So, I've only tasted two meads in my life. Both commercially bought. One was amazing, one not so much. The one I didn't like was made here in Indiana, and I found that it tasted like a light white wine (I'm not really into wine either), with little to no honey flavor or much other flavor at all. The mead that I did like was Apis Jadwiga. It was incredible with huge honey, vanilla, oak, and raisiny flavors. Rather sweet and alcoholic, and lovely.
I made a 1 gallon batch of JAOM last week. Obviously it has a ways to go. I was anxious to make something so I just put that together after looking over these forums briefly.
Now I'd like to make something a little more advanced. I've been reading this forum for the last week and I think I have a decent handle on what to do as far as the process. Some questions do come to mind, though.
1. If a mead is dry, fermented out to 0.998 or so, how much honey taste will there be typically?
2. If you make a dry mead, and backsweeten with additional honey, is the honey flavor going to be better/worse/different than if you just ferment with a sweet mead yeast?
3. How much of a role does yeast strain play as far as flavor? Since mead is aged so long, is it a large factor? I'd like to use something pretty neutral.
I am thinking about trying the Vanilla Mead recipe I saw in the Recipe Database. But it looks to be dry and so I'm wondering about the flavors. I'm guessing I probably prefer sweet mead to dry, but I'm unsure. I want to make sure whatever I make tastes good, with a lot of honey flavor. I'd love to try and make something similar to the Jadwiga, though I realize it's not likely I will make a mead of that quality. But with my limited experience with mead, it's the bar for my tastebuds! Something with similar big flavors at least would be awesome.
I made a 1 gallon batch of JAOM last week. Obviously it has a ways to go. I was anxious to make something so I just put that together after looking over these forums briefly.
Now I'd like to make something a little more advanced. I've been reading this forum for the last week and I think I have a decent handle on what to do as far as the process. Some questions do come to mind, though.
1. If a mead is dry, fermented out to 0.998 or so, how much honey taste will there be typically?
2. If you make a dry mead, and backsweeten with additional honey, is the honey flavor going to be better/worse/different than if you just ferment with a sweet mead yeast?
3. How much of a role does yeast strain play as far as flavor? Since mead is aged so long, is it a large factor? I'd like to use something pretty neutral.
I am thinking about trying the Vanilla Mead recipe I saw in the Recipe Database. But it looks to be dry and so I'm wondering about the flavors. I'm guessing I probably prefer sweet mead to dry, but I'm unsure. I want to make sure whatever I make tastes good, with a lot of honey flavor. I'd love to try and make something similar to the Jadwiga, though I realize it's not likely I will make a mead of that quality. But with my limited experience with mead, it's the bar for my tastebuds! Something with similar big flavors at least would be awesome.