Chaucer's Mead
Santa Cruz, California
The mead most Americans have actually tasted, made by Bargetto in Santa Cruz. Sweet, 11%, and the clearest case of sugar rather than alcohol driving the score.
In its favor
- ✓Gluten-free
- ✓Widely available, which almost no other mead is
What to watch
- !Not vegan
- !Sweet, with the highest residual sugar here outside Viking Blod
- !Added sulfites
Factor by factor
Congeners Moderate ▾
Byproducts of fermentation (methanol, acetaldehyde, fusel alcohols). Strongly linked to hangover severity; darker, less-distilled spirits carry more.
Histamines Moderate ▾
Produced by bacteria during fermentation/aging. Trigger flushing, headaches, congestion in sensitive drinkers. High in red wine, beer, aged spirits.
Polyphenols Low ▾
Plant compounds with antioxidant activity. Slightly protective at low doses but at high concentrations may worsen hangover via tannin/quercetin reactions.
Sulfites Moderate ▾
Preservatives (SO₂) added to wine and some beers. Common trigger of headaches, asthma, and allergic-type reactions.
Tannins Very Low ▾
Astringent polyphenols from skins, seeds, barrels. Bind proteins, slow alcohol clearance, and aggravate dehydration-style symptoms.
Sugar Very High ▾
Residual sugar amplifies hangover via blood-sugar swings and dehydration. Liqueurs and cocktails are the main offenders.
Additives Low ▾
Colorants, flavorings, glycerin, propylene glycol, sorbates. Cheap spirits and ready-to-drinks often hide these in trade-secret formulas.
Chaucer’s is the supermarket mead, and it scores a 7 despite being the second-weakest traditional mead on this page at 11%. Bee d’Vine is stronger by a point and a half of alcohol and scores two points better. The whole difference is sugar.
That inversion is the most useful thing on this page. In spirits, proof is the dominant variable and sugar is usually zero. In mead, sugar is live, it varies enormously between bottles, and it can outweigh a meaningful difference in strength. Reading mead by ABV alone will mislead you.