Honey?

[beer4life]

I'm going to start brewing mead and was just wondering if it matters what kind of honey to use. Is there a certain kind of honey needed or will pure honey from the local market work the same?

 

[ColoHox]

The flavor and complexity of your mead will depend on the source of your honey. Even when making melomel or metheglin (honey plus adjunct) I prefer to use local raw honey.

My favorite meads come from raw, unfiltered honey that I purchase from local beekeepers. I find the difference in complexity from a local raw honey compared to a filtered clover grocery-store honey to be huge. Just my $0.02.

 

[Mojzis]

I don't make mead (still use it in beer occasionally) but I have a comment on the honey.

I read an article recently that was about the quality of store bought honey from major brands. Pretty much there were numerous big chains that were purchasing/making fake honey out of sugar and malt extract so they can save money.

Buy local, its worth it (seems like you plan to). There's a lot of different kinds of honey out there that can be used for specific styles.

 

[pumpkinman2012]

I couldn't agree more, get fresh unfiltered honey straight from the Bee keepers.
I find that Wildflower honey to be the right choice for Mead, Melomel and Beer, if you are making a citrus melomel, using Orange Blossom honey, but for the extra price, I don't think that you will see much more benefits.
Where are you located?

 

[butterpants]

I found local suppliers to be unreliable (also in Colorado).... so now I just buy from Northern Brewer. You can still score unpasteurized honey in lots of different varieties, whenever you need it.

 

[ColoHox]

I found local suppliers to be unreliable (also in Colorado).... so now I just buy from Northern Brewer. You can still score unpasteurized honey in lots of different varieties, whenever you need it.

I like the locally sourced stuff, for a variety of reasons, it is also usually half the price of NB.

 

[butterpants]

6$/3lbs is retarded cheap, if I could find it at those prices I would jump on it too.

 

[beer4life]

Thank you all for the input. I am located in mid-west indiana and we have a local farmers market where lots of honey is sold. Reading all this I believe I will definitely go with the local stuff. I'm trying to go as natural and local as possible. Thanks