Heather Honey

[zonchar]

Ok so there is this poem:
Heather Ale:
http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/stevenson/heather_ale.html

Now to tell you the truth I'm not 100% sure if they are talking about mead or beer here. I first read the poem in translation and in the translation it is definitely read as mead.

Anyhow gorgeous poem. It inspired me to make heather mead.
Any suggestions on the recipie?

I know i can add heather tips into the must and I've seen a couple of recipes online that have very different suggestion on whihc honey and yeast to use. Any recommendations? I'm particularly interested in using heather honey, but couldn't find any place to get it.
Thank you in advance

 

[Liquisky]

Heather Mead Recipe

 

[Zymurgrafi]

That poem is referring to Fraoch Leann or Heather ale. It is brewed with barley malt and flavored/"bittered" with heather.

That being said heather meads probably predate even that from what I have read. Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers has some good info on heather ale and mead which is one of the sources I have gotten my information from.

I have made both and have also made a heather braggot. Heather mead and braggot are still aging and fermenting respectively. So far they are quite nice. I used local clover honey for all. I have never tried heather honey but I imagine that would be great.

I would highly recommend using fresh heather if you can. I have used both dry and fresh. Fresh really makes a difference. I grow my own.

 

[zonchar]

i found this one as well as a couple of others. the yeast that is recommends seems to be for dry/semi sweet right? another recipie i found called for Sweet Wine Yeast. which is believe is very different.
Also are there any Heather Honey suppliers in the US?

 

[zonchar]

That being said heather meads probably predate even that from what I have read. Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers has some good info on heather ale and mead which is one of the sources I have gotten my information from.

I have made both and have also made a heather braggot. Heather mead and braggot are still aging and fermenting respectively. So far they are quite nice. I used local clover honey for all. I have never tried heather honey but I imagine that would be great.

I will look into the book. I'm assuming it's a dryer mead since heather is used for bittering. I prefer sweeter meads but I'm worried that bittering heather + sweet yeast (lots of honey to sweeten things up) will make it taste like cough medicine.
What yeast would you recommend or what did you use?

 

[Zymurgrafi]

I will look into the book. I'm assuming it's a dryer mead since heather is used for bittering. I prefer sweeter meads but I'm worried that bittering heather + sweet yeast (lots of honey to sweeten things up) will make it taste like cough medicine.
What yeast would you recommend or what did you use?

Well, I did not use the recipe from there, I just winged it. Note, I am not very experienced with meads. I only made my first one a in NOV. '07.

That being said I'll tell you what I can. I winged it so much that I cannot even find my notes. Doh! So it is a bit fuzzy. I made it this last summer. I used an ale yeast it was either SafAle s-04 or US-05.

I have the notes and amounts for the ale and braggot. The ale in fact I have brewed about 4 times. It took second place in the local homebrew competition in specialty beers category. I did in fact use honey in it. Not enough to make it a braggot.

Drinking one right now in fact. It is lovely. Color of a very pale ale. Nice low carbonation. Flavor and aroma are wonderful and complex, I have a hard time describing it but here goes. Very floral (duh) aroma with hints of sweet smelling cut hay, and chamomile. Sweet and fruity like black berries and currants. Tastes of a mild mints like chamomile and bee balm. A bit of a licorice tarragon flavor as well. A very drinkable pint. You have to throw out your perceptions of beer and hops.

I am hoping the heather mead is as complex and wonderful. Time will tell.

 

[zonchar]

I think I'm just too used to drinking crappy beer (grocery store).
I went to a Belgian Restaurant the other day and they really had some very very nice beers not the stuff u get at your grocery store

 

[petes]

Sounds more like a candidate for the Brew Babes gallery.

 

[zonchar]

Sounds more like a candidate for the Brew Babes gallery.

That obvious huh? I do love sweet alcohol

Sweet mead.... yummm

 

[efeaglehouse]

If some of the tales I've heard of Heather Mead are true, it's undrinkable until it's been aged for at least 12 years. Unfortunately I've never found a source of heather honey until recently but it's rare and expensive nd I can't afford it now :-/.

On another note, I've make mead ale from clover honey (wildflower honey can be bitter), which is a lower-alcohol version of mead made with ale yeast. It's quite tasty.

 

[loveofrose]

I’ve made this many times: https://denardbrewing.com/blog/post/Froach/

It is amazing, but getting true heather honey is an expensive pain in the ass!

I get the honey on Amazon when they have it. Search this: Heather Hills Scottish Heather Honey Case of 4 X 12oz

 

[Maylar]

Heather honey is on the list of "The top 1000 things you must eat before you die".

 

[bernardsmith]

Heather honey is on the list of "The top 1000 things you must eat before you die".

I grew up in Scotland and heather honey was the honey of choice we had. It is incredible but to loveofrose's post I've bought their heather honey and it did not have the sharpness of flavor I recall from my youth. It was a lovely honey and it made a fine heather mead and I have used it to make a heather honey liqueur (my version of Drambuie) but it's not how I recall how the honey tasted.

Oh, and efeaglehouse - absolutely untrue - Heather honey meads take just as long as any mead or wine to be perfectly drinkable and just like every other mead or wine the longer you can age them the better they can taste but if you stress the yeast or your protocol for making mead is poor then it can take years before you give up and toss a crappy mead. In short, a mead made with current knowledge ad current best practice can be shared with pleasure in the time it takes to brew and share an ipa. If your mead is made to a higher ABV then it will take a bit longer. Some folk suggest that for every 1% above 5% you add another month of aging. But that is true for clover honey as it is for meadowfoam or heather.