Review: Shrugging Doctor Apple Cinnamon Mead

I never really post reviews of anything other than beer but sometimes you just have to mix it up a bit, especially with cabin fever of being isolated for several months in a row. Same thing in my old First Draught column in the Brandon Sun, but back in 2017 I reviewed Shrugging Doctor's cider, a first for me as I just really didn't enjoy cider and hadn't enjoyed the taste of apples since I was around ten years old. For the review, unfortunately I didn't have a corkscrew to open the bottle so I had to result to sabering the bottle to get the cork off, something I always get a bit anxious about because I always worry that I might cut myself.. but thankfully I have a corkscrew now days, one that's not going to break after one use either.

Today's review is Shrugging Doctor's Apple Cinnamon Mead. I call mead the wine lover's beer and the beer lover's wine because it's one of the very few beverages that both wine drinkers and beer drinkers can agree on. Also, who doesn't love honey?!

From the website: With a new and improved Mead recipe, we’ve perfectly blended the taste of fresh apples with sweet Manitoba Honey, aged in cinnamon to create this delicious product. Vinted and Bottled in Winnipeg. 8.8% alc./vol.

Appearance: Have I ever stated how much I hate corks and corkscrews? Because I absolutely hate corks and corkscrews! The mead pours a pale straw yellow with good amount of clarity to it. As I swirl the glass, it retains a good amount of "wine legs" to it.. a light amount of syrupiness to it.

Aroma: Smells like an apple pie in a glass, but it's no surprise as apple and cinnamon are right in the name of the mead. The apples are a bit tart while the cinnamon is well.. cinnamony - it's spiced and fairly sweet. The honey sweetness is faint but present so far.

Taste: Quite a dry mead with a heavy dose of apple and cinnamon. The apple flavour is sweet but also a bit tart but not puckering tart like crab apples. There's notes of cinnamon for spice and a good amount of honey sweetness that has a bit of a syrupy texture on the palate. The mead is boozy, a bit medicinal and I definitely can feel warmth from the mead hitting my body pretty quickly. Carbonated and slightly syrupy mouthfeel and an appley aftertaste at the end.

Overall Thoughts: Sweet mead with a good deal of apple and cinnamon to it, reminiscent to apple pie to an extent. Mild syrupiness, good deal of booziness so this is definitely a slow sipper mead. Sweet, not as white wine-y as I expected and as someone who isn't a fan of wine, that's a good thing!

The other day I noticed that they have a vineyard in the Winkler area, while I officially swore off ever drinking wine ever again three months ago, I'll be giving one of their wines a try sometime.

If you're stuck isolating like I am, which many of you are, Shrugging Doctor offers Canada-wide delivery!