Corking and crown cap bottling are both fine for meads...I like the look and feel of corked bottles, but crown caps probably hold up as long, or possibly longer than corks do. I bottled all my early meads in crown caps...
When it comes to hops, it's more the variety that defines the origin, regardless of where it's actually grown. East Kent Golding (EKG) and Fuggle are traditional British hop varieties, whereas Cascade, Chinook, Centennial, Simcoe, Columbus (also know as Tomahawk and Zeus, or collectively as 'CTZ') are known as American varieties, and have very different aroma and bittering characteristics. I used Cascade, Chinook and Simcoe in my American hop metheglin. The hops for both of these recipes came from
Freshops (they sell only whole hops, currently it looks like they have Fuggle, but not Golding hops available)
For kicks, I just opened up a bottle of my English hop, brewed 6/22/09. It is crystal clear, medium golden yellow, petulant carbonation. It has a fine, earthy/herbal aroma and flavor. It is sweet (more than my tastes would normally desire, but again not cloying), but retains a bitterness at the finish. Very smooth, just the faintest hint of the alcoholic content (~ 12%).
Also, a bottle of the American hop, brewed 08/14/09. Clear, similar medium golden yellow, but essentially still. Much different aroma (hard to say if it's more or less fruity, but it's a different sort of fruity aroma), and the bitterness mixes in with the entire experience to a larger degree. As noted by the very different FG's, this is less sweet, and no doubt influences the perception of bitterness. Smooth, as a 2+ year old mead should be, and interestingly (even though the ABV is slightly higher, ~ 13%) it's even more difficult to perceive any alcohol on the palate, even after aerating a sample in the mouth.
I'm getting the itch to brew another batch of this!
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