Give Me The Low Down on Meads

[ChiN8]

Ok Ya'll,
Once again, as I gain experience and broaden my knowledge of brewing, I am wanting to try new brews, ingredients, styles, and types. I always just glance past the Mead/Sake sections thinking a Mead was similar to a Sake if they were in the same category (Austin HB) and I never really desired Sake anyways so why look?....

However after a couple websites and some information on Meads... they sounds QUITE intriging and terrific, but I'm a little confused... so if someone could shed some light on the situation, I would greatly appreciate that.

For the most part I see Three (3) different styles; Dry, Sweet, Bubbly- Is this correct?

When they say "bubbly" is it like a champagne?

What is the taste profile of a Mead? (I'm going to hopefully pick a mead up at my local import beer store but until then, why not ask the pros!)

Is it really like a wine? Is this a very fruity/light beverage?

Does this brew cold or hot?

 

[BlueSunshine]

Also to add to those list of questions (I'm interested as well) do meads age well? I've had a bottle of mead in my bar that's about 4 years old.

 

[KCWortHog]

There are some pretty good sites out there that explain mead -
http://www.rabbitsfootmeadery.com/index.php?page_id=7
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead
gotmead.com of course (but I find that site really hard to navigate for whatever reason)

The BJCP guidelines should give you the information you're looking for on styles, carbonation, sweetness, strength, etc.
http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/meadintro.php#common

I love the stuff. I don't know what meads are available to you, but Redstone & Rabbit's Foot seem to be moderately distributed. There are many others that are regionally distributed; for your first exposure to mead, don't get Chaucer. It is a fine mead, but not representative of the craft/artisanal meads out there. Get it later after trying some others.

Oh, and most mead ages VERY well.

Check out the mead board here. You will find a ton of information about making the stuff. It's super easy to make; the key is fermentation (since all it takes to put a basic mead together is honey, water, yeast, and nutrients & nitrogen for the yeast).

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Well technically, all you really need to make mead is honey, water & yeast, but if you want to make good mead, you really ought to pick up a copy of The Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm. It will answer many questions & explain a lot of things, it'll even give you some recipes; it's sort of the mead maker's bible.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0937381802/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
Regards, GF.

 

[KCWortHog]

And read the "what I learned at NHC..." thread - there's a lot of stuff that good meadmakers do that Schramm doesn't mention in the book (but AFAIK also does - like staggered nutrient additions).