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Mead Lovers Digest #0880
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #880, 8 November 2001
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #880 8 November 2001
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #879, 5 November 2001 (Bruce Conner)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #879, 5 November 2001 ("Lindi Edens")
Question ("Gene Essman, Jr.")
Chaucer's, etc. (Dick Dunn)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #879, 5 November 2001 ("Lindi Edens")
Re: Nonalcoholic "mead" (BillPierce@aol.com)
Re: Chocolate Mint ("Susan Ruud")
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #879, 5 November 2001 (MLCrary@aol.com)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #879, 5 November 2001
From: Bruce Conner <bconner@mediaone.net>
Date: Mon, 05 Nov 2001 14:53:41 -0500
> I was hoping I could present the class with a beverage tasting
> similar to mead, only non-alchoholic, for I can't bring alchohol into
> the classroom:) .... I am writing to ask if you have any
> suggestions at all in making this possible!
How about not meeting in the classroom? Seems you might be able to
arrange a meeting at the local meadery or some such. Seems a shame to
feed folks some sort of concoction and have them come away with the
notion that it resembles mead in any way. Non-alcoholic mead, ye gods!
Bruce Conner
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Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #879, 5 November 2001
From: "Lindi Edens" <lindiedens@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 05 Nov 2001 14:24:33 -0600
Re:
"Subject: My first Mead: strawberry melomel
From: "Don Conley" <dconley1@san.rr.com>
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 21:49:30 -0800
Back in March, I was out looking for a good dinner wine and I came across a
bottle of Chaucer's Mead. I've heard of Mead before, but never had it. My
curiosity perked so I bought it. From then on, I've been hooked on the
flavor. After that bottle was gone, I went back to the store I purchased it
from to find out that I had actually bought the last bottle. They wouldn't
be getting it in any time soon, as they said it was a seasonal drink. Check
back in winter. I then proceeded to check out all of the other wine
retailers in the San Diego area, no joy there. It seems that Mead, thought
most have heard of it, isn't sold much here."
Chaucer's Mead is the best! We had it for the first time at a local
renaissance fair, and were distraught to find that it is not sold in
Arkansas, anywhere. We could drive three hours up to Springfield MO in a
chance to get it, but it might be out of stock there as well. Fortunately,
you can buy it online! Just visit http://www.bargetto.com and go to the
Chaucer's page. The order actually comes from Aull n Aull web winery, and
you can get it in almost every state. I'm really surprised, however, that
you can't get it in a San Diego shop as it is made in California. The
winery is located in Soquel, CA and does offer tours and tasting :). While
I applaud your effort to brew your own mead, and it is the way to get the
mead most suited to your taste, one year is a long time to wait on your mead
to brew. I might have withdrawls if I went that long without mead! So, I
suggest ordering online to tide you over until your perfect batch is ready!
The Truth is Out There
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu
To join my group, go here:
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/cgi?cmd=team_join_form&id=122512
------------------------------
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
------------------------------
Subject: Chaucer's, etc.
From: rcd@talisman.com (Dick Dunn)
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 18:24:22 -0700 (MST)
"Don Conley" <dconley1@san.rr.com> wrote:
> Back in March, I was out looking for a good dinner wine and I came across a
> bottle of Chaucer's Mead. I've heard of Mead before, but never had it. My
> curiosity perked so I bought it. From then on, I've been hooked on the
> flavor...
Don't know about other mead-makers, but I'm always a little bit concerned
when somebody tries "Chaucer's" as their first taste of mead. I guess
really I'm annoyed (at Chaucer's/Bargetto) if someone tries it and decides
they _don't_ like mead based on that. And I'm encouraged but wary if some-
one tries it and likes it...because I hope they'll be able to graduate to
better meads after not too long.
I suppose it's like seeing someone try a White Zinfandel and decide that
wine is interesting...I think, "wellllll...OK, but there's more to it than
that..."
Chaucer's is simple and sweet. There's nothing wrong with a sweet mead,
but the first big learning experience with mead is that "honey wine" does
not necessarily mean "sweet"...and I think you get so much more out of the
experience with a drier mead where the character isn't hiding behind sweet-
ness. 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 sit here with a glass of my first batch. It is now 6 days short of being
> 6 months old. Though it tastes as though it could age a little longer, it
> does have a little bit of a bitter taste,...
The rest of Don's note described his worrisome-but-successful fermentation.
I'd suggest that some of that bitterness might be due to waiting so long to
rack and having the mead sit on the (presumably substantial) lees for several
months. There's also the effect of some oxidation (as his brew-shop person
suggested) from being in plastic for a long time.
> Since I wasn't sure if it was going to work or not (I'm a skeptic at heart)
> I started with a 5 pound bottle of clover honey from Costco and some White
> Labs Sweet Mead/ale yeast from the home brew store...
Good yeast to start with.
What was the honey? With Costco, you can usually identify the supplier
with a bit of effort. The Costco's around here carry honey from Madhava,
which is a local packager (oops, global context, Dick! local to me, 3
miles from home) that puts up pretty good honey and doesn't over-filter
or over-heat it.
> ...The Primary
> fermentation was quite slow, from what I had read... I was reading stories
> of how air locks blew off of carboys and sticky overflows caused messes in
> peoples kitchens. I was worried that perhaps I had done something wrong.
Melomels often get rowdy, but a straight-honey mead is too often toward
the other end of the scale that you describe--where you wonder if anything
is going on.
We ought to have something about Brother Adam's approach to mead-making in
the FAQ! His time scale is roughly: a boisterous fermentation of a day or
two, a primary fermentation from six weeks to four months, and a secondary
fermentation which might be quite short or might continue during the warm
periods of a couple years. Then there's the minimum of five years' aging
in wood...
Not to say this is necessary or normal, but it puts things into perspec-
tive. Of course you can get excellent mead with much shorter fermentation
periods, but I think most of us need an occasional reminder against the
"Daddy are we there yet huh?" attitude. The mead is done when it's done.
- ---
Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #879, 5 November 2001
From: "Lindi Edens" <lindiedens@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 06 Nov 2001 21:57:30 -0600
So, the holidays are fast approaching, and nothing is better over the
holidays than a nice hot rum cake, right? Hmm... that got me thinking. Has
anyone tried to make a mead cake? It really sounds like it would be good,
all sweet and rich... In any case, if any one has tried it, and has a
recipe they'd like to share, please let me know!
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Nonalcoholic "mead"
From: BillPierce@aol.com
Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2001 08:05:39 EST
In MLD #879 Brad Squier asks about the possibility of making nonalcoholic
mead. I have to say in all honesty that this is very much an oxymoron, in
the same sense that grape juice is not wine. By definition mead is a
fermented beverage. The alcohol is part of the flavor profile; moreover,
fermentation attenuates the sugars in the honey and changes the flavor
greatly, reducing the sweetness considerably and creating a much more complex
beverage than mere diluted honey.
It is possible to mix honey and water (about two pounds per gallon) and cut
the sweetness somewhat with acid blend or citric acid (even lemon juice), and
it would likely be quite drinkable (I suspect some of his classmates would be
quick to spike it with vodka), but this would be a far cry from mead. I am
reluctant even to suggest this, for fear someone might actually believe this
is what mead really tastes like.
Perhaps Brad can convince those of his classmates who are of age to meet at a
social gathering outside of the classroom where they can experience and enjoy
the great pleasure of what was very likely the world's first alcoholic
beverage and the source of stories and legends of which "Beowulf" is only
one.
Incidentally, Heorot, the mead hall mentioned in "Beowulf," is also the name
of a tavern with a commendable selection (roughly 300, including about 60 on
tap) of beers in the college town of Muncie, Indiana.
Wassail!
Bill Pierce
Cellar Door Homebrewery
Highwood, IL
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Chocolate Mint
From: "Susan Ruud" <susan.ruud@ndsu.nodak.edu>
Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2001 13:57:09 -0800
Hi,
I
"A friend just gave me a bunch of something
she calls cholate mint. Its a peppermint like herb
with a definite chocolate taste. I never knew it
existed. "
This herb does indeed exist. I have some in my garden. I used it in a mead
about 2 years ago. I really liked the chocolate mint aroma with mostly a
mint flavor (and honey of course) at bottling time. I was very disappointed
when I opened a bottle a few months after bottling to find very little mint
or chocolate flavor and stuck the rest of the bottles away and forgot about
them. I found one this summer and tried it and to my surprise and delight
the chocolate aroma and mint flavor were back. It was a very nice mead.
Now I wish I had made a lot more.
I used about 6-8 dried chocomint leaves in about 2 1/2 gallons of already
fermented mead. I let this extract for about a month and bottled.
I think I might have to go find another bottle,
Susan
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #879, 5 November 2001
From: MLCrary@aol.com
Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 05:23:41 EST
Hi, Meaders,
Brad asks about a non-alcoholic mead for his lit class. I recall
someone giving a receipe for such a thing in MLD a few years ago, so try the
archives, and please let us know how it turns out.
I'm still looking for ideas on rosehip mead; how much for a 5 gallon
batch, when to gather them (we still haven't had a true 'first frost' here),
whether to freeze them or use them just picked, add to the must & pasteurize,
or add to the primary, or the secondary? Has anyone done this? Any help would
be appreciated.
Marcia
Unicorn Unchained Meadery
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End of Mead Lover's Digest #880
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