Orchid Cellar Meadery and Winery

Before my visit to Orchid Cellar Meadery and Winery, my only experience with mead was from the Maryland Renaissance Festival. You know, the kind of mead that pairs well with a turkey leg while you watch some casual jousting. I don’t particularly like this type of beverage… it reminds me of Barefoot moscato. At any rate, I’m not going to turn down a chance to drink wine on a sunny, fall afternoon. So we made our way over to Orchid after a morning of hiking Annapolis Rock on the Appalachian Trail near Frederick.

Orchid’s tasting room is a newly built log cabin decorated with quirky paintings from a local artist. Should something meet your fancy, or you have too much to drink, you can purchase the art to bring home as a souvenir. Upon our arrival, Andre’ greeted us, a young lad from Poland, that is working to keep his family’s tradition alive. He explained to us that they make mead the “Polish” way, and that they only make 3,000 gallons a year. We were eager to get this tasting started. The tasting included 2 wines and 4 meads. The wines were good (2012 Merlot and Jezebel – a red blend), but that wasn’t the point of the trip. Andre’ finally poured us some Blacksmith, a berry mead. From the second it hit our lips, we realized we were way too fast to judge fermented honey.

It. Was. Delicious.

The pours only got better from there. Next up was what turned out to be our favorite, Lumberjack. It was mead blended with heirloom apples and aged in oak for 2 years. It was a perfect combination of crisp, fresh apple flavor and sweet, savory mead. We couldn’t resist, we bought a bottle of this “drink of the gods” (according to Andre’) to take home with us. We also tasted Archer, which has cinnamon and cloves, and tastes like Christmas. You can drink it cold, but in the frigid winter months, it can also be served warm.

Our last pour was Hunter – a chili pepper mead. This is where things get weird. Hunter was fine… there was a little kick at the end. But we then learned that this was one of many pepper meads at Orchid, including a mead made with the world’s hottest pepper. They mentioned that they sell a lot of bottles to restaurants that use the mead as a replacement for triple sec in margaritas. Ok, I guess I could see it, but I’m still not sold.

After our tasting, we enjoyed the views for a bit. The meadery is located in a valley, so it doesn’t quite have the vistas that other venues have in the area. But we aren’t complaining, it is still beautiful. Orchid turned out to be an awesome experience with friendly staff that truly made the tasting unique. It was a complete change of pace from the typical brewery/winery trips we usually take. Next time we are in the area, we plan on stopping by for another tasting, and will definitely be picking up another bottle (or two!)