Mead tastes... well... horrible

I had my mead in the primary and secondary for approximately 4 months. I recently transferred it over to bottles about 2 weeks ago. I know it's supposed to bottle condition for about 2 months, but I jumped the gun and cracked one open to try it out.

Very little carbonation came out of the bottle. The flavor was extremely strong. I almost felt like I was drinking moonshine or very very hard cider. I could taste the alcohol and the aftertaste left me cringing.

Will the bottle conditioning have a profound effect on the flavor? I'm a fan of high alcohol beverages, but this is something else. What do you think?

c0sm0nautt said:

I had my mead in the primary and secondary for approximately 4 months. I recently transferred it over to bottles about 2 weeks ago. I know it's supposed to bottle condition for about 2 months, but I jumped the gun and cracked one open to try it out.

Very little carbonation came out of the bottle. The flavor was extremely strong. I almost felt like I was drinking moonshine or very very hard cider. I could taste the alcohol and the aftertaste left me cringing.

Will the bottle conditioning have a profound effect on the flavor? I'm a fan of high alcohol beverages, but this is something else. What do you think?

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hehe. You answered your own question....

Mead is best at 1+ year; and gets better after that...

Hide the rest in a closet and report back in about 10 months....

i don't like mead, and i've tasted 11 year old stuff made by a legend in mead-making. it's a taste thing. some love it, some don't

My first mead tasted like mad dog 20/20 after a few months. It is just about to turn 1 year old and is tasting much better now. I would bottle it and hide it for a while and it will taste better. I met a guy that has made a lot of mead and was an RVer tell me that he would bury some mead at each of his RV spots and come back a year later and dig them up and enjoy.

Depends on the mead. Some are drinkable in just a couple months. Others take years to mellow.

Did you take a gravity reading before you bottled. If it's dry and you bottled, you may never get carbonation. Also, you could be looking at bottle bombs if the yeast are still working and there is enough sugar left.

*Also, there is a mead subforum.

Thanks for the replies. I'll wait at least a couple more months before I taste one again. It's a sparking melanomal.