Mead: Unlocking the Flavours of Flowers

When most people think of mead, they think of honey. Sweet, golden, ancient. But what if honey isn’t the main story? What if the real magic lies in the flowers it is sourced from?

All around us, everywhere in nature there are flowers of all shapes and colours - quietly producing nectar. Each drop of that nectar carries a fingerprint of that that bears it. Sunlight, soil, rainfall, season — all of it is distilled into a complex, living sweetness that bees collect and store.

When we ferment that honey into mead, something remarkable happens. Every so slowly transforms the sweetness converts to alcohol, revealing what lies beneath - the flavours unique to each flower come to the fore.

That’s the untapped potential of mead — a way to taste the landscape, to experience the diversity of our flora through the transformation of fermentation.

From Nectar to Character

Cane sugar, by contract, is all sweetness. If you were to ferment it, you’d end up with a neutral, flavourless alcohol - perfect for spirits, but devoid of flavour. Honey, by contrast, carries the depth and individuality of its floral source.

Clover honey is a little like the cane sugar, with a gentle flavour that offers a soft base - ideal for our Rhubarb’d mead as it lets the tanginess shine. But mānuka honey? That’s another world entirely. Its flavour runs deep - earthy, spiced, almost medicinal, with notes of spice and licorice. Kānuka, by comparison, reveals a more citrus flavours both unique and strong on the palate.

And then there’s honeydew — not even from flowers at all, but from beech forests. Dark, resinous, and full of forest energy.

There is, of course, millions of other flavoursome flowers a mead maker can explore - which is a bit part of the great adventure mead takes us on.

More Than Sustainability

At Undisturbed, we’ve always cared deeply about sustainability - about enjoying a drink while leaving nature undisturbed. Yet this goes beyond that. It’s about celebration as much as protection. It’s about recognising that the forest. nature itself is abundant with flavour, with stories, with character.

Every bottle of mead begins with flowers. Each fermentation is a quiet unlocking flavour as only mead can.

When the sweetness abate, the truth of the flower shines forth.