LastKnight

Recipes 

So, a Trader Joe's opened up just down the street from me. Flush with tales from this forum of their great deals on honey, I immediately went out and bought six pounds of mesquite honey - less than twenty bucks! Woo!

And now, suddenly, I realize that I have no idea what to make with it. Obviously, a 1-gallon batch would be the best to start with - but what kind of flavor does mesquite honey have? Is it better for dry or sweet meads?

And so I ask you, oh Homebrew Mead-Talkers, what kind of mead is best made from mesquite honey?

digdan

Recipes 

Make a 4-gallon hydromel. Thats what I've been doing recently and my friends love em. Just use your favorite beer yeast, and make sure you add the correct amount of nutrients.

travestyofnature

Recipes 

Mesquite honey is light, delicate, and it does taste like "mesquite" -- not smoky, but if you can taste the difference between mesquite-smoke and hickory-smoke, you'll have an idea what to expect of the honey.

As for uses, that is all about taste. I like mesquite as a show mead or a base for methelgyn. You can always start it as a show mead (traditional honey water only) and decide if you want to rack it onto other flavors in secondary.

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gratus fermentatio

Recipes 

I think I'd make a show mead with that mesquite honey; it's a great tasting honey & should make a great tasting mead. Regards, GF.

armorshell

Recipes 

My first mead was a mesquite medium show mead. I bottled it in February and after only 3 months it's already mellowed out enough to serve to friends, who can't get enough of it. I wish I made 5 gallons.

LastKnight

Recipes 

Hmm... for the medium show mead, how much honey per gallon did you use? I might pick up a few more containers and make a five gallon batch.

Show mead definitely sounds like the winning suggestion so far.

Freezeblade

Recipes 

I've done two meads with that very same honey. A cranberry/hibiscus mead (Aztec Blood) and a cinnamon/ancho/tamarind mead (Mayan gold) they are both very good.

__________________
Primary:Russian River Redemption clone, Kelly's Melomel, Graham's English Cider 22-23
Clearing:Apple Wine
Aging:Public House Dry Stout, Procrastination Porter, Mr. Brown Ale, Westvleteren 12 Clone, Mead, Duvel Clone, Graham's English Cider 6-21, Belgian Draak Strong Ale, Fig Melomel, Acerglyn, Restorative Tonic Metheglyn

armorshell

Recipes 

I used hightest's recipe from the sticky to the "t", scaled down to 2 gallons (All I could handle at the time).

Kauai_Kahuna

Recipes 

OK, just to keep me from bugging / stalking you.
Have you posted these recipes?
They both sound great, and very interesting. I think I need to try the (Aztec Blood), I don't think I could get the ingredients for the Mayan even if I knew what they were.

Freezeblade

Recipes 

Let me dig out my notes, they were two of my first meads I made, so they were small batches (unfortunately), both one gallon

Mayan Gold
3# mesquite honey
1.75 TBS pure Tahitian vanilla extract
water to gallon
EC-1118 yeast

All this was in primary, to secondary, boil a mixture of the following, strain, then rack mead onto:

1 Dry Ancho Chili
pulp from 6 tamarind pods
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 cup grade B maple syrup
water to cover solids.

Age for at least a year.

Aztec Blood
3# mesquite honey
64oz Cranberry juce (contains 30% cranberry, 50% juice according to package)
water to gallon
D-47 yeast

Boil, strain, add to mead at racking:
.75oz dry hibiscus flowers
4oz honey
water to cover flowers

Both of these are quite good, and are just getting better with age.

__________________
Primary:Russian River Redemption clone, Kelly's Melomel, Graham's English Cider 22-23
Clearing:Apple Wine
Aging:Public House Dry Stout, Procrastination Porter, Mr. Brown Ale, Westvleteren 12 Clone, Mead, Duvel Clone, Graham's English Cider 6-21, Belgian Draak Strong Ale, Fig Melomel, Acerglyn, Restorative Tonic Metheglyn