Is it Mead you're looking for?

Yesterday, the beau and I took a jaunt up to Oceanside for the most traditional of drinks ... honey wine, mead! It's touted as the ancestor of all fermented drinks, so no wine, no beer, no gross-tastes-like-vinegar kombucha without it. And wouldn't the world be a little darker for it?

Anyway, this place is tucked away in an industrial office complex, I guess you would call it? It's a bit tricky to find, but am I ever glad we did. This mead, you guys! We tried 6 different varieties -

On tap:
Orange blossom - this was the sweetest of the bunch, with a very strong honey flavor. That sounds obvious, but when did you last have a wine that had a strong grape characteristic? This was brewed with orange blossom honey, that is, honey from bees who pollinate orange groves almost exclusively.

Ginger - this was my favorite of the first four, though if you ask nicely they may pour you a half ginger half orange blossom, which was amazing. This was pretty dry, brewed with ginger and black tea, and a wonderfully complex brew.

Sassafras - Give it a chance. The first sip was funky ... like, wasn't sure if I was gonna drink it levels of funky. But after two or three sips, this grew on me in a big way. It still wasn't my favorite - mead that reminds you of rootbeer is definitely an acquired taste - but it was definitely worth the 2 oz taster.

Sour - This was the house favorite, the guys behind the bar couldn't get enough. Truth be told, I am generally not a fan of sour beers, so I was trepidatious. But the sweetness cut the sour, and it was far more palatable than I thought it would be!

 Drinking like a nord!

Eventually, the ginger ran out (we were enjoying it a bit too much), and was replaced with the Savage Bois. Oh, the Savage Bois! Hands down my favorite ... we ended up buying two bottles, along with a bottle of the sour. We also got to try their Golden Jun, their version of kombucha but a billion times better. Brewed with honey and green tea, it's probiotic and low in alcohol (about 1.5%).

The guys behind the bar, Alex and Ryan, were great - we only planned on staying for a round, but they made it so much fun we ended up staying for a few hours and had a few glasses of mead. Deelish!