No One Actually Likes Mead

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ArrogantDusty

ArrogantDusty

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Alright, I'm sorry. That was harsh. I chose that title to get all the mead lovers in here, ready to fight me about it.

Here is what the title should have said, "I haven't made a mead that people LOVE yet. My beers and my Apfelwein (edworts rather) are loved by the masses in my life, but my meads are usually online grabbed by the people that latch onto the fact that they are high ABV.

That said, I enjoy them, but not as much as other things. I have never even had a mead that I would say was better than 3 out of 5. I've only made 5 that I have actually tried yet. I have 6 others, mostly melomels, that I've still got another few months on.

What are your experiences with meads? Do you find that they are an acquired taste that don't prefer, or are the right ones loved by all? Thanks!
 
I've seen a varied response to meads, both home brewed and commercial. I think many people just don't have enough experience with it, and don't know how to approach it. Similar to people who've never had a sour beer, they don't have a frame of reference, so when they try it blindly, it's a no-go. Even when some folks have had a mead they liked, if the next mead is distinctly different in style, they also may react poorly to it.
And some people making mead (and I count myself among them) are so inexperienced that while we may be able to ferment it and make an infection-free batch, we don't understand enough about the process to really control what we are doing - reminds me of homebrewing 20+ years ago.

Many of my friends have little to no experience with craft beer, so when I started introducing them to my homebrew, many of them didn't know how to approach it. Belgian tripels and witbiers, I had forgotten, may be an acquired taste. So I have parties where I will have a beer style most people may not be familiar with, and I explain what they are tasting. Many of my friends are becoming more articulate in describing what they like and don't like, and are branching out from their standard craft beers and trying new things.

You could do the same thing with meads. Make or buy several styles - sweet, off-dry, dry, spiced, fruited, etc - and throw a party. You'll make some converts, and when more of your friends have experience and can talk about it, it's more fun for everyone.
 
Yeah, I think it mostly comes down to it not being as easy as everyone thinks to make Good Mead. I can't tell you how many times someone told me make mead, said there process, and I knew right away that it wasn't going to turn out good for them. I'd even start with making lower alcohol ones to get your nutrient schedules and flavor profiles down. And you can drink them sooner.
 
My first experience with mead was nothing to do backflips over. It was alright, I'd have it again if offered, but not going to go out and seek it. My second was the last portion of a commercial bottle from a friend when I honestly answered "How was your day?" and they sent me on my way home with it.

There had been a third that a group of friends spoke only good things of. As a type of drink that is a little different and interesting it did catch my attention. Unfortunately it's seasonal in these parts. Friend had me over for a bit earlier this week. I see why they all speak highly of it. I'm saying "medium sweet" without much to compare it to, with a very subtle floral hint. Winner.

With that, and considering I had been wanting to make a mead for a while I now have my first batch just started, not even showing fermentation yet. Of course I'd like it to turn out perfect but inaugural batches rarely are.
 
I wonder if the problem has many facets: Many folk hear "honey" and assume "sweet" and don't like a wine that is in fact dry. While many would-be mazers assume that mead ought to be sweet and make their wine sickly sweet yet expect to drink it as if it is a beer or a cider... and then there is the mead maker that treats the process as if yeast is not a living organism with its own needs and try to make a mead as if they were putting together a manufactured home in a factory rather than fermenting a wine. Meads take time and need to be nurtured... and of course using cheap ingredients results in poor wine.
 
In my area most of the general populace know mead as the mead sold at the Renaissance Festival. I have no clue if it is true mead or that crap wine with a touch of honey. I have done what I can to explain to those who try mead (commercial: Rabbits Foot and Moonlight) what to expect and I have gotten the same results as the rest of you.
 
My first mead was actually a present for my dad, whos a huge mead fan. I grabbed a recipe off here that looked decent and I put it together. I kept a gallon for myself and drank a bottle every once in a while. I finally has the last bottle last night actually (12 months after making it) and It was the first bottle I've had that I actually thought tasted pretty great. It was a relief to have a bottle that tasted awesome (again, IMO, I'm not a mead person and really have no clue how badly I may have effed it up) but I won't be making it again any time soon.
 
Im new to making mead and have several diff one gallon batches going.
As far as commercial mead goes...
Some I like and some I dont.
Most recent had a 'commercial' peach mead and my taste buds couldnt detect one iota of peach flavor.
 
To me on the commercial side I sometimes find the labeling can be weird or off. They put "dry" mead. Pour a glass and tastes like I'm drinking honey syrup. Try a "sweet" mead and could swear I'm drinking a very dry chardonnay. I think as the mead market expands and evolves we'll see it improve, I've had A LOT of (at best) 'ok' meads. I've had maybe 3 or 4 good commercial meads and have learned to stick to the 1-2 brands I've liked since the labeling tends to reflect what I am tasting (the labeling is important to me if I'm gonna throw down a 10-20 bucks for some mead). One thing I would like to see commercially is session meads in 4-6 packs, I'd be all over that.
 
Nobody liked my mead. Granted, I never fermented a dry one. They never tasted bad or off, just too damn sweet. Plus, it's expensive to make. I started brewing beer a few months ago in its place and haven't looked back.
 
There's a mead vendor at our farmer's market that has a dry hopped lower ABV (8?) that is outstanding, and is the one we fill our growlers with. They make several others too and we've tried them, but I just prefer the dry hopped version.

I've yet to make a mead, though I've had the yeast for some time, and SWMBO has an extra 3 gal Better Bottle looking at me. I think we still have another 12 lb jar of honey we bought from the co-op (Bountiful Baskets), and I've been riding her to see about more (she knows the people that run it out of AZ). We need more honey (I brew with it)!

I was going to take a stab at it with US-05 yeast until I realized it was a lot more effort than I imagined. One of these days though...
 
rodwha said:
There's a mead vendor at our farmer's market that has a dry hopped lower ABV (8?) that is outstanding, and is the one we fill our growlers with. ..
Click to expand...

If all flavor comes from the honey and if you really need to have a minimum of about 2.5 - 3lbs of honey in every gallon to have enough flavor, then I cannot see how you could have a mead with real flavor that has a ABV of 8%. Eight percent would have only about 1.5 lbs of honey in each gallon...My hopped mead (both bittering and flavor) is about 12%
 
clairecunn83 said:
I love this commercial mead, though! Solid products.

http://www.redstonemeadery.com/
Click to expand...

Any stores around here sell it?

I've had a hell of a time finding good mead around here. The Spec's on the south side of town used to stock some Texas Mead Works stuff, but last few times I was in there they didn't even have that.
 
There's a restaurant on FM 2673 in Canyon Lake that has it. Otherwise you'd need to go to Big Hops Growler fill in San Antonio or one of many places in Austin. A bit of a drive except for Canyon Lake but I'm not sure they just sell bottles as it's a restaurant. This for the Meridian meads...

Maybe Specs would order it for you?
 
hunter_la5 said:
Any stores around here sell it?

I've had a hell of a time finding good mead around here. The Spec's on the south side of town used to stock some Texas Mead Works stuff, but last few times I was in there they didn't even have that.
Click to expand...


Texas Mead works is ok. Redstone is much better. The Specs in Creekside carries Redstone. It's been a while since I've bought it there (like 9 months), but I'm sure they still carry. They had their traditional mead, and then a couple of their carbed/lighter meads (called "nectars"), which are very good. Plus, love reusing their swing-top bottles.
 
I've made Mead and cyser a few times. The Cyser was ok, maybe 6 out of 10, the straight Mead I didn't really like, but eventually I drank it.
That was my first attempt a few years ago, and I used wine yeast.
Since then, I read a mead making book and listened to a few podcasts
and tried again in Sept. 2014. I used WL sweet mead yeast, added nutrient in stages and de-gassed. After reading this post I got the bottles out and tried some samples. I made a straight mead with honey and water only and at this point its undrinkable, with heavy phenols and after taste. I also made a Pyment from the same honey and used Seyval Blanc grapes from a local vineyard. Its ok, needs some more time, I'd say. As an experiment I made 1 gallon using honey, water and grapefruit juice. Early tastes of this were really nasty, but today's sip shows that this actually has some promise and was better than the honey and water only mead.
The bottom line is that my mead ranges from mediocre to undrinkable.
Some commercial meads are selling pretty good, but the high price has kept me from trying them.
The next time I see some mead from Moonlight Meadery in the store, I'm going to shell out the $17-20 and find out what good mead is supposed to be like.
But as of right now I really don't like mead.
 
Meridian sells their growler (32 oz) for $10 and refills for $10. We get 2 when we go usually (once every other week). It's payment for having me go to Bountiful Baskets to volunteer as we go to the farmer's market afterwards (I'm not much of a morning person, especially on the weekend!).
 
There is a gentleman in my homebrew club that makes absolutely amazing meads; so much so that he consistently wins best of show in local competitions. I had never tasted mead before drinking his - wow was my first sip an eye opener! Sampling his meads convinced me to try to make my own!
 
I'm not a fan of plain mead. Maybe I haven't found a dry enough one yet, but they all come across as too sweet and syrupy. I've had some specialty meads (dry-hopped, oak-aged, etc.) that I liked quite a bit though. Never tried any HB mead to compare, although I plan in making a batch of JAOM one of these days to see what the fuss is about.
 
Meadmaking is an art and a craft. To make a few batches and expect stellar results is like expecting a Picasso in your first 5 paintings. Doesn't really work that way.

You have to explore honey varietals, then oak, then spices, then fruit, etc until you reach a product you and others enjoy. It takes knowing your ingredients, how they interact with each other, and your personal taste. And lots of experimentation. Some hit, some miss, and some knock it out of the park.

It took me about 3 years of brewing a lot of mead to really hit my stride on consistently good mead. I have several winning recipes and exact notes to reproduce them consistently (I'll gladly distribute; be warned some are easier than others). I still experiment and often fail, but I learn each time how to improve things. Now days I tend to get it right in the second or third try of a recipe or learn that it will never work and move on.

My suggestion is to start with fast meads for experiments (JOAM, BOMMs) to figure out honey varietals you prefer, oak, spices, etc. After you work that out, move on to long term wine yeast based meads.


Better brewing through science!

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html
 
Haven't made a plain mead yet that was really good, but did make a strawberry melomel that was quite popular.
 
Mead is not an acquired taste. The thing most people forget about making mead is they forget to age it. You age it at least 8 months. A year is best. Any younger and you are not getting the best taste. Mead can be dry, sweet, bitter, light, and anything the other descriptors of other beverages such as beer and wine. Patients is a key ingredient in making it.

I do not believe that BOM style is a good representation of what mead is or the JAOM style. To me that just isn't mead, it's a way to make mead, yes, but it is not the core of our craft. The Core is proper techniques, refined abilities, and time.

The person that posted that they had their last bottle after a year? That should have been the first bottle. Comparing Mead to Beer is a bit of a mistake due to the time involved and differing techniques. Comparing to wine is better but still not perfect. Many techniques are not valid for mead as they are wine.

Matrix
 
Matrix4b said:
Mead is not an acquired taste. The thing most people forget about making mead is they forget to age it. You age it at least 8 months. A year is best. Any younger and you are not getting the best taste. Mead can be dry, sweet, bitter, light, and anything the other descriptors of other beverages such as beer and wine. Patients is a key ingredient in making it.

I do not believe that BOM style is a good representation of what mead is or the JAOM style. To me that just isn't mead, it's a way to make mead, yes, but it is not the core of our craft. The Core is proper techniques, refined abilities, and time.

The person that posted that they had their last bottle after a year? That should have been the first bottle. Comparing Mead to Beer is a bit of a mistake due to the time involved and differing techniques. Comparing to wine is better but still not perfect. Many techniques are not valid for mead as they are wine.

Matrix
Click to expand...

That is one point of view, but after listening to Michael Fairbrother of Moonlight Meadery, many meads can be consumed with immense satisfaction after a much shorter time. Timing of the addition of nutrients, temperature control, degassing, and many other variables that I don't remember can produce excellent meads on much shorter time. But if those aren't controlled, more time MAY help.
 
Outside of lighter ABV meads (>10 ABV) I've not heard of them being ready prior to 9-12 months of aging with time being beneficial. But I'm no mead expert by any means. It's only what I've read, but many times.
 
I had a bottle of mead last night that I loved! It was a traditional made with orange blossom and Cote de Blanc. It was aged 14 months and was just delightful. My earlier batches of mead were not as enjoyable as the ones I make now. After learning from previous misttakes, trying more advanced tecniques,and experimenting , my results have gone from woe to WOW. If you haven't had a mead that you really liked yet, keep trying and refine your skills. Listen to people with more experience on these forums, there is soo much you can learn here. Remember, the most important ingredient in your mead is patience.
 
People tend to love some of my meads. I had a wine tasting last summer with ~50 bottles of the good stuff and my guests nearly drank all of it. My most popular ones are a Raspberry Vanilla melomel and a dry Tupelo mead aged in American Oak. Surprisingly, the least popular was the JAOM.

But, I'm sort of in the right place for meads to flourish. Redstone Meadery, mentioned above, is the most distributed Colorado winery... they ship to something like 20 states, I can't recall right now. There are also 40 craft breweries in my county alone, so the whole state is basically set up on trying new things and having delicious adventures. :D

Like Black Island Brewer mentioned, you have to put things in the proper frame of reference for folks. For many people, mead is a new and novel concept, as nearly everyone I know either had no clue what mead was or only had a passing familiarity with the name itself, having never actually tasted it. So from that point, it takes a lot of people by surprise since most are so in tune with the standard grape wine varieties and mead can be such a wide deviation from that. I've found that if I give a good description of the product before they taste it, it helps many new drinkers get into it. This is similar to going to a nice restaurant and asking the Sommelier for a recommendation. A good one will bring out the bottle and describe the whole experience for the customer, from the nose to taste to finish leaving the drinker excited for it. If you give someone a similar experience for the mead, it'll definitely increase your success. :mug:
 
A lot of great wisdom on this forum. Thank you all. I do let my meads go about a year, regardless of ABV, before I pop one open. I'm really looking forward to this next set that I made but I have a few months. I followed a lot of recipes that were said to be amazing. I'll try to remember to update everyone.
 
I like mead. I like lamb. Makes me feel like a Viking. I don't like beer and have given up on that. I've noticed lately I can't drink much mead before dozing on the couch. Oh well. It will last I guess!
 
I am just getting into making meads and how to properly add nutrients and such and really love it. Just another beverage to create! I have been influenced a lot lately by one of Cigar City Brewing's newest ventures, Cigar City Mead and Cider. It is in a great old building in the Ybor City section of Tampa. They usually have 8-9 ciders and 4-5 meads on tap as well as a couple of beers. It has been a really interesting way to see how they are creating different flavor profiles for straight mead, melomels or cysers. If you are in the area and actually do like mead (and ciders), this is a must visit.
 
TeufelHundenM198 said:
People tend to love some of my meads. I had a wine tasting last summer with ~50 bottles of the good stuff and my guests nearly drank all of it. My most popular ones are a Raspberry Vanilla melomel and a dry Tupelo mead aged in American Oak. Surprisingly, the least popular was the JAOM.

But, I'm sort of in the right place for meads to flourish. Redstone Meadery, mentioned above, is the most distributed Colorado winery... they ship to something like 20 states, I can't recall right now. There are also 40 craft breweries in my county alone, so the whole state is basically set up on trying new things and having delicious adventures. :D

Like Black Island Brewer mentioned, you have to put things in the proper frame of reference for folks. For many people, mead is a new and novel concept, as nearly everyone I know either had no clue what mead was or only had a passing familiarity with the name itself, having never actually tasted it. So from that point, it takes a lot of people by surprise since most are so in tune with the standard grape wine varieties and mead can be such a wide deviation from that. I've found that if I give a good description of the product before they taste it, it helps many new drinkers get into it. This is similar to going to a nice restaurant and asking the Sommelier for a recommendation. A good one will bring out the bottle and describe the whole experience for the customer, from the nose to taste to finish leaving the drinker excited for it. If you give someone a similar experience for the mead, it'll definitely increase your success. :mug:
Click to expand...

Any chance you have a recipe for the Raspberry vanilla? That sounds amazing.
 
ArrogantDusty said:
Any chance you have a recipe for the Raspberry vanilla? That sounds amazing.
Click to expand...

For 5 gallons:

12lbs Wildflower honey

7lbs Raspberries in the secondary
5 whole split vanilla beans in the secondary

Lalvin D47 yeast. I always follow the staggered nutrient addition schedule, and I like to rehydrate with Go-Ferm.

I like to wait until the mead is virtually clear before adding fruit and vanilla, then I let everything sit in there for at least a month before racking it again for further bulk aging. I generally bottle at 1 year. If you have the option of getting some quality raspberries from a local source, I'd highly recommend it. I grow all mine, so it varies a bit from year to year.

14693697163_95628d0527_z.jpg


It's the bottle on the left. That year's berries gave it such a brilliant ruby color, I almost hesitated drinking it. ...Almost. :D
 

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