Taste Question

So before I took up the task of brewing and aging a mead for five years. I decided to find some at my local bottle shop. I found to my surprise about six or seven different types from local Minnesota wineries.

So I picked up a bottle of semi sweet mead that was blended with a wild plum wine. The ratio is something like 70/30 mead to wine. All I got to say is that this tastes about the same as a red wine or white zinfendel, bitter and not really all that good.

So is it just my bad luck or is this normal with mead? Should I shop around for another brand? Because nector of the gods is far from what I expreienced. If it was the nector of the gods I drank, I would rather be a mortal and have good tasting drinks.

This thread is so hilarious, I couldn't stop laughing through the whole thing. I could just imagine you taking a sip five years from now, and shaking your head as you pour it on the floor. I would like to try my hand at meads when I get back to the US, and if you find some good mead let me know so I can try it before brewing.

That goes for anyone else who is willing to send me a bottle of their mead so I can try it.

I didn't know that Minnesota was all that well known for their meads. What you drank was not mead. It may have been a mead-style drink but if the mead was good to begin with, why would anyone blend it with plum wine? You have a great meadery right next door in WI. Try White Winter Mead from Iron River, WI to get a taste of a good mead or Redstone from CO. Both have taken awards at the International Mead Festival.

My wife and I really like Chaucer's mead ... even comes with packets of mulling spices which we are saving but have not used ...... yet.

http://www.chaucerswine.com/mead.asp

Redstone has never steered me wrong. I think their stuff is delectable.

Be wary of commercial brew, while I didn't like Chaucer's, I've loved the redstone and white winter I've had but everyone is different. Keep that in mind if you don't like what you buy, it doesn't mean you won't like what you brew.

Before you give up on mead, make sure you try unblended stuff.

If it's blended with a bad wine, it will make bad mead.


Edit: I can either taste like a red wine or a white wine - how could it taste like either at the same time??

There have been other threads on this general topic,
What does mead taste like
Can I try some
It wasn't what I expected
ect....

When I mention to people that I make mead or Honey wine. I'm always asked for a taste. I'm more than happy to oblige but always get the same reaction, that first facial expression, before they tell me it's unique or good or whatever.

I think most people have an expectation that mead will taste like honey or a honey infused fruit juice. I've only experienced this on meads that have been back-sweetened or not allowed to ferment completely, otherwise I get a dry, semi-dry, semi-sweet, ect wine with a complexity of flavor.

In my opinion we need to educate people that Mead is Wine, an alcoholic beverage and as such they should prepare themselves for that experience.

My experience in giving taste tests is that the people who enjoy mead are also people who enjoy the taste of a good wine, and that the ones who give the little facial expression are generally not wine people.

Redstone puts out a very good commercial product, I'm partial to Medovina Meadery in Niwot, Co.

My $.02

D

Thanks for the heads up on where to look for commercial meads. My buddy went up to Norway for a bit and tried some mead, but didn't like it. Like Bill, I'd like to try some before brewing. So my list is:

Redstone
White Winter
Chaucer

Right now I'm reading a book on mead called "The Compleat Meadmaker". Even if I don't end up likeing mead that much I'd like to try making it at least once.

You should make a quick/cheap version of Malkore's Ancient Orange if you have a 1g fermenter. Small batch, not too expensive, and doesn't take forever to age out.

I've not tried much in the way of commercial meads, but one thing I've noticed is a lot of them really like them super dry and high abv. It really turned me off on meads until I had some sweeter varieties that I liked.

I've seen the JOAM recipe recommended here on a number of occasions. I just checked out Malkore's version after you recommended it. Is the orange flavor very forthcoming in these recipes? I'm not a fan of strong orange flavored drinks.

I have a friend who has made sever versions of Mead.. All of which had extreme complexities of flavors. I will also add that I do not like wine very much. This is in northern California. The best I will say was his Dry Raspberry. It was intense, strong of flavor and had the insane requirement to drink more.

Teromous said:

I've seen the JOAM recipe recommended here on a number of occasions. I just checked out Malkore's version after you recommended it. Is the orange flavor very forthcoming in these recipes? I'm not a fan of strong orange flavored drinks.

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Having never made them, I can't say, but mead is a lot like beer. If you don't want something, change it.

But at the cost, it's not hard to try one as is, and then maybe another without orange or replacing with something else.

jezter6 said:

Having never made them, I can't say, but mead is a lot like beer. If you don't want something, change it.

But at the cost, it's not hard to try one as is, and then maybe another without orange or replacing with something else.

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Yeah it's just that the whole recipe is about oranges, and so many people love it that I'm guessing it's pretty good. I'll probably make a gallon of it and another gallon of regular mead.

Well, if you do some searching around here and various other parts of the intarwebs, you'll probably find a few variations. I've seen the Ancient Grape Mead around, might be in the recipe section here.

I would suggest searching for Joe's Ancient Mead, JOAM, JOGM, etc. IIRC Malkore's version is minor changes and uses a real brewing yeast instead of the bread yeast.

Teromous said:

Thanks for the heads up on where to look for commercial meads. My buddy went up to Norway for a bit and tried some mead, but didn't like it. Like Bill, I'd like to try some before brewing. So my list is:

Redstone
White Winter
Chaucer

Right now I'm reading a book on mead called "The Compleat Meadmaker". Even if I don't end up likeing mead that much I'd like to try making it at least once.

Click to expand...

That is actually the BEST book out there for making mead. Try the sweet show mead recipie. I use a variation of it in my mead. Tweeked here and there. But it is the best book for making mead. Hands down. You have the right book. That plus a little advice from websites and you will make meads that fit your taste in no time. I have only had one batch of mead turn out not to my taste but my freinds liked it. It was a Watermellon mead that gave an off taste at the end that was described to me as taking a bite of the rind, not all that unpleasant for some.

If you are looking for a very sweet drink then Chaucers is your choice. You can easily make a better mead. Rocky Mountain Meadery makes a good sweet mead but to me it tastes slightly soapy.

The one suggestion I would give for making good mead is to to pay attention to sanitation. Sanitize your tools every time they touch your product before and clean them afterward. You won't go wrong.

Oh, I also would say that it does not take 5 years to age mead. 6 months to 1 year aging after it clears is just fine. Some meads are drinkable at bottling time but slightly astringent due to the fuelsol alcohols. Tasting "Hot" or of alcohol.

They say that bulk aging is better and quicker but I don't know. Also Oaking the mead makes it tastier quicker too.

Hope this makes more understandable. Saying that you don't like mead by tasting only one is like saying that you don't like vegtables and fruit by tasting one bad apple. Just too much variety can be had with mead.

I started my first batch of mead before I ever actually tried any (crazy?). After fermentation started slowing, I got a couple of bottles from Redstone for comparison. I found it pleasant but too sweet. One of my fellow tasters said something like, "this is nice, but now I'm ready for a good chardonnay."

Any suggestions for something drier? Medovina looks interesting, but I'm not comfortable with sending my credit card number unencrypted.

I *highly* recommend listening to the Jamil Show on mead too
http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil-Show/Mead-The-Jamil-Show-12-01-08

Schramm is a guest and explains step additions and a lot of information that isn't in the book.

Really didn't expect this thread to go this long.

I'm going to look for some more types of Mead before I give it a final verdict.

The Ancient Mead recipe that uses bread yeast. What is the predicted ABV with bread yeast? I haven't found out anything on what the alcohol tolerance is for that type of yeast.

I typically steer clear of the fruity meads and stick with spicier ones. Right now, I have a DELICIOUS Vanilla mead brewing that I have sampled at different intervals (2, 4, and 6 months). I made it sweet and the lack of fruit makes it taste nothing like wine and more like what people think mead will taste like.

What is the break down of your vanilla mead if you don't mind my asking? I have had my eyes on an orange recipe as well as a cyser. But the vanilla bean recipes are of an intest to me as well.

jezter6 said:

Well, if you do some searching around here and various other parts of the intarwebs, you'll probably find a few variations. I've seen the Ancient Grape Mead around, might be in the recipe section here.

I would suggest searching for Joe's Ancient Mead, JOAM, JOGM, etc. IIRC Malkore's version is minor changes and uses a real brewing yeast instead of the bread yeast.

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I've seen a number of variations, but I'll probably stick with orange. If it turns out that I don't like it, odds are I'll be able to find somebody else who will drink it.

KCWortHog said:

I *highly* recommend listening to the Jamil Show on mead too
http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil-Show/Mead-The-Jamil-Show-12-01-08

Schramm is a guest and explains step additions and a lot of information that isn't in the book.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link, I'll have to check it out!

1Brotherbill said:

What is the break down of your vanilla mead if you don't mind my asking? I have had my eyes on an orange recipe as well as a cyser. But the vanilla bean recipes are of an intest to me as well.

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I do a 5 gallon batch of:

4 gallons spring Water
1 Gallon Clover Honey

For flavor, I do:
4 liquid ounces of Vanilla Extract
1 cup of STRONG citrus tea (Peach, Orange, whatever you got).*

It really doesn't look like much, but this - IMO - is what most people are expecting to taste when they get mead. It is sweet and thick with just a faint hint of citrus.

* For my Pay It forward 2009, I have a few bags of this, and I would be happy to mail you one or two. I bought a box of 10 for $6 (who knew tea got expensive). So I can save you the cash if you are looking for just A bag.

I checked out that .mp3 and it was really worth listening to (especially the part where he mentions Honey Locator).

Kenneth Schramm is local and is a guest mead maker for this Meadery http://www.bnektar.com/ Its expensive, but tastey! I've been trying to find good foods to pair mead off with and so far the best food/mead combo was BBQ ribs and a sweet show mead.

Found a bottle of Sky River Sweet Mead at the local bottle shop the other day. So I got the girlfriend to try it while we watched the football game last night. I'm hooked now. If this brand isn't the best. Which is what I hope. Then I'm going to love this stuff. The girlfriend didn't spit it all over the wall and actually liked it. So that is even a better outcome than I hoped for.

Off to the brew shop this coming weekend.

Five years? You're a lot more patient than me, my man. Three to six months and my mead is in the glass. Possibly one day I'll know what it's like to age a batch for a year or more but I don't see it on the horizon. Maybe it does improve but I can't imagine it tasting all that much better than it does at six months. Of course, I'm not known for my finicky taste buds. LOL!!!