rustang64

Recipes 

So after a bit of a brewing hiatus (been moving too much the past 2 years), I think I am at a point where I can do a mead batch again. I have a line on avocado or orange blossom honeys and was wondering if anyone has any experience with similar things. I was planning to do straight mead, with flavoring coming from the different honeys. The avocado is a really rich, full flavor and is a dark brown color, so I think that would be the most interesting, while the orange is much more delicate/light. Any thoughts?

SafariBob

Recipes 

I enjoy traditional meads from Orange Blossom honey but I have never used avocado honey. I did make a traditional from buckwheat honey which is rich and dark and after a few years it is wonderful. The orange blossom, however, always is a crowd pleaser.

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MedsenFey

Recipes 

OB makes a great traditional.
Avocado is good honey, but in a traditional, by itself, may give too many phenolic elements and may not be as good dry. It may also take a lot more aging to be good.

Daedolon

Recipes 

I did try an avocado honey mead one time. It was tasty. Gave almost a bitter/fatty tinge to the aftertaste, like an aftertaste of an avocado. While a very mild aftertaste, it was delicious, and quite unexpected in a sack style mead. And I did ask him if he added an avocado to it, and he swore the flavor just came from the honey. It was very recognizable.

The gentleman who made it, however, said it took a long time to smooth out - and he was an experienced mead maker. I believe he was talking in the 3 year range before it became even remotely drinkable.

Being in Arizona, with all of the citrus trees around, it is very common to have orange blossom honey, and I've never heard a similar complaint about orange blossom honey. Orange blossom honey seems, to me, to be a more typical aging time. (I consider this ~1 year before it starts tasting somewhat good ... wait longer for better results, etc)

It may have just been the honey he got, or something to do with his process, but that is my experience. Your mileage may vary.

remilard

Recipes 

I continue to want to experiment with different honeys but I have learned that there is a very good reason people use a lot of orange blossom and tupelo. I would do orange blossom for the first one back in the saddle.