Superstition Meadery 'Hawaiian Honeymoon' Mead, Arizona

Ripe pineapple, coconut, Tahitian vanilla, and floral honey unfold with a creamy, tropical richness reminiscent of piña colada and vanilla custard. Superstition Meadery 'Hawaiian Honeymoon' Mead combines Arizona honey with pineapple and Tahitian vanilla beans before maturation on toasted American oak staves, giving its exuberant fruit a subtle layer of structure and warmth. Created by one of the producers that helped propel modern American mead beyond traditional conventions, it is a lush, semi-sweet expression built around distinctive ingredients and generous flavor.

Product Details:

• Owners / Founders: Jeff Herbert and Jennifer Herbert
• Co-Founder / Meadmaker: Jeff Herbert
• Honey: Arizona honey
• Fruit: Pineapple
• Vanilla: Tahitian vanilla beans
• Aging: Toasted American oak staves
• ABV: 13.5%

Sensory Description:

Light yellow in the glass, Hawaiian Honeymoon opens with ripe pineapple, coconut, floral honey, and generous Tahitian vanilla, with a creamy custard-like quality adding depth. The palate is lush and semi-sweet, bringing pineapple and honey together with silky vanilla in a profile strongly suggestive of piña colada. Tropical fruit provides freshness against the mead’s richer honeyed core, while maturation on toasted American oak staves contributes subtle structure and complexity. The finish is smooth and lingering, carrying pineapple, vanilla, honey, and creamy tropical notes.

Producer’s Background:

Jeff and Jennifer Herbert founded Superstition Meadery in Prescott in 2012 after turning their enthusiasm for home fermentation into a professional mead business. Beginning with only a tiny leased production space at an existing winery, they developed Superstition around an experimental approach to fermented honey, incorporating fruit, spices, vanilla, wood aging, and other ingredients into a broad range of meads and ciders. Jeff’s early experimentation as a meadmaker helped establish the creative direction of the producer, while Jennifer and Jeff built the company together without outside investors. Their work contributed to the expansion of contemporary American craft mead, and in 2019 the U.S. Small Business Administration named the Herberts National Small Business Persons of the Year. Hawaiian Honeymoon reflects the producer’s ingredient-driven approach, combining Arizona honey with pineapple, Tahitian vanilla, and toasted American oak for a distinctly tropical interpretation of mead.

Serving Suggestions:

Serve lightly chilled at 10 to 13°C in a small wine or mead glass to give its pineapple, vanilla, and honey aromatics room to develop. Pair with fish tacos, ceviche, coconut shrimp, grilled pork, spicy tropical dishes, pineapple upside-down cake, vanilla custard, or coconut-based desserts. Its combination of fruit, sweetness, and creamy vanilla also makes it well-suited to sipping on its own after a meal.