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The short answer
Choose dry (brut) honey wine if you normally drink dry white wine, and semi-sweet (demi sec) if you like off-dry Riesling or Moscato or are trying mead for the first time. Save sweet and sack meads for dessert. The word honey on the label tells you nothing about sweetness.
Where sweetness comes from
Every honey wine starts out very sweet: it is honey dissolved in water. Yeast then converts sugar to alcohol until one of three things happens.
- The sugar runs out. The wine is dry. To get here the winemaker uses a moderate amount of honey, around 2.5 pounds per gallon.
- The yeast gives up. Every yeast strain dies at a certain alcohol level. Load the must with more honey than the yeast can finish and the leftover sugar stays in the wine.
- The winemaker steps in, either halting fermentation by chilling and filtering, or fermenting dry, stabilizing, and adding a measured amount of honey back. This is called backsweetening and it gives the most control.
Homebrewers can work out the honey for any target with our honey calculator.
How to read the label
There is no legally defined sweetness scale for mead, so producers borrow words from wine. Competition judges use final gravity, a measure of density, as a rough guide.
| Label says | Means | Typical final gravity | Feels like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dry, brut, sec | Little or no perceptible sugar | 0.990 to 1.010 | Pinot Gris, Chablis |
| Off-dry, semi-dry | A touch of sweetness | around 1.005 to 1.012 | Kabinett Riesling |
| Semi-sweet, demi sec | Clearly sweet, still fresh | 1.010 to 1.025 | Spätlese Riesling, Vouvray demi-sec |
| Sweet, dessert | Rich and sugary | 1.025 to 1.050 | Sauternes, late harvest |
| Sack | Strong and usually sweet, 14% ABV and up | varies | Cream sherry, Port |
Which one is for you?
- Pick dry if you drink Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris or brut Champagne, you want something for the dinner table, or you are watching sugar.
- Pick semi-sweet if you like Riesling, Moscato or cider, you are new to mead, you are cooking something spicy, or you are buying for a mixed crowd.
- Pick sweet if you want a dessert wine, something to sip with blue cheese, or a fireside drink.
Dry and semi-sweet, side by side
The clearest way to understand the difference is to try both styles from one producer, so that the honey stays constant. Bee d'Vine makes exactly that pair from clover honey, at the same 12.5% ABV and the same price.
Both also come as sparkling wines: Brut Sparkling and Demi Sec Sparkling.
What "traditional mead" means
You will see bottles labeled traditional mead. That is not a sweetness level. It means the mead is made from honey, water and yeast only, with no fruit, spices or other flavorings. A traditional mead can be dry, semi-sweet or sweet. Because there is nothing to hide behind, it is the style that shows most clearly how good the honey and the winemaking are, and it is what competition judges mean by the term too.
Sweetness and food
- Dry: oysters, grilled fish, salads, goat cheese, roast chicken.
- Semi-sweet: anything with chili heat, barbecue, glazed ham, blue cheese, fruit desserts that are not too sweet.
- Sweet: strong cheese, nut tarts, or no food at all.
The rule from the wine world applies: the wine should be at least as sweet as the dish. More in our food pairing guide.
Frequently asked questions
Is honey wine sweet or dry?
It can be either. Sweetness is decided by how much sugar is left after fermentation, not by the fact that it is made from honey. Look for dry or brut, semi-sweet or demi sec, and sweet on the label.
Is honey mead sweet?
Often, but not always. Much of the mead sold in the United States is semi-sweet to sweet because that is what people expect. Dry mead exists and tastes more like a crisp white wine.
What does demi sec mean?
It is French for "half dry". On a honey wine it means semi-sweet: noticeably sweet, but well short of a dessert wine.
What does brut mean on honey wine?
Brut is borrowed from Champagne and means dry. Expect little perceptible sugar.
Is dry mead lower in calories?
Slightly. Using Bee d'Vine's published figures, the dry Brut has about 125 calories and 5.3 g of carbohydrate per 5 oz glass, against 140 calories and 9.4 g for the semi-sweet Demi Sec. Alcohol accounts for most of the calories in both.
Which is better for beginners, sweet or dry?
Semi-sweet is the safest first bottle because the sweetness carries the honey aroma people are hoping for. Go dry if you already drink dry white wine.