Does a spice bomb ever calm down?

I am in a habit of brewing a 1 gallon batch of wort/wine/mead every month. About 4 months ago I put together a melomel (heck if I remember what the fruits were) and ended up spicing it with a cinnamon stick, 1 whole clove, and 2 whole cloves of star anise. Well, the anise was not the smartest move. Once it calmed down, I took a sip. It tasted like nyquil. I put it on the back of a shelf and have since more or less forgotten about it (hence not remembering what exactly it was, i scrapped most of the records of it because it originally tasted so nasty).

Fast forward to yesterday. I was throwing together a must for an emergency mead, and trying to hunt down an extra airlock/cork. I looked at it hidden back on a shelf, grabbed a mason jar, poured some, and took a sip. Not unpleasant actually - the spices have died down some (they're not gag inducing), though it still has a strong spicy taste to it. If anything, it could have potential for being the base for an alcoholic wassail closer to christmas time. I think the spices could work well.

How many of you have made spice bombs? Did you wait them out? How long did it take?

I made a spice (clove/orange peel) bomb when I first started brewing. I left it alone in bottles for something like two years. While the spice had calmed down by that time, it wasn't a very good beer either.

I made 5 gallons of porter with 1/2 ounce of star anise. I like anise so it was never unpleasant, but it never mellowed out, even a year later when I finished the last bottle.

AmandaK, I love KCMO, used to go every year for FFA nationals

I brewed Christmas Ale a few years ago with cloves. It took just over a year for it mellow. On thing I have learned is to be cautious about throwing things out unless there are glaring issues (infection, off flavors, etc...).