Redstone mead

So, I have never had mead. I bought some Redstone mead at the advice of the liquor store guy.

It had what I can only describe as a bit of medicinal flavor. Is this typical of mead, or just commerical mead?

never had that, but most of what I've read about commercial meads is that they either suck, or really pale in comparison to traditionally made craft meads.

I do have a bottle of Chaucer's mead at home (with a spice packet) as I've heard its one of the least obnoxious commercial meads.

The medicinal flavor you taste is a young Mead. Every mead I make goes through this stage but mellows it out after a few months. Don't know what the ABV is on that but meads get that flavor with higher ABV also.

Depending on the brand and age a mead will change, this is true for both commercal and homebrews. Usually the traditional meads that are a bit dry will the mouthwash or medicinal taste for 6 months to a year. The sweeter meads don't usually have this or it is masked by the extra honey that is added. Chaucer's is a great sweet mead. It is on the boarder of dessert wine however.

You might want to try a Melomel, fruit mead, as they tend to be really good young.

malkore said:

I do have a bottle of Chaucer's mead at home (with a spice packet) as I've heard its one of the least obnoxious commercial meads.

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Whoever told you this LIED. Like a lying thing. There are decent commercial meads, but Chaucer's is the worst commercial mead I've ever tasted.

cry....
thanks for the info though. at least now I can lower my expectations appropriately when I crack it open.

BeerAg said:

So, I have never had mead. I bought some Redstone mead at the advice of the liquor store guy.

It had what I can only describe as a bit of medicinal flavor. Is this typical of mead, or just commerical mead?

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Basic Brewing did a tour and video of their meadry <sp>... It's available on their website.

I've never tried their stuff, but it's almost like they're pumping it out faster than they need to for the $$$...

Redstone turns their meads around very fast, which might explain the young quality. I've had their traditional and thought the same thing, a clean mead but a bit medicinal. They filter it and then bottle, but don't age.

If you get their blackberry nectar (melomel) it is amazing, highly carbonated and deemed without a doubt liquid-panty-remover. Its a lower alcohol mead and the carbonation mixed with the fruit mask any deficiencies.

All this said, Redstone is the best mead I've had to date (with the exception of the homebrew mead I had that got me into this whole thing). Only problem is the price, its so damn expencive on the east coast!

mike

I made my first mead at a brew meet of the local club on national mead day last Aug
there were a dozen folks there making mead and everyone had samples of what they had made the year before
they were all quite tasty, some straight meads, some mixed with various stuff
I chose to make my first batch a straight mead since it's what I liked best
I've never tasted a commercial mead but I can say hand crafted stuff is excellent

Dave

Redstone had a dry-hopped mead at GABF...ech...not a good idea.

mgayer said:

The medicinal flavor you taste is a young Mead. Every mead I make goes through this stage but mellows it out after a few months. Don't know what the ABV is on that but meads get that flavor with higher ABV also.

Depending on the brand and age a mead will change, this is true for both commercal and homebrews. Usually the traditional meads that are a bit dry will the mouthwash or medicinal taste for 6 months to a year. The sweeter meads don't usually have this or it is masked by the extra honey that is added. Chaucer's is a great sweet mead. It is on the boarder of dessert wine however.

You might want to try a Melomel, fruit mead, as they tend to be really good young.

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Truthfully, I don't know how to reply to your comments. Just tonight I bottled a batch of the Barkshack Ginger Mead (my 3rd time making this) and it tastes great already.

Chimay doesn't make their brews available until they've been in the bottle 18 months. I think a mead dealer would know better than to sell premature mead.

The only commercial mead I've ever had was in Germany at a Renaissance Fair at a castle, and, I have to say I was not impressed.

I've made a number of batches over the years and have to say that none of them have ever had a medicinal taste to them.

Just my $0.02.

homebrewer_99 said:

Truthfully, I don't know how to reply to your comments. Just tonight I bottled a batch of the Barkshack Ginger Mead (my 3rd time making this) and it tastes great already.

Chimay doesn't make their brews available until they've been in the bottle 18 months. I think a mead dealer would know better than to sell premature mead.

The only commercial mead I've ever had was in Germany at a Renaissance Fair at a castle, and, I have to say I was not impressed.

I've made a number of batches over the years and have to say that none of them have ever had a medicinal taste to them.

Just my $0.02.

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Most, or I should say about half of mine have this. Keep in mind that I make various kinds even of traditional Mead. Different yeast will also produce different flavors with the exact same ingredients. I do a quick Mead that is ready in about 3 or 4 months. The ABV content is usually around 14% and does not have that flavor. The Meads that are 15 to 18% usually do have this flavor that mellows with age.

I would bet that your temps are also low during fermentation. This is a longer process but that flavor usually does not develop. The meadery I went through a few years ago fermented at 72, Filtered into a stainless tank and added more honey. They released at 9-12 months. It did have a bit of the bite. There is a ton of information on gotmead.com concerning this subject.