Retired life is sweet. How sweet?
It’s as sweet as honey wine.
Dating back to at least 2000 BC,
honey wine, or mead, is believed to be one of the oldest known fermented
beverages. As part of the growing Texas wine industry,
there are now a number of wineries that focus on producing mead. In
fact, the Rohan Meadery, located just north of La Grange, has some award
winning varieties. Armed with a sweet
tooth and break in our busy schedule, we decided a day trip was in order.
For Al and I, there’s just no way
to travel through the La Grange area without stopping in Ellinger for kolaches
at Hruska’s . So, we decided to make
that our first stop of the day. It was
so crowded that we had to wait in line for a table, but it was worth the wait
for sausage and cheese klobasnikys followed by fantastic cottage cheese
kolaches and Al’s personal favorite, the poppy seed kolache.
It’s a short trip from Ellinger
through La Grange to FM 2981 and the Rohan Meadery. Descendants of Moravian immigrants, John and
Wendy Rohan started their meadery in 2009 using locally produced Texas
wildflower honey along with a variety of fruits to flavor their wines.
As we drove up the gravel path
toward the winery, I couldn’t help but smile at the brightly decorated building
with its lovely patio area. Inside the tasting room, we were greeted by Wendy Rohan, whose cheerful demeanor perfectly matched the sunny décor.
The $5.00 tasting fee typically
covers 5 generous pours, but on this lazy summer day, business was slow and
Wendy offered us a bonus 6th tasting. Although the meadery offers dry wines, we
sampled a range of semi-sweet to very sweet wines including Blackberry Melomel,
Raspberry Melomel, Temperament, and Honeymoon, their Czech inspired traditional
honey wine. Our personal favorites were the award winning Raspberry Melomel and
the Honeymoon Traditional. I must admit
that I’ve never tasted mead before and it is indeed very sweet, but according
to Wendy, not nearly as sweet as many of the European varieties of mead.
After eating kolaches for lunch
followed by 6 different varieties of sweet honey wine, I was ready for a change
of pace and an opportunity to lower my blood sugar. So with the wisdom that only comes
with age we decided to counteract the side effects of excessive sugar intake
with a trip to Royer’s Cafe in Round Top.
Clearly the wine was still affecting me.
Why else would I agree to settle my stomach by going to a diner famous
for its pies!
Fortunately there were no antique
shows in Round Top that afternoon and we were able to get seated right
away. Now did you think that after all
that sugar we actually went there for the pie?
Although I admit that looks can be deceiving, neither one of us is
actually senile yet. We went for the
burgers. As a self-professed bread
addict I have to say the hamburger buns were delicious and the fresh beef and
produce were just what we needed.
OK, I admit it. We did split a piece of pie before we
left. After all, we’re consenting
adults. The interior of this unforgettable
small town treasure is literally papered with glowing reviews and thank you
notes for their famous pies so, how could we not?
Kolaches, honey wine, burgers and
apple pie… I can’t think of a better way
to sample the sweet life in Texas Thru My Backdoor.
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