Kiawe Blossom

Early Fall 2025

14%

Mead Details

 This mead was made using Hawaiian Kiawe Blossom honey. 

The yeast we used was QA23. 

This mead was about 12 months old before bottling. 

Karl’s tasting notes

Another from our line of interesting Hawaiian honey Traditionals, this time it’s Kiawe Blossom. Yet another plant I’m not super familiar with, so I am eager to describe this one! The tree this honey comes from produces a lovely “cat tail” flower, akin to both the plant as well as visually similar to blue pine sprigs. Other than that, this is a mystery that’s ready to be solved!

Oooh. The nose is silky, sweet fruit-cream on a first inhalation! Like an earthy green robustness followed by a ripe banana skin, plus that “creamy” fruit. Fascinating! As I open it up, more traditional honey notes come through, balancing this alien cacophony with familiar balance. There’s a delightful, sweet note in there that’s begging me to taste, so we’re moving on, ha!

My first impression is a smooth honey-sweet with a robust wheatgrass-caramel earthiness, similar to buckwheat honey, but sweeter. There are fruity notes too, like citrus, but more like expressed orange peel sweetness. Blending these notes creates a sweet and light mead with an unexpected hardiness throughout.