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Mead Lovers Digest #0969
From: mead-request@talisman.com
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To: mead-list@talisman.com
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #969, 12 November 2002
Mead Lover's Digest #969 12 November 2002
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Agave mead (PHREDLESS@aol.com)
Re: Ask For Mead ("Dan McFeeley")
Planet Buzz Report ("Christopher Hadden")
Re: Planet Buzz and the new Buzz: Ask for Mead ("Dan McFeeley")
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #968, 8 November 2002 ("T.Cromer")
should pectinase be allowed to work over night? (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Hrafnkell_...)
Re: Mead association and events (Joe Nelson)
Zymurgy - Capsicomel (Nathan Kanous)
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: Agave mead
From: PHREDLESS@aol.com
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 00:05:59 EST
In response to David Craft's posting on agave mead, I would think that many
of the antiseptic properties of the entire agave (not to mention cacti)
family would tend to slow fermentation. The slowest fermenting mead I ever
made was a very strong ginger mead. 22 pounds honey, 1 pound fresh grated
ginger root. That's right, 1 pound. It was delicious as a digestiv, and
worked great with all manner of Asian dishes. It took 6 months to ferment.
And would you believe, the ginger's antiseptic activity kept spoilage at bay.
Hope it will slowly recover.
Doug Thomas
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Ask For Mead
From: "Dan McFeeley" <mcfeeley@keynet.net>
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 00:20:50 -0600
On Sun, 10 Nov 2002, in MLD 968, Ken Schramm wrote, in part:
>The biggest take-home message: what we need is (for lack of a better
>word) Buzz. We need to create a regular and consistent commentary and
>demand for mead among the public, retailers and restaurant/bar owners.
>I am bummed that I didn't think of it when the question was posed during
>the panel discussion, but my new motto/battle cry: :"Ask For Mead." Ask
>at the restaurant. Ask at the bar. Every time you go to have a drink,
>ask if they have any meads. Ask at the grocery store, the liquor store,
>the beer store. Ask for mead. "Do you have any mead?" And when the
>answer is "yes," BUY IT. If you want to go a step further: ask for your
>favorite mead by name.
Just wanted to add a word of thanks to Ray Daniels for organizing the first
Mead/Cider/Perry Chicago event. Although Ray has been running the
Chicago Real Ale Fest for about seven years, this was something new and
took a lot of effort to put together. It was a very pleasant experience,
sampling different meads, talking with meadery owners and meadmakers,
even the food was pretty good. Thanks Ray!
Yes, ask for mead, but if they don't have it, let them know where to look.
Julia Herz and Vickie Rowe maintain meadery directories at their web sites,
www.honeywine.com and www.gotmead.com, respectively. If you want
mead at your local retailers, pass on these sites. Note -- Vickie just
updated www.gotmead and added a lot of new info on mead. Take a look!
For retail folk that may not have web access, here's a listing of U.S.
meaderies
you can pass on. Apologies if the columns didn't hold up well during the
e-mail transfer . . .
Added note -- during the panel discussion Ken Schramm & co. made a
few references to becoming evangelical about mead. Well, here it is, a
tract to pass out to retailers on the gospel of U.S. meaderies! :-)
<><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><>
Dan McFeeley
mcfeeley@keynet.net
____________________
California
Bargetto Winery Golden Angels Cellars
Paul Woffard, Winemaker 333 First st.
3535 N. Main St. Eureka, CA 95501
Soquel, CA 95073 1-888-4GA-MEAD
(408) 475-2258 (707) 443-6323
meadmaster@goldenangels.com
Heidrun Meadery
55 Ericson Court, Suite 4 HoneyRun Honey Co
Arcata, CA 95521 John & Amy Hasle
(707) 825-8748 Box 3172
fax (707) 825-8739 Chico, CA, 95928
1- 877- HEIDRUN (1-877-434-3786) 916-345-6405
info@heidrunmeadery.com www.des-chico.com/~honeyrun
http://www.heidrunmeadery.com
Mountain Meadows Mead Rabbits Foot Meadery
Ron Lunder & Peggy Fulder 1122 Aster Ave., Suite J
12 Third Street Sunnyvale, CA 94086
Westwood, California 96137-1199 tel 408-261-1603
phone 530.256.3233 FAX 408-260-8312
fax 530.256.3234 toll free 877-MEADERY
http://www.rabbitsfootmeadery.com
Saddleback Food & Drink
Orange, CA 92867
(714) 997-9349
saddleback1@msn.com
____________________
Colorado
Redstone Meadery Rocky Mountain Meadery
4700 Pearl Street, unit 2A Fred & Connie Strothman
Boulder, Colorado 80301 3701 G Rd
720-406-1215 Palisade, CO 81526
http://www.redstonemeadery.com 970-464-7899
www.wic.net/meadery
____________________
Connecticut
Mystic Winery
Coogan Boulevard
Mystic, CT 06355
(860) 572-1978
____________________
Deleware
Coventree Meadery
John Zeron
29 Askirk Pl
Newark, DE 19702-6000
302-832-0437
www.grovenet.com/coventree
email: coventree@grovenet.com
____________________
Hawaii
Volcano Winery
PO Box 843
Volcano, HI 96785
808-967-7479
www.volcanowinery.com
____________________
Idaho
Life Force Honey & Winery
1193 Saddle Ridge Rd
Moscow, ID 83843
208-882-9158
800-497-8258
____________________
Indiana
Anderson's Orchard & Winery Oliver Winery
430 E. US Hwy Bill & Kathleen Oliver
Valpariso, IN 46383 8024 Hwy 37
(219) 464-4936 Bloomington, IN
www.andersonsvineyard.com 812-876-5800
email:woliver@kiva.net
Gaia Wines
608 Massachusetts Ave
Indianapolis IN 46204
(317) 634-WINE (9463)
____________________
Maine
Bartlett Maine Estate Winery Cask & Hive Winery
RR1, Box 598 PO Box 275
Gouldsboro, ME 04607 155 Norris Hill Rd.
(207) 546-2408 Monmouth, ME 04259
(207) 933-WINE
____________________
Maryland
Berrywine Plantation
Lucille Aellen
Linganore Winecellars
13601 Glissens Mill Rd
Mt. Airy, MD 21771-8595
(310) 831-5889
(410) 795-6432
www.linganore-wine.com
____________________
Michigan
T & A Vintners
1861 Stonebridge Way
Canton, MI 48188
734-262-0975
http://www.tavintners.com
____________________
Minnesota
Minnesota Wild Winery WineHaven Winery and Vineyard
69 Airport Blvd. 9757 292nd Street
McGregor, MN 55760 Chisago City, MN 55013
(218) 768-4917 Phone/Fax (651) 257-1017
info@winehaven.com
http://www.winehaven.com/
____________________
Missouri
Pirtle's Weston Vineyards
Elbert & Trisha Pirtle
502 Spring St, PO Box 247
Weston, MO 64098
816-640-5728
http://pirtlewine.com
____________________
Nebraska
Cuthills Vineyards James Arthur Vineyards
Ed Swanson 2001 West Raymond rd.
RR2, Box 210 Raymond Nebraska 66428
Pierce, NE 68767 (402) 783-5255
(402) 329-6774 FAX (402) 783-5256
www.cuthills.com contact@jamesarthurvineyards.com
____________________
New Jersey
SABA TEJ (Organic Honey Wine) Co.
15 Park Avenue
Rutherford, New Jersey 07070
Tel. 1-888-772-2283 or 201 438 9994 Fax 201 438 9994
E-mail axumtej@worldnet.att.net
____________________
New Mexico
Bees Brothers Winery
619 Nowicki Lane SW
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
1-505-452-3191 answering machine
1-505-452-3192 fax
Bill Smith owner
Rick Hogan meadmaker
____________________
New York
Earle Estates Meadery Lakewood Vineyards
John & Esther Earle Christopher Stamp
3586 Rt. 14 4024 SR 14
Himrod, New York Watkins Glen, NY 14891
14842 607-535-9252
www.meadery.com www.lakewoodvineyards.com
Martin's Honey Farm & Meadery Sheba T'ej
George R., Edward G., and Washingtonville, NY
Willam G. Martin joseph@serino.com
14699 Center Rd.
Sterling, NY 13156
(315) 947-5965
martinhf@zlink.net
____________________
Ohio
Jilbert Winery Woodstone Creek Winery &
Boutique Distillery
1496 Columbia Rd. Outterson, LLC
Valley City, Ohio 44280 7747 Woodstone Drive
www.ohiohoneywine.homestead.com Cincinnati, Ohio 45244-2855
(513) 474-3521
beerwine@eos.net
____________________
Oregon
Chateau Lorane
27415 Siuslaw River Road / PO Box 47
Lorane, OR 97451
(541) 942-8028
http://www.chateaulorane.com/
____________________
Tennessee
Saint Bartholomew's Meadery
1115 Virginia Aveneue, St. One
Murfreesboro, TN 37130
(615) 893-2534
____________________
Texas
La Buena Vida Vineyards
416 E College Street
Grapevine, TX
(817) 481-9463
____________________
Utah
Native Wines
Carolyn s. Wood and Robert
Sorenson
72 so. 500 w. #63
Mt. Pleasant, Utah 84647
(435) 462-9261
____________________
Virginia
Rose River Vineyards Smokehouse Winery
KenMcCoy, jr. winemaker John Hallberg & Jen Cable, proprietors.
rt. 648 Box 186 10 Ashby Rd.,
Syria VA 22743 Sperryville, VA 22740.
(540) 923-4050 Phone: 540-987-3194. Fax:
540-987-8189 www.smokehousewinerybnb.com.
email: smokehouse@tidalwave.net.
Stonewall Vineyards & Winery Tomahawk Mill Winery
Larry & Sherry Davis, owners Corky and Nancy Medaglia, proprietors
Bart Davis, Winemaker 9221 Anderson Mill Road (Rt. 649)
Rt. 2, Box 107A Chatham VA 24531
Concord, VA 24538 (804) 432-1063
(804) 993-2185 tomahawk@gamewood.net
FAX (804) 993-3975
____________________
Washington
Ambrosia by Kristy Meadery BonAir Winery
4921 85th Ave West 00 S. Bonair Rd.
University Place, WA 98467 Zillah WA 98953
(253) 307-5156 (509) 829-6027
http://www.wa.net/~ambrosia/ winemaker@bonairwine.com
Sky River Brewing
32533 Cascade View Drive
P.O. Box 869
Sultan, WA 98294
(360)793-6761
http://skyriverbrewing.com
____________________
West Virginia
Little Hungary Farm Winery
Frank Androczi
Rt 6, POB 323
Buckhannon, WV 26201
304-472-6634
____________________
Wisconsin
Spurgeon Vineyards & Winery White Winter Winery
Rt 1 402 South George St
Box 201 Highland, WI 53543 PO Box 636
(608) 929-7692 Iron River, WI 54847
www.spurgeonvineyards.com Toll Free: 800-697-2006
(715) 372-5656
sales@whitewinter.com
http://www.whitewinter.com/
------------------------------
Subject: Planet Buzz Report
From: "Christopher Hadden" <chadden@contecrayon.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 00:30:47 -0600
Having just gotten back from Planet Buzz, the first-ever national mead expo,
I'm happy to report the event was an astounding success. I had high
expectations and this event blew those expectations away.
There was a lot of discussion between mead makers and mead enthusiasts on
how to pull together to educate the public, expand the industry and improve
quality. A number of commercial meaderies made their debut - and won awards
in the commercial mead competition. It was great to finally meet so many of
the people I've known about or corresponded with. There are too many people
to list but I would like to mention those I know from the MLD: Ken Schramm,
Dan "Ask Me About the Mead Lovers Digest" McFeeley, Chuck Wettergreen, and
Susan Ruud.
The variety (and volume!) of commercial mead was amazing. Many home mead
makers brought their meads to share in the Mead Maker's Lounge. Charles
McGonegal of AppelTreow Winery brought apple samples from his orchard to
sample during the Cider & Perry Panel. Ron Fischer, who gave a presentation
on Bees & Honey, brought honey for sampling during the Connoisseur's
Session. Ken Schramm also brought honey for people to sample. The appetizers
that the Black Orchid staff prepared and provided throughout the event were
wonderful and presented elegantly. The venue itself was classy and was set
in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.
I'm putting together a more detailed report of the event with pictures and I
will be posting it on www.aboutmead.com . At the event, I reviewed dozens of
meads I'm not able to obtain in Minnesota and I will be posting those
reviews in the Tasting Notes section of AboutMead.com.
Christopher Hadden
http://www.aboutmead.com/
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Planet Buzz and the new Buzz: Ask for Mead
From: "Dan McFeeley" <mcfeeley@keynet.net>
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 03:42:10 -0600
Oops -- sorry, forgot to include Chris Hadden's site for
commercial meaderies, also recently updated. Check it
out at www.aboutmead.com. Another directory is at
Scotts Den:
http://www.mosquitonet.com/~stihlerunits/ScottsDen/Beer/Links/MeaderyLinks.h
tml
Another suggestion for passing the word on to retailers -- make
printouts of the meadery directories at these sites. Let them
know what's available and what you like.
Ken also queried:
>New discussion thread: If there was a New American Mead
>Asociation, what would you want it to be and do?
Ken, you mentioned this at the BuzzFest and it was an excellent point.
There's also a need to explore relations with the beekeeping industry
and winemaking. The expansion of commercial meaderies means
more business for beekeepers, and a greater interest in high quality
varietal honeys. Home meadmakers are also an important market
niche for local beekeepers. A lot of good meads can be made with
local honeys, fresh, and straight from the honey comb.
Winemaking -- a lot of meadmaking info is old and dated, and likewise
so is the wine science that is used. A renewed look at enology and
how it relates to meadmaking would be very helpful. Also, market
research into the tastes of U.S. wine consumers would provide info
for commercial meadmakers.
An increased presence of commercial meadmaking -- in the days of
the old American Mead Association, commercial meaderies were
just getting started and didn't get much attention. There are about
40 or so meaderies in the U.S. now, and that's not including the
numerous small wineries that may make mead on the side. That
was one of the benefits of the BuzzFest, it brought a lot of meadery
owners together to talk and swap notes. There was a good sense
of camaraderie among the meadmakers, made all the more pleasant
by the sharing of meads.
International mead and meadmaking -- the American Mead Association
was mostly about U.S. mead, yet meadmaking lore and tradition is
rooted in other countries. Chuck Wettergreen and Wout Klingens
made a trip to Brittany France and posted their experiences meeting
with the meadmakers there -- more of this would be very informative.
<><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><>
Dan McFeeley
mcfeeley@keynet.net
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #968, 8 November 2002
From: "T.Cromer" <tcromer@frontiernet.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 09:09:32 -0600
hello all!
i am wishing everyone a great holiday season.
good new, the cinna-peach mead turned out real well! i had to break down and
try a bottle( at 5 months) and was pleasantly surprised. it had started
ageing well.
now i am looking for a non-traditional mead for my next batch.
One thing if i may , i have started a website, and it has a homebrewing
section on the forums. My members have shown great interest in homebrewing
and mead/wine making, but since its new, and there isnt a lot of experience,
the posts have been very low. if some of you "veterens" of brewing would be
kind enough to stop in, and make a few posts, give some beginners tips,
maybe leave a few recipes , I think this forum would start rolling. Noone
wants to be the first to break it in, but with 4 or 5 posts by different
people, i think it would break the fear of posting in it!
here is the url for the board itself
http://www.ethno-emporium.org/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl
and the main site
http://www.ethno-emporium.org
please dont think this is spam, this is a non-profit site, and i just want
the homebrewing section to be very strong.
Thank you
Tony
------------------------------
Subject: should pectinase be allowed to work over night?
From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Hrafnkell_Eir=EDksson?= <he@klaki.net>
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 23:00:34 +0000
Hi
Are there any advantanges or disadvantages to letting pectinase
(pectin enzyme) work over night before adding the yeast to the must?
Many recipies specify that the pectinase should be allowed to
work over night.
My feeling is that the sooner the yeast is added to the must the
sooner it can "take control" of the must and win over wild yeast and
bacteria. That would be an argument against waiting if true.
But pectinase works worse in the presence of alcohol so
that might be an argument for waiting.
Any thoughts on this?
Thanks
Hrafnkell
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead association and events
From: Joe Nelson <some1_ate_my_capn_crunch@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 22:31:12 -0800 (PST)
I think a Mead Association of some kind would be a
great idea. The website that sells mead was a good
start and so was Planet Buzz, but going further would
require more funds. I know that's tough, especially
for a new or struggling venture. The business creed
of, "you gotta spend money to make money" comes to
mind.
I think that Planet buzz, while I wasn't able to
attend, was a great idea with some great potential.
And if what I've been hearing about it is true then I
think that it went well. I would like to see more
events of this kind. I think that if local mead
groups could put together more events (perhaps not on
the same scale, but present all the same) there would
be more of a buzz about mead. And if there isn't a
mead group around then try to start one.
I hope I'm not spouting garbage here or preaching to
the choir beacuse I haven't been around the list long,
but this is very interesting to me.
My roommate and I are actually planning some road
trips in the future and I was wondering if there are
any upcoming events that I should look out for??? I
live in Pennsylvania but since we're willing to travel
I'm open to suggestions.
Thanks,
Joe
------------------------------
Subject: Zymurgy - Capsicomel
From: Nathan Kanous <nlkanous@pharmacy.wisc.edu>
Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2002 15:59:23 -0600
Hi All,
Ken Schramm spoke of Dan McFeely and Chuck Wettergren's chipotle / jalapeno
meads. I also read the article in Zymurgy about using chile's in beer or
mead. However, I have a question.
I look at the "recipe" in Zymurgy and see a pound of chile's in a 5 gallon
batch of mead. Fine with me. However, do I leave all of the seeds in all
of those chile's? Do I "gut" the chile's and roast the peppers
without? (yup, two questions...glad you were counting)
I've got an itch to make a capsicomel for little other reason than I have
the honey and I'm intrigued by a jalapeno salsa my wife's aunt makes. Hot
and spicy but sweet enough to balance the hot and spicy. I could eat this
stuff by the gallon.
Contrast that with the jabanero mead that Micah entered into the Big and
Huge. This baby should be registered with the ATF as a weapon!!!
What say ye? To leave the seeds or not? I expect to leave "some" of the
seeds but really don't want to end up with rocket fuel. I like to drink my
mead, not cook with it. How many peppers to use? We don't necessarily
need exact recipes but some discussion of persons experiences might be
interesting.
nathan
PS some friends apparently bumped into samples of some MacCallan scotch
that was aged in a Tabasco barrel that was in some regards simliar to
Micah's volcanic habanero mead.....
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #969
*******************************
