What kind of honey for Meade?

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Schnitzengiggle

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Can raw honey be used, or is it best to use filtered honey?

Also is there a better type of honey to use, such as Buckwheat, Orange Blossom, Wildflower, Clover, or Goldenrod?

I will be attempting to make my first meade in the not too distant future, so I am doing a bit of research and asking Questions beforehand.

Any advice and input is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.
 
I personally have used raw honey for all the meads that I have made. I have tried using Orange Blossom, Wildflower and Clover in my meads, but you can use just about every kind of honey for a unique flavor.
 
I think you will find it comes to source and price with Honey.

We all have preferences but Honey is tricky, it can be expensive or it can be cheap. The price all depends on your source.....the source will determine honey type.

I prefer clover for melomel, and Orang blossom for regular mead or spiced meads.

I am fortunate to have a honey distribution warehouse down the street from me. Crockett's Honey.
 
Here in AZ I have access to Mesquite Honey, does anyone have any thoughts on this type of Honey?
 
I've used mesquite honey for a few meads, never straight meads, but my cranberry/hibiscus, and my cinnamon/tamarind/ancho ones use misquite honey, I'd probably use it again for any "woody" or "folksy" mead
 
Here in AZ I have access to Mesquite Honey, does anyone have any thoughts on this type of Honey?

Mesquite has a very rich, darker flavor. I don't prefer it, but some do.

If you ever come up to Tempe you can stop by crocketts honey and get a 60lb bucket for $105 of clover or orang blossom.

That is a very cheap price.
 
It varies on the mead being made. Most melomels exhibit so much fruit character that there's no reason to get too exotic on the honey.

many darker honey like buckwheat have so much flavor that many will use some buckwheat honey and then the rest will be a lighter, more neutral honey to balance the buckwheat flavor.

you can make perfectly good honey even with basic grocery store honey. i've made several using the honey from Sam's Club.
 
Can raw honey be used, or is it best to use filtered honey?

Also is there a better type of honey to use, such as Buckwheat, Orange Blossom, Wildflower, Clover, or Goldenrod?

I will be attempting to make my first meade in the not too distant future, so I am doing a bit of research and asking Questions beforehand.

Any advice and input is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

You might find this locator & flavour profile useful: Honey Locator - The National Honey Board
Regards, GF.
 
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