens. I know very little about mead, with only one other visit to a meadery, but this was a good chance to check out another producer and sample another style. I’m so glad we checked it out because Silver Hand is doing some really cool stuff, and we walked out with a bunch of great finds to take home!

I like their business model – choosing 4 meads for a tasting flight, sitting down, and having a server drop them at your table. Three of the four of us were drawn to “Soak Up The Sun” from the menu but we mostly chose different options form the menu to complete our flights. I’m writing about my flight, the featured image on the post.

I started with “Soak Up The Sun” (all the names tie to music, and that’s a touch I absolutely adore here). Well done, Silver Hand team. This was a really light and pleasant mead, and while it’s listed as semi-sweet, it presented to me as fairly dry – I didn’t pick up a ton of sugar from the pour. The honey comes from hives placed amongst orange trees, and the honey definitely had an orange juice hint within it that was pleasant and fun. This was probably my favorite of my flight.

I then had “Scarborough Fair,” which had more herbal elements. The green tea flavor came across strongest to me in this mead. I thought it was nice, but not something I’d have a lot of in one sitting. The one ounce sample was fine for me. Tea lovers would definitely enjoy this one a lot.

My third pour was “Dream by the Fire” which had apple cider, apple pie spices and was aged in French Oak. I enjoyed this one too because no one flavor dominated, and it remained on the drier side, though not as dry as “Soak Up the Sun.” This was an easy one to drink.

My last taste was “Bourbon Street Blues” which the notes said were blueberry influenced and aged in bourbon barrels. I definitely picked up the blueberry notes, but didn’t find any bourbon influence on my tastebuds. I enjoyed this one too.

Everyone chose different samples and hubby and daughter-in-law definitely loved the Strawberry Swing, while my son liked Drops of Jupiter best of all. We ended up grabbing a bottle of our top ones to take home.

Kenny then brought by some samples of the different honey they had for sale. This was really cool because he poured them on a paper plate like a painters’ palette. We tried Blueberry Blossom, Mesquite, Virginia Wildflower, Appalachian Wildflower, Bourbon Barrel Aged, Avocado Blossom, Coriander, Sourwood, Tupelo, and some Whipped Honeys like Cinnamon, Cocoa and Peppermint, and Hot Pepper. This was so interesting because each honey had a very different flavor profile. I loved the coriander honey best, and hubby loved the Tupelo. Avocado Blossom was a close runner up, and was a really pleasant one. We also grabbed some of the cinnamon whipped honey.

Silver Hand has a great atmosphere and is a ton of fun – great environment, with a nice setup for live music in the tasting room. The meads and honey are fantastic and really fun – and Kenny and the team are very knowledgeable and happy to talk to you about the meads – the team was helping other customers and getting them set up and guiding them on their selections. I recommend a visit here, especially if you, like me, are new to mead as a whole. Silver Hand also got a few Gold Medals in the Governor’s Cup this year, so you can check in on the Gold Medal Trail (as Kenny reminded me!). We shared our experience with one of hubby’s friend who lives nearby to the meadery and she is planning to visit on Christmas Eve for last-minute gift shopping!

As I shared in my first post exploring mead, definitely check out new things like this – it’s fun, expands your understanding, and you learn something exciting about the exploration of craft beverages and local production. I really enjoyed this first visit to Silver Hand, and I expect I will be back, or hunt down their products since they distribute!