Serving mead
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MeadWitch
Well-Known Member
I don't. I just pour and enjoy.
OP
OP
H-ost
Well-Known Member
Thank you for the reply!
Might you be so kind as to recommend some meads for me to try? I have only tried a "plain?" honey mead and raspberry mead from the same company. I tried something else at a fair but no idea what it was.
Might you be so kind as to recommend some meads for me to try? I have only tried a "plain?" honey mead and raspberry mead from the same company. I tried something else at a fair but no idea what it was.
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
MY meads are best when you start drinking it soon after pouring. I don't let them breath like I would a fine red wine. Still, as they warm up, they do change and give you different flavors/characteristics from the honey used.
I'm not sure about what commercial mead to recommend, since I've never had any. Maybe give Issac's of Salem (MA) a shot. I hear it's good, and he's from the Got Mead site.
To be honest, everyone that's tried my mead has liked it better than the commercial stuff. One of the comments given was that the commercial mead was 'hot' and dry. Where mine was NOT hot (even though it's 18%) and sweet enough to balance. I suspect it's from commercial meaderies needing to push the product out the doors sooner than we would. The mead I currently have on hand was made in fall 2010. A good portion of what's left wasn't bottled until it had been in bulk form for a full year. I have more in process that won't be getting bottled until this fall (at the soonest) that was started in early December of 2011.
If you want something really good, I say make it yourself. Just read up as much as you can about making it first. Look over the Got Mead forums for information, don't just go by what's posted, or published, in books. Most mead books are at least a decade old, and list seriously outdated methods (such as cooking the must). Find some local mazers (to you) and see how they make it. Compare a few different methods and pick one. Personally, I'm all about the no cook method of making mead. I also use Lalvin yeast strains for almost all my mead. I've only gone liquid once, with the Wyeast Eau de Vie (a yeast capable of going to 21%).
If you don't have the patience to make mead, then you'll be stuck drinking what others produce. What's the fun in that???
I'm not sure about what commercial mead to recommend, since I've never had any. Maybe give Issac's of Salem (MA) a shot. I hear it's good, and he's from the Got Mead site.
To be honest, everyone that's tried my mead has liked it better than the commercial stuff. One of the comments given was that the commercial mead was 'hot' and dry. Where mine was NOT hot (even though it's 18%) and sweet enough to balance. I suspect it's from commercial meaderies needing to push the product out the doors sooner than we would. The mead I currently have on hand was made in fall 2010. A good portion of what's left wasn't bottled until it had been in bulk form for a full year. I have more in process that won't be getting bottled until this fall (at the soonest) that was started in early December of 2011.
If you want something really good, I say make it yourself. Just read up as much as you can about making it first. Look over the Got Mead forums for information, don't just go by what's posted, or published, in books. Most mead books are at least a decade old, and list seriously outdated methods (such as cooking the must). Find some local mazers (to you) and see how they make it. Compare a few different methods and pick one. Personally, I'm all about the no cook method of making mead.
I also use Lalvin yeast strains for almost all my mead. I've only gone liquid once, with the Wyeast Eau de Vie (a yeast capable of going to 21%). If you don't have the patience to make mead, then you'll be stuck drinking what others produce. What's the fun in that???
OP
OP
H-ost
Well-Known Member
Thanks Golddiggie!
That is the issue right there, I don't exactly have the patience to make it yet. I'm already doing a sour that is bulk aging for a year and I don't have many fermenters. I probably will make one after this sour is bottled and then I will be asking more questions to that effect.
On the bright side, I know a local honey supplier
If you don't have the patience to make mead, then you'll be stuck drinking what others produce. What's the fun in that???
That is the issue right there, I don't exactly have the patience to make it yet. I'm already doing a sour that is bulk aging for a year and I don't have many fermenters. I probably will make one after this sour is bottled and then I will be asking more questions to that effect.
On the bright side, I know a local honey supplier
amandabab
Well-Known Member
The time it requires to make won't get shorter in the future.
Buy a fermentor, get fermenting.
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
Start it now so that its ready to go to bottles before the holidays next year.
