Description

The Rookery is a rare Scottish meadery. Focusing on purity as well as historical accuracy, their meads are made using ingredients that would have been available to people in medieval times, where possible using locally sourced and foraged ingredients.
A strong Scottish heather honey is tempered by a milder polyfloral honey before being diluted with water and fermented along with selected additional ingredients up to 17%. This yields a warming beverage with only a mild sweetness, and one that allows all the flavours of the added fruits, plants, herbs and spices to be clearly tasted without being overwhelming. The clean flavours and aromatics make these meads quite popular among whisky-drinkers and as a lighter alternative for a post-meal tipple.

The Hedgerow Mead is made from a mix of different berries foraged within Strathardle Glen throughout the summer and autumn months, and can include everything from rowanberries, hawthorn, rosehips, elderberries, plums, crab apples, sloes, wild cherries and more. The mix of fruits means that it is harder to distinguish the individual berries, but the broad fruity flavour gives it a mellowness that suits many pallets. Its mild sweetness and the slight tannins from the berries mean that it can be served either as a late-evening tipple or as a slightly sweeter (and stronger) alternative to a white wine.

Seasonality and the relative abundance of different berries mean that the fruit notes in each batch may be quite distinct from the last.