Schramm's Mead

[Naegerbomb]

Things are coming together for an upcoming Schramm's tasting. Here's what we've got:

Raspberry b1
Raspberry b2
Blackheart b1
Statement b1
Statement b2
Statement Reserve b2
Heart of Darkness b3
Black Agnes b2Black Agnes b3
Apple b1
Nutmeg b1
Peach b1
Blackberry ?
Blackberry Sec ?
Ginger ?

we should also have Erik the Red and Madeline (but I'll believe it when the bottles are in hand) and we are working on small batch ginger. Anything else we are missing that you recommend we go for Naegerbomb ?

Also, curious on your thoughts of order of drinking these, if we should group some together for side-by-sides, and if we should do any specific finger food/cheese/dessert pairings? Really any advice you have on how we should enjoy these (ie. decant before drinking or recommended serving temps, etc) is more than appreciated?

Hey my dude - I would definitely start with Blackberry Sec (its the driest) and make your way towards Black Agnes, Madeline, and tHoD towards the end. I would pair them with any sort of fresh fruit, hard/salty cheese (I really like our fruit meads with a stilton blue cheese, or a tyrosine-laden white cheddar). Some plain table crackers are nice to nosh on, to cleanse the palate, and also to provide your stomach with something neutral of substance other than alcohol. I would recommend you serve the fruit meads at 55 degrees F - the spiced meads you can serve a bit colder than that if you wish, but certainly not "chilled" - we want you to taste the mead! I would never recommend you chill our mead past the point where your taste buds will be numbed - some people prefer their meads to be served chilled, but it is only because (like your macro breweries) they want you to just drink the damn thing and not fuss over it. Decanting our meads can certainly improve the overall experience, especially if you are planning ahead 25-30 minutes and you have several decanters for your tasting group - decanting is especially recommended if you've been sitting on a bottle of ours for a year or more and they've developed some sedimentation in the bottle (which is perfectly normal, natural, and even desirable!) - we don't filter our meads, because we want to give you the most high-quality, flavor-rich beverage that is technologically and biologically possible.

Also, please email me: [email protected]. I'll see if I can't arrange for some of the missing meads to arrive expeditiously on your doorstep. Cheers! - James

 

[Hubarooski]

Based on the replies on this page is clear the Schramms is an incredible business owner and value communication.Lots of other breweries are the exact opposite (For lulz see the jwb thread in south atlantic forum). I am happy to be a small part as a mazer club member.

 

[trickytunadicky]

Based on the replies on this page is clear the Schramms is an incredible business owner and value communication.Lots of other breweries are the exact opposite (For lulz see the jwb thread in south atlantic forum). I am happy to be a small part as a mazer club member.

James and sleepydave are the most responsive professionals on here from what I have seen (and folks I am happy to call friends). Honorable mention to middlebrow as well.

 

[Naegerbomb]

 

[cBing66]

So, fortunately, some folks have seen this carbonation and not had any issues with off-flavors. Personally, I use the Vacu-vins so I have seen this exact phenomenon (exacerbated by the vacuum stoppers). So far, I haven't had any bottles with off-flavors or accelerated carbonation, so my hunch is that the mead was bottled about a week early (and thus won't see significant additional carbonation as the months and years go on). We are continuing to improve our processes and controls, and independent laboratory testing is beginning to be a routine thing per batch as we expand our batch size.

The carbonation is not intentional and would certainly be characterized as a fault in much of the wine world - so, please feel free to email me and we'll get you sorted out. I want your Schramm's experience to only be of the highest quality. We are on the cusp of releasing an official quality statement and customer-side quality control process (I already got a new email!). The official line (co-opted from the wine world) is to return unconsumed product and we will replace the bottle with a bottle of our latest vintage or one of equal value. It can be a problem, because many folks coming to mead from the beer world are used to the drain-pour first, ask questions later thing. Winos have been returning corked wines and wines with other issues for many many years, and as a matter of course any wine shop worth its salt will have a similar replacement policy, no questions asked - because (like we do) they will stand by their products. Every one of our retailers will also replace a Schramm's Mead bottle for you if you return it with unconsumed product, which they will then pass along to me as a chain-of-custody thing - that way they can get a replacement from me.

Anyhoo, sorry for rambling - please email me: [email protected] (yay a new email! This will likely end up on every one of our labels in the near future) - and/or - [email protected] and I will get you sorted out, my friend.

Cheers! -James

I should have followed up on my post. I had about 3 samples out of the coravin and while they did have some carbonation, it went away quickly and did not have any off flavors. I really think the coravin added to the slight carbonation making it appear much worse. I finally opened the bottle and drank it over a week with no noticeable off-flavors. Not necessary to replace this bottle.

Look forward eventually making it to Schramms. Only been able to pick up bottles in Ann Arbor on my way up to Northern Mi.

 

[Jb123]

Anything cool happening up in the meadery ??

 

[Naegerbomb]

Anything cool happening up in the meadery ??

We're expanding into our new space at 914 Livernois, does that count? Epoxy went on the floor today, mixing station installed next week and floor drains finalized, new 3700 liter primary tank arriving on Monday. May be some cool "small batch" projects coming up - maybe some barrel aged stuff and some pilot batches making their way up to "small batch" status. We're bottling and kegging Nutmeg for the next four days at 327.

I'll be able to tell you more in the next few days - our Holiday gala event this year is one you will not want to miss.

 

[Jb123]

We're expanding into our new space at 914 Livernois, does that count? Epoxy went on the floor today, mixing station installed next week and floor drains finalized, new 3700 liter primary tank arriving on Monday. May be some cool "small batch" projects coming up - maybe some barrel aged stuff and some pilot batches making their way up to "small batch" status. We're bottling and kegging Nutmeg for the next four days at 327.

I'll be able to tell you more in the next few days - our Holiday gala event this year is one you will not want to miss.

When is said gala?

 

[thebandit1]

When is said gala?

People in the Tri-Cities aren't welcome.

It's science.

 

[Jb123]

People in the Tri-Cities aren't welcome.

It's science.

 

[Beerontwowheels]

People in the Tri-Cities aren't welcome.

It's science.

Justin is welcome everywhere.

 

[Jb123]

Justin is welcome everywhere.

Yeah!!!!

 

[trickytunadicky]

People in the Tri-Cities aren't welcome.

It's science.

Don't say that like you're going to show up.

 

[thebandit1]

Don't say that like you're going to show up.

Fair.

 

[trickytunadicky]

Fair.

I won't see you there, then. ;-)

 

[Naegerbomb]

When is said gala?

12/5

 

[Naegerbomb]

Made you guys something...

 

[trickytunadicky]

Made you guys something...

yassssss

 

[mjohnson171]

 

[mjohnson171]

 

[Jb123]

Made you guys something...

I'll be the guy, I cannot tell what exactly those are. I have a few ideas....

 

[buzzword]

I'll be the guy, I cannot tell what exactly those are. I have a few ideas....

blood orange, duh

 

[Jb123]

blood orange, duh

Hrm

 

[Jb123]

My guess was schrammbeek cherries...

 

[robert1]

Cranberries

 

[sacrelicio]

Cranberries

I tell ya, thaaaaat's cran, you bet

 

[Jb123]

Cranberries

That was guess #2

 

[trickytunadicky]

I hope that is going in the big fermenter. I am going to need a case of that.

 

[franch]

they are clearly weird red jalapenos

 

[Beer4B]

Made you guys something...

I love grape tomatoes!