We started brewing (Yep – another thing we can try to squeeze into our busy schedules). While we really enjoy the vast array of local wineries in the Willamette Valley, we both tend to prefer sweeter white wines and less hoppy beer/cider. I like Ales and don’t mind drier wines, but still, not the super dry or hoppy varieties that are getting prolific in the craft brew industry. It seems the challenge to make something even hoppier than the next is never-ending. I just don’t like that.
Given our interests in Celtic, Germanic, and Nordic cultures – we have always had a special place in our heart’s for mead. Add our interest in tending bees for our own honey and it seems like a no brainer to start with a simple traditional mead.
For those that don’t know, mead is a wine made from honey rather than sugar/fruit. You can add fruit or other flavorings, they all produce a different type of mead, but the basic honey wine of the Viking age is honey and water – that’s it.
There are a few really good meaderies in the United States, two of our favorites are Oran Mor – Roseburg Oregon and Superstition Meadery – Prescot Arizona. However, most Americans that have had mead are usually more familiar with cloyingly sweet meads from the grocery store. The real stuff – that is something special!
If you pick up a book on mead making, the author is hyping up his or her book will make it sound pretty complicated and they are the absolute expert.
Sometimes information can be overwhelming and make someone not want to start a project. This was the case for me and making mead. Like all things, read between the lines and do more research. Sometimes the experts aren’t as wise as they make themselves out to be and you will run across a simpler version.
I finally watched a couple of YouTube videos and the process was much less complicated. You do need a few specialty tools in order to really do it well – but those aren’t very expensive or hard to find with Amazon or local brew supply stores. The initial investment isn’t bad.
We picked up a supply kit at a brewing shop in Corvallis and not wanting to use our honey on an experiment, picked up 11 pounds of honey from Glory Bee in Eugene. Real honey, not the polished super clear and faintly honeyish crap you get in the grocery store is the best thing to use. Know your source!
Now it was time to wait. I don’t wait well and wanted to try something else. But what if the first batch turned out terrible?
After I watched even more YouTube videos, I got excited to try different types of mead and started working with one-gallon batches. If something goes wrong, it’s a lot less material to toss than $50 worth of honey in a five-gallon batch.
So what was next? Cyser!! This is an apple-mead. I used 2 pounds of our honey this time and some fresh-pressed cider from the farm stand down the road.
Then we got to thinking about the boring traditional four-gallon batch fermenting away in the closet and we decided to split it into four different batches and flavor it. We made:
- Traditional Sweet Mead – just added a bit more honey
- Hibiscus Mead – added a strong tea made from hibiscus flowers and a bit of Lactose to sweeten it (experiment!)
- Vanilla Mead – added some sugar and mashed/chopped vanilla beans
- Peach Rose Mead – added fresh peach juice and a tea made from rose petals.
I have to say – everything except one is turning out well. The Cyser and the vanilla, in particular, are phenomenal and I’m having a hard time waiting for the next month when I think we can really start to enjoy it.
The Peach Rose mead however…. Well, it’s ok – but not stellar. Very dry and came out a little bitter in my opinion. It might get better with age, but I’m not really sold on it.
What’s next? I have a regular hard cider and ginger beer fermenting right now and then I’m going to try tart cherry mead and a revised hibiscus mead to add a bit more sweetness. There are so many options!
If you have a desire – check out this YouTube channel City Steading Brews they really simplify the process although hey can be a bit chatty in their earlier videos – but they grow on you.