specialkayme
Well-Known Member
I feel like my mead making experience and knowledge is lacking. I made a mead several years ago, and after a long time of aging it ended up like rocket fuel and almost turned me off to making another batch. Some members on this and another forum convinced me to give a JAOM a try, and I'm glad they did, it was delicious. So I tried another semi-sweet mead, and it took a few years before it mellowed out to something that I'd consider decent. Not amazing, but decent.
I'd like to try to make some other types of mead (Melomel, Metheglin, Semi-Sweet, Sweet, some carbonated, some still), but I'm afraid I may not learn to much along the way if I'm just bouncing around between different styles. One might turn out like crap, another one is great, but not really figuring out why one was crap and the other wasn't. One might be harder to make, or naturally more harsh on the pallet, but I wouldn't know.
With beer, I can taste a Gose and either say "That's great, lets try and make it" and go from there, or I can say I don't like the beer so why bother trying to brew it. If I do try and a batch is a failure after two weeks, toss it and try again. But I don't have much to taste to compare with mead. I've tried some meads at some meaderies, but it's considerably less options for me to compare against. And waiting 1-3 years for some of these to mellow out makes it really difficult to learn.
So does anyone have a suggestion on a series of different meads to try in sequential order, in order to get a better base knowledge of making mead? Like start with a JAOM, then try a semi-sweet plain still mead, then try a sweet sparkling mead, before trying a Melomel, then get crazy with other stuff if you want. Something like that? Or am I really just better off scrolling through other's recipies, finding something I think would be neat and giving it a go?
I'd like to try to make some other types of mead (Melomel, Metheglin, Semi-Sweet, Sweet, some carbonated, some still), but I'm afraid I may not learn to much along the way if I'm just bouncing around between different styles. One might turn out like crap, another one is great, but not really figuring out why one was crap and the other wasn't. One might be harder to make, or naturally more harsh on the pallet, but I wouldn't know.
With beer, I can taste a Gose and either say "That's great, lets try and make it" and go from there, or I can say I don't like the beer so why bother trying to brew it. If I do try and a batch is a failure after two weeks, toss it and try again. But I don't have much to taste to compare with mead. I've tried some meads at some meaderies, but it's considerably less options for me to compare against. And waiting 1-3 years for some of these to mellow out makes it really difficult to learn.
So does anyone have a suggestion on a series of different meads to try in sequential order, in order to get a better base knowledge of making mead? Like start with a JAOM, then try a semi-sweet plain still mead, then try a sweet sparkling mead, before trying a Melomel, then get crazy with other stuff if you want. Something like that? Or am I really just better off scrolling through other's recipies, finding something I think would be neat and giving it a go?