It tastes like a Craft Store!

Last week, I got out two of my bottles of mead. On christmas I took one over to my girlfriends family for dinner. They are a family of wine connoisseurs. However, since it was christmas and all the stores were closed the only thing to compare my Raspberry Mead to was "Economy Wine" that was purchased at UDF. Still, I was worried that it could be the most terrible drink humans could make, but  ok with the comparison to "Econ wine." Pegi, girlfriend's mom, said it was amazing. I think she was being overly-kind. Moe's sister Annie said "It tastes like a craft store." I think that was actually the most accurate description. There was a strong flavor of raspberry and a lot of a yeasty flavor. However, I could also detect that sort of potpourri taste mixed with crafting items. Its hard to describe beyond that. I immediately could pick out several points that I could improve the process and will do so next summer.
The following night I took the second bottle over to some friends. We all went out to dinner and then some one suggested stopping at "Brothers' Drake Meadery" so we could properly compare. This gave my Mead an unfair disadvantage. Moe and I got a sampler, 2 oz of 6 different meads. Their mead is amazing and I have a lot of work to do to get mine better. The uninfused ones tasted like honey  without the sweet. After experiencing that flavor I was able to pick out the honey flavor in my own mead. They used a very different process for their "flavored" meads. They brew the original "Wild Ohio" and then later in the process infuse the various ingredients.
All in all I am very happy with how my mead turned out. It was by no means the best mead, but it was pretty good for my first try. I am excited for my raspberry crop this year and maybe getting to use some of my own honey.