Cheap grade honey vs high quality honey

Something you might be interested in, there was a Basic Brewing Radio podcast (or maybe a couple of them) where they did experiments with different types of honey. February 2009. Made up small batches of mead with different varieties and reported back on the results. Huge variances in the characteristics different types impart. I had a mead that a friend made, I can't remember which type of honey it was but it was very harsh and woody - not terribly pleasant.

I guess what I'd say is that the "quality" of the honey, as reflected in the price, is likely going to be less important that the type of honey it is.

Here is from my experience:

Cheapest I could find- was in supermarket, tasted kinda poor, terrible mead.

Local apiary- great honey, amazing mead.

Other folks mead made from supermarket "in a bear" honey - mediocre, not the best.

So my general rule is to get quality mead you need quality honey. This is especially true if you are doing straight alcoholic honey-water rather than spicing and other such steps.

I've made great mead with the blended honey from Sam's Club, but usually its a melomel or strongly spiced metheglin, so I don't need 'great honey', just 'basic' honey.

I also don't compete.

I think you're always best off if you get fresh, raw, unfiltered, unpasturized honey directly from a beekeeper. I know, I know, not everyone has access to that regularly, or perhaps you'll pay through the nose to get it shipped to you...and there are always some weird varietals that may give you funny flavors.

Still, I probably wouldn't make a straight mead from anything other than a good varietal honey...making a show mead even from my locally available, good quality wildflower honey seems kind of boring (although perhaps I will try it one of these days, just to see how it turns out with nothing else to hide behind...). Generally, I wouldn't use generic store bought honey for anything other than a bochet mead, although I can see malkore's point about using it for a mead that has other really strong flavors....

Quality in, quality out. Find me any top end brewer or wine maker who says they use the cheapest malt or grapes they can find, and end up making Duvel or Latour, and I'll eat my words.

That said, there are expensive varietal honeys that make terrible meads. If you have doubts, dilute w/water: honey at 3:1 and nose or taste it before making a mead. If you find off, vegetal, excessively buttery or mown grass notes, beware. If it's not fun to drink or nose, it won't make great mead.

KenSchramm said it all. And it seems to be the general consensus. The more natural and pure the honey you buy is, the better your final product will be.

I agree with Melkor.

In my short time as a mazer I've observed that the honey you use depends on how much you want the characteristics of that honey to come out in your final product. Example: I've got a Winter mead in tertiary now that I used a 3 lb bottle of ShopRite Grade A Fancy in. The honey is very mild, almost week in flavor, and quite inexpensive. I was fine with that though because I knew I was going to toss clove, cinnamon, anise seed, and nutmeg into primary, topping off with apple juice in secondary and cranberry juice at the second racking. I knew the spices and juice flavors would dominate (especially the anise), and in fact was counting on it, so what is probably considered "low grade" honey was more than fine for what I'm trying to do.

On the flipside, I have 4 lbs of tupelo honey waiting for me to do a show mead with (I only do 1 gal batches). I wouldn't try that with the ShopRite honey. It would be drinkable I'm sure, but not as good as the tupelo will be (or better be for what I paid for it ).\

Even when making recipes where fruit and spices are prominent (or dominant), good, fresh honey can make a huge impact. Honey that has a strong aroma and flavor can show up even through a pile of fruit and can make a good recipe even better.

Medsen

malkore said:

I've made great mead with the blended honey from Sam's Club, but usually its a melomel or strongly spiced metheglin, so I don't need 'great honey', just 'basic' honey.

I also don't compete.

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Good to hear. My first mead is going now and I used clover honey from Sam's. The honey tasted great straight out the jug.

I made two batches of strong, high ABV meads with kiawi honey. A heavy, smoked wood flavor. Even after ageing a over a year and half. I'm just hoping that time will improve and blend it nicely.
I have been lucky enough that people have given me great honey from Texas and also California and they made some very nice meads.
The show meads made from store bought honey - eehhh, it's OK, but nothing to go ballistic over.

From everything that everyone is saying, I'm very glad that my brother decided to take up beekeeping as a hobby. Now because of his apiary on my parent's roof, I have access to high quality local Chicago honey. Can't wait for the harvest in a few weeks so I can make my Chicago Bears themed mead.

Chicago Bears themed mead. Yes! haha...I've gotta hear what this entails.

BEAR DOWN!!

B_ChiZ said:

Chicago Bears themed mead. Yes! haha...I've gotta hear what this entails.

BEAR DOWN!!

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It'll probably entail use of either my brother's Chi-town honey or some orange flower honey, maybe both. The orange flower honey and/or using actual oranges in the mead will give me my burnt orange color of the Bears and then I'll use a mix of blueberries and huckleberries for the navy blue color of the Bears. Not sure about spices though, but I'm hoping this'll make a pretty mean melomel to honor the Chicago Bears.

KenSchramm said:

That said, there are expensive varietal honeys that make terrible meads.

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That brought manuka honey to mind. I wonder if anyone has done this

Quote:
Originally Posted by malkore View Post
I've made great mead with the blended honey from Sam's Club, but usually its a melomel or strongly spiced metheglin, so I don't need 'great honey', just 'basic' honey.

I also don't compete.

Good to hear. My first mead is going now and I used clover honey from Sam's. The honey tasted great straight out the jug.
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One month in and doing good. Pleasant musky honey flavor. And a green as green flavor too but hey it's one month.