My first Mead

I want to make a mead. Here's why:

I want to make a mead to mark the birth of my child. Knowing that it will take about a year, I want to make something close to the date of birth so that I can share a glass on each birthday over the next few years.

I've never made mead, nor have I fully explored the Mead Experience.

Can someone help me out with a recipe that's going to give me a good mead that I can bottle up and enjoy for several years? Something that people who have never had mead will enjoy would be most preferred.

Thanks!

Dude I don't have it with me but Papazian has a recipe for mead in one of his books--the fruit he uses is Prickly Pear (which rocks the hizzle all by itself), but he says the fruit you use is interchangeable. I'll post it when I get home if you don't have the book.

Supposedly Charlie bottles it up and buries it in the ground in the mountains, and "revisits" the bottles after many years.....now that is some crazy ****!

I made the Barkshack Ginger Mead from that book. I highly recommend it if you like ginger. It was delicious! Wonderful!

I have a peach melomel in the secondary now. It's been there a couple of weeks. Because the peach is a light flavor I only used 7 lbs of honey for this batch. It should come out around 5% instead of a hearty 9%. I thought it would be better for sipping next summer. You know, generally, women don't really like the heavy high alcohol stuff so I lightened it up.

I also put away (froze) 6 lbs of mangos last weekend. I'll probably brew another mead in Jan.

First of all, I'd suggest picking up ken schramm's "The Compleat Meadmaker". That's a great start. Meads don't seem terribly complex to make.. they just take forever to age (as you know).

Taken straight from the book:

Prickly Pear Cactus Fruit Mead

20 lbs light honey (mesquite is preferred, but clover, alfalfa or other light honeys will produce superb results)
5 - 6 lbs red, ripe prickly pear cactus fruit
1/4 tsp powdered yeast extract (optional)
1/4 tsp pectin enzyme (optional)
1 oz dried and rehydrated sherry, wine or champagne yeast. Prise de Mousse champagne yeast works very well in combination with sherry yeast.

OG 1.130 - 1.150
FG 1.025 - 1.050

Slice the fruit or chop in a food processor and boil with 2.5 gallons water for two hours. meanwhile, combine the honey with 1 gallon of water and boil 15 minutes. skim off the coagulated white albumim protein as it forms on the surface of the boil. Turn the heat off. Strain the boiled juice of teh fruit into the honey brewpot. then add this concentrated honey "wort" to a sanitized fermenter with enough cold water to make 5 gallons. add yeast and yeast nutrient when cooled below 76 degrees. Ferment between 70 and 77 degrees. Rack when fermentation appears complete, purging with bottled CO2.

I havent had prickly pear mead, but last night at the Portland Holiday Ale Festival I had Agave Mead, and I also tried a Cranberry Mead (both Mountian Meadow Meadery). The Agave one was friggen AWESOME!!!! It was called Tricksters Treat Agave Mead.

I wonder how hard it would be to get pure agave nectar?

Just about any "health food" store would have agave. I've seen it in gallon jugs.