Drinking a 15-year old mead tonight

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SavageSteve

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Just cracked open the last surviving bottle of a mead I made 15 years ago.

Overall, it's still good. Definite sherry overtones, and it's better days are certainly behind it, but it still has substantial honey aroma and flavor. Very smooth, with some alcoholic warmth to it. It's darkened into a deep golden color and it's crystal clear.

Actually, I'm pretty impressed that it tastes this good after 15 years.

I made a new mead tonight-- orange honey blossom-- so it's in with the new, out with the old!

-Steve
 
You have alot of dicipline to keep it that long.

Very cool though, hope I can do the same in 15 years.
 
Oh my word...I don't know whether or not to be incredibly jealous and hate you, or just wish you well and tell you to savor it....

jealousseveninchae1.jpg


Enjoy my friend.

:mug:
 
I definitely savored it-- it was completely different than I remembered. I think the last time I had some from that batch was about 13 years ago. I had given some to friends, but they didn't store the bottles properly and the corks crumbled and they lost it. I had the one bottle left, and just hung onto it... waiting. Tonight was the night, though.

Man, 1994 seems like a lifetime ago.

So here's to another 15. :mug:

-Steve
 
I'm up in Litchfield County... just north of where you were. Were you here for the unseasonably cold wet weather, or the recent stretch of actually hot weather?

-Steve
 
SavageSteve - That sounds really great, I think I need to start looking into how to condition meads for long term ageing and to it. But I also think I need to set up a safe storage area so my brother and other friends stop snagging my older meads when I'm not looking.

homebrewer_99 - Retirement sounds nice, best of luck and I wish you the best.
 
I hardly stored it properly... to paraphrase George Burns, if I'd known I was going to keep it this long, I would have taken better care of it. It stayed in my laundry room for a long time, then several years ago I moved it into my refrigerator in preparation for someday drinking it.

With my current batch, I will definitely take better care of the bottles for long term storage.

-Steve
 
Mine wasn't stored the best way either, but it hasn't moved from its present location in over 5 years...totally untouched.

Kauai_Kahuna: Thanks...I'm sure the wife will want another trip to Oahu before long...

SavageSteve: We didn't hit any bad weather while there. We actually went to the beach by the marina...our granddaughter's boyfriends mother lives near the marina entrance...
 
Just cracked open the last surviving bottle of a mead I made 15 years ago.

Overall, it's still good. Definite sherry overtones, and it's better days are certainly behind it, but it still has substantial honey aroma and flavor. Very smooth, with some alcoholic warmth to it. It's darkened into a deep golden color and it's crystal clear.

Actually, I'm pretty impressed that it tastes this good after 15 years.

I made a new mead tonight-- orange honey blossom-- so it's in with the new, out with the old!

-Steve

Why are you surprised that it is still good after 15 years? I thought mead only got better with age. What is the sweet spot for aging this. I was thinking about making a chocolate cherry mead for my daughters 21st birthday, she is currently 20 months old.
 
I was surprised because I didn't really store it properly over the years, and my skills in bottling and general techniques weren't as good back then as they are now.

-Steve
 
An opportunity to taste and savor time is very rare thing.

I was over at my parents house recently and noticed that there was a ceramic leprechaun statue on a shelf. Upon closer examination, it was a bottle of bourbon. I asked my mom about it and apparently it was her parents bottle and in her house when she was a kid for as long as she can remember (my mom was born in 54. the paper seal on the leprechaun's hat (the bottle cap) was torn so I gave it a little tug. The top came right off and the cork actually fell apart and a large piece fell in. Anyway, i poured about 2 ounces into a glass and had a taste. For being at least 50 years old, and being opened for who knows how long, this bourbon was pretty awesome. It was pretty cool tasting something that old. I thought about the fact that whoever had distilled this stuff has long since been gone, and here I am enjoying the fruits of his labor.
 
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