A melomel (fruit mead) made by fermenting honey with apples or apple juice — part mead, part cider, balancing honey character against apple fruit and acidity. Sweetness ranges from dry to sweet.
In the glass
Appearance
Clear to brilliant; color from very pale to deep gold depending on the honey (and any added fruit or spice).
Aroma
Honey and apple together, the two in balance; varietal honey or apple character may show.
Flavor
A marriage of honey and apple — neither a plain mead nor a plain cider — with apple acidity giving lift; sweetness as declared, dry to sweet.
Mouthfeel
Medium body; apple acidity keeps it refreshing; sweetness balanced.
Origin
Cyser is a traditional fruit mead, one of several long-standing ways of fermenting honey with fruit; apple was a natural partner where both honey and orchards were available. It remains a staple of the modern craft-mead revival.
Notes
Where a plain mead is honey alone, a cyser leans on apple for acidity and fruit, blurring the line with cider. The named meads (cyser, pyment) signal which fruit; other fruits fall under fruit melomel.
Defining examples
B. Nektar Zombie Killer·Schramm’s The Heart
Sources
BJCP 2015 · M2ACyser
Wikipedia contributors. “Mead.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed June 14, 2026. ↗
Schramm, Ken. The Compleat Meadmaker: Home Production of Honey Wine from Your First Batch to Award-Winning Fruit and Herb Variations. Boulder, CO: Brewers Publications, 2003.