Juniper Raspberry Mead?

Would these flavors work together at all?

thompsng said:

Would these flavors work together at all?

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Raspberry can produce a dominant flavour if used on it's own, hence it's often a good one to mix with other fruit to balance the taste.

As for Juniper ? Well it would give the taste some "gin like" quality, unless you used just a hint.....

I've not seen it mentioned as a regularly used ingredient/flavouring though.

Try adding a bit of rasberry juice to some gin & tasting, that'll give you a rough idea if it'll work or not. Could be good, you never know till you try. When I first heard of a mojito, I thought "lime & mint together? BLECH!" but as fate would have it, lime & mint work wonderfully together in a mojito! Maybe rasberry gin is the next hot ticket item.
Be sure to post your results, I'm curious to see how it turns out.
Regards, GF.

gratus fermentatio said:

Try adding a bit of rasberry juice to some gin & tasting, that'll give you a rough idea if it'll work or not. Could be good, you never know till you try. When I first heard of a mojito, I thought "lime & mint together? BLECH!" but as fate would have it, lime & mint work wonderfully together in a mojito! Maybe rasberry gin is the next hot ticket item.
Be sure to post your results, I'm curious to see how it turns out.
Regards, GF.

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Now that's a damn fine idea. I hadn't thought of that.......

On the other hand, raspberry isn't the sort of flavouring I have hanging around the house......

p.s. With the mojito analogy, is it the mix of mint and lime, or the mint, lime and rum that go well together. Half the time, seemingly strange combo's of flavour are a cultural thing and if it's not your world, then some can seem very, very strange - with that in mind, I'll give you quite a "cheffy" mix to think about i.e. Strawberry, with a tiny amount of black pepper.....

I recently did a Raspberry Thyme and it turned out spectacular. The two are powerful scents and flavors but if you go low on the Thyme it complements it big time. I had thought of a raspberry basil or even a raspberry fennel. Not one for peppers.

I get much of my inspiration from desert spice/fruit combinations. Pear Nutmeg was a big hit.

Matrix

fatbloke said:

On the other hand, raspberry isn't the sort of flavouring I have hanging around the house......

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Me either, I'm guessing he has some berries tho & could crush some in a glass, then add a splash of gin. If all else fails, he could take some berries or berry puree to a bar, order a shot or 2 of gin & mix it up.

When I started experimenting with caraway seed, I boiled some in a bit of water & added the resulting liquid to apple juice to see if the 2 flavours were compatible. Maybe the OP could so something like that with juniper berries?

BTW, the caraway thing was a VERY rough idea, but it turned out quite well; I was really surprised that caraway went with apple so well; I add it to about 1/2 my ciders now.
Regards, GF.

Cranberry and gin work very well together, so raspberry ought to be in the same neighborhood.

Rockape66 said:

Cranberry and gin work very well together, so raspberry ought to be in the same neighborhood.

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ha ha! well cranberry isn't as "big" a flavour here is it might end up being (cranberry sauce sold at this time of year to go with turkey etc, as well as the easily available "Ocean Spray" range of juices).

I wouldn't have thought about trying it with Gin, but this years annual booze adverts (only usually seen during the christmas period here) have used cranberry juice as a suggested mixer for a number of "drink" types. I suspect that they've just used it as a convenient way of trying to increase their sales.

Might give it a go though.......

Thanks for the input everyone!

Here is the recipe that I think we will be going with.

For a one Gallon Batch

2lb. Honey
.1 oz Juniper Berries
1lb Raspberries

When should I be adding the juniper? I figured raspberries would be added in the secondary, but I am not sure about the juniper.

Thanks for all the help!

Assuming those are dried juniper berries, I'd crack 'em with a rolling pin & add 'em in secondary with the berries.
Regards, GF.

Cool. Well, I smushed them up with a rolling pin and made a tea with the water before adding the honey. Ill see what it is like after fermentation; maybe ill add more after.

Being dried juniper berries, is 0.1 ounce enough for one gallon? I was planning a batch myself of a juniper metheglin and i've been getting suggests of about half an ounce. I guess its all according to taste

I found a site http://www.winemakersdepot.com/Sweet-Mead-Recipe-with-Spices-W108.aspx that calls for 1 ounce fresh juniper berries for 5 gallons. I dont know if it will help you, but it seems like you already started on your brew! Good luck on it!

Juniper berries are something you want to add per berry (not per tsp)
Just 5 berries per gallon is enough for juniper flavor

Fyi, ripe juniper berries don't actually taste precisely like gin, as gin uses green, unripe berries instead of purple, ripe berries. The purple, ripe berries aren't nearly as astringent-tasting; I've used an ounce of ripe berries in one gallon of braggot with very good results, although I was looking to make juniper the dominant flavor in that brew.

Someone has been using green juniper berries for brewing?