NEW Quay Honey Farm/Afon Mêl is celebrating after winning one of the UK food and drink industry’s most recognised awards.

The Great Taste awards, referred to as the ‘Oscars’ of the food world, were held in London’s InterContinental Park Lane Hotel, London, where more than 350 guests from the world of fine food gathered to hear the results of many months of rigorous judging.

And from the Welsh products that received the top accolade of three stars at the Great Taste awards 2019, the Golden Fork for Wales was awarded to Afon Mêl heather mead.

The judges were wowed by the Ceredigion company’s “really impressive” 13% ABV heather mead drink, which is brewed at the farm.

Mead is a honey wine and the farm relies on traditional methods of fermenting honey, with not a grape in sight.

“Smooth and easy to drink with lovely honey tones, this mead is crisp, balanced and rounded with an almost sherry-like dryness on the finish”, said the judging panel, making it the ideal partner for cheese.

With its “a clean appearance and lovely rich smoky aroma”, the heather mead stood out at every stage of the blind-tasted judging process.

Sam Cooper, from New Quay Honey Farm/Afon Mel, said: “It’s fantastic and a kind of validation for what we do.

“It’s very difficult when you work with food and it’s very subjective but for professionals to give us the thumbs up means a lot.”

It is the second year in a row that a Ceredigion company has won the top honour in Wales. In 2018, family-run Llandysul-based Caws Teifi Cheese was awarded the Golden Fork for its Golden Promise cheese.