Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Mead Lovers Digest #0881
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #881, 12 November 2001
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #881 12 November 2001
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Chaucer's, etc. (Dave Polaschek)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #880, 8 November 2001 ("Joel Baker")
re: chocolate mint (Aaron)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #880, 8 November 2001 (Ups474@aol.com)
Re: Question (Myron Sothcott)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #880 --- Chaucer's ("Shaggyman")
Mead HQ updates ("Gregg Stearns")
NOTE: Digest appears when there is enough material to send one.
Send ONLY articles for the digest to mead@talisman.com.
Use mead-request@talisman.com for [un]subscribe/admin requests.
Digest archives and FAQ are available at www.talisman.com/mead. There is
a searchable MLD archive at hubris.engin.umich.edu/Beer/Threads/Mead
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: Chaucer's, etc.
From: Dave Polaschek <davep@davespicks.com>
Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 13:22:32 -0600
Dick Dunn wrote:
> As to the "simple" part--Chaucer's has honey character to it, but
>there is so much more complexity that *could* be there in the taste.
I stopped in at the Bargetto tasting room multiple times when I lived in
San Jose, and a couple times when I've been back in the bay area. They
used to only serve the Chaucer's mead warmed with spices thrown in. I
asked to speak to the person in charge of the tasting room and explained
that they were ruining a perfectly good (if pedestrian) mead by driving
off all the flavor by having it simmering in a crock-pot all day. I also
suggested if they were going to ruin perfectly good alcohol, they should
use their chardonnay, since it was a less expensive product.
Consternation and mumbling ensued, but eventually they allowed as how I
might have a point.
On a future visit, they offered the mead not only warmed and spiced, but
also at cellar-temp and unadulterated.
They also seem to have gotten a little more flavor into the mead over the
years. I think there's hope for 'em, but they probably need some more
prompting. If you're in the Santa Cruz, CA area, stop in and help educate
'em a bit.
- -DaveP
Dave Polaschek - Polaschek Computing, Inc. - davep@best.com
PGP key and other spiffy things at <http://www.best.com/~davep/>
"Unlike the phone system, the Internet has no Ma Bell or FCC to
mandate new policies for the entire system. Not even Microsoft
can make us all upgrade our routers. I think." - Paul Boutin
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #880, 8 November 2001
From: "Joel Baker" <lucifer@lightbearer.com>
Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 12:44:52 -0700
On Thu, Nov 08, 2001 at 10:48:17AM -0700, mead-request@talisman.com wrote:
>
> Subject: Question
> From: "Gene Essman, Jr." <boogieboy11@hotmail.com>
> Date: Mon, 05 Nov 2001 15:50:47 -0700
>
> Help. I've got a buddy of mine that keeps on telling me that the original
> mead was made with sugar as opposed to honey, but I can't seem to find any
> reference to this on the internet. I haven't been to the library yet, so I
> thought I'd hit you guys up before I went down there.
>
> Thanks for whatever help you can find time to give me.
>
> Gene
>
> ------------------------------
I'm afraid that he is wrong, 'by definition'. Specifically, the definition
of mead, in any of it's forms, involves fermented honey. Fermented cane
sugar is, I believe, the basis for schnapps; molasses is the basis for
rum. Either way, mead is most certainly honey-based, and has been since
Beowulf. If he maintains his stance, ask him to cite a written reference :)
- --
Joel Baker System Administrator - lightbearer.com
lucifer@lightbearer.com http://users.lightbearer.com/lucifer/
------------------------------
Subject: re: chocolate mint
From: Aaron <gumbyk@ureach.com>
Date: Fri, 09 Nov 2001 08:59:53 +1300
O.K. so, where can I get some of this Chocolate Mint, and what are it's
other names?
All this talk about it has got me kind of curious.
P.S. has anyone made a maple-honey mead? I've got a batch (small) going at
the moment as a bit of an experiment, and would like to know if anyone else
has tried such a thing, and what the results were.
Aaron Marshall
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #880, 8 November 2001
From: Ups474@aol.com
Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 16:28:34 EST
Anybody out there have a recipe for a "small mead" (maybe 1 to 1.5pounds of
honey per gallon) that finishes out sweet? -Jack
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Question
From: Myron Sothcott <myron7@home.com>
Date: Thu, 08 Nov 2001 19:48:58 -0500
Gene Essman, Jr. wrote
> Help. I've got a buddy of mine that keeps on telling me that the original
> mead was made with sugar as opposed to honey, but I can't seem to find any
> reference to this on the internet. I haven't been to the library yet, so I
> thought I'd hit you guys up before I went down there.
>
> Thanks for whatever help you can find time to give me.
>
> Gene
Lt. Colonel Robert Gayre, M.A, D.sc, one of the acknowledged experts on the
subject of mead said that the Hindus wrote about Mead as early as 1500 BC, and
Aryan writings in Sanskrit mentioned it in songs as long ago as 5000 BC.
It is generally accepted that Polynesian tribes grew the grasses which evolved
into the cane of today as long as 5000 years ago, which would place it at about
3000 BC, and that sugar cane first appeared in India about 510 BC. People
from Western Europe probably were exposed to sugar for the first time during
the Crusades in Syria around 1100 AD.
I think it is highly unlikely that the first mead was made from sugar, first
because fermentation of honey almost certainly was occuring long before the
process of refining sugar came into practice, and secondly because fermented
sugar water, by definition, is not mead.
Myron
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #880 --- Chaucer's
From: "Shaggyman" <shaggyman@kc.rr.com>
Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 21:17:41 -0600
Umm..... If Chaucer's is the best you can find, perhaps you might want
to 'get out more'. There are several fine commercial meaderies in the
US of A, many of which sell on the 'Net. OR, you can find a nest of
those questionable characters who make the stuff in their basements, and
get yourself to an amateur competition. There you will find an
astounding variety of meads, mels, pys, cys, brags, 'rats, and other
incredibly complex and tasty libations. (And maybe a few losers, too,
but hey- it's for the good of mankind, and thank the gods we all have
different tastes.) I suspect that you will find that commercial,
mass-produced mead is as representative of mead as Old Fizzwell is of
beer.
Huge production runs tailored to sell to the lowest common denominator
simply cannot compete with the personal investment of a hand-crafted
beverage. Those who put their time, energy, imagination and knowledge
(and who knows what else!) into their art will always produce a better
tasting product. Or at least, next time they will. Check your local
brew/winemaking supply shop for a local club- the education is only half
the fun.
------------------------------
Subject: Mead HQ updates
From: "Gregg Stearns" <gregg@ispi.net>
Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 21:37:08 -0600
Boy, this fall has been busy.
I've been working on Mead HQ some lately. Matt Maples has contributed
several commercial mead reviews, as well as his licorice mead recipe (and
some photos to go with both articles).
I plan on getting some yeast information and links to sites/shops with yeast
this week.
Anyone interested in writing a commercial mead review, email me off list and
I'll give you the details. (gregg@ispi.net)
I've got my current batch up there as well, a Metheglin that I've had to
feed once, and possibly again, to get it to a nice sweetness.
- --
Gregg Stearns
http://www.meadhq.com
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #881
*******************************
