Heather Mead

Has anyone tried making a heather mead, ie one made with heather honey and/or spiced with heather tops? I was reading about it in a book, and it sounds interesting. If anyone could tell me a bit about the taste or give me some production tips it would be much appreciated

gotmead.com is a great resource for mead recipes and info. I think I saw something like this in their recipe section.

mike

I have one of these bulk aging, and its gonna be awesome. I used simple canola honey, and lots of heather tips. I used a no boil method, though did use hot water to infuse the heather before diluting the honey. I added fresh heather for steeping.
when primary was done, I racked off the lees and old heather onto some fresh heather and more honey.
A month later, I did it again. It will be a year old in February, its clear, and I will bottle it after the holidays. My only mistake was just making one gallon.

Do you have a good supply for heather flowers?

I am looking for a good supplier for heather, sweet gale, yarrow and the like. Juniper I can find, but the above I've been having a rough time.

Roger

http://www.thegrape.net/browse.cfm/2,1284.html

fast shipping, great service.

Have you found that this mead has any of the effects people have claimed it has with the use of Heather?

You won't have any psychotropic effects from the Heather unless it is actual heather from Scotland. This species has a fine white powder that locals call "fogg". It is believed that this causes its legendary effects. The Picts may have taken the secret to this legend to the grave with them as they were historically killed in battle. It is a relative of the marsh rosemary that many other ancient groups used in Gruits.

RogerK said:

Do you have a good supply for heather flowers?

I am looking for a good supplier for heather, sweet gale, yarrow and the like. Juniper I can find, but the above I've been having a rough time.

Roger

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Take a look at Wild Weeds

biochemedic said:

Take a look at Wild Weeds

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Wild Weeds is a great source that I have used.

IF ANYONE EVER FINDS A SOURCE FOR MARSH ROSEMARY SEEDS, hook me up!

cbraun77s said:

Wild Weeds is a great source that I have used.

IF ANYONE EVER FINDS A SOURCE FOR MARSH ROSEMARY SEEDS, hook me up!

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Not sure if it's what you're looking for but a quick eBay search showed a guy selling marsh rosemary seed packets for 1$. I've had great success ordering heirloom tomato seeds and other garden seeds off eBay.

Hope this helps.

any one know if you can grow the heather with the fogg in the u.s.?

Pretty sure what people refer to as fogg, is actually a fungus similar to ergot (which also can grow on wheat and peppers too I believe). Ergot is what they synthesized LSD from.
I wouldn't drink anything with that in it. Wouldn't be a fun trip, more like a poisoning.