I have sang the praises of mead making and experimented with drinking new mead and frankly... enough is enough. Mead is great but you can only drink so much before putting the clear liquid back on the shelf to admire the label.
A lot of what is good about mead is making and talking about it. I read numerous blogs and web sites telling me to wait. Put your bottles away for six months to two years then drink it. I think this is probably good advice. It is setting the stage for another event, something to anticipate, something to talk about.
I can see how this mead tasting with time could become an in-house contest between batches, between years, source honeys used, mead makers... the possibilities could be endless. I think I'm getting into this wine making . Maybe it is like sports 'you have to talk the game and remember the stats'.
What about the new wine or mead taken in a stage of fermentation for a fruity zingy taste...old news from my last blog. I don't drink fast enough or hold enough parties to consume the stuff... and it is getting tart. It wasn't filtered to the same extent and it was put in a plastic bottle so explosion could be controlled Unlike its cousins who are clear and living in shiny bottles with eloquent labels the new mead is looking rather amaturish. The conversation has come to an end, but it will be tried again, and probably in sequence after great of batches of mead have been made.
I have had all the mead I need for a while......so next time new topic.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
new wine/ new mead
Some people talk to their hair dressers, friends, dealers, proveyors of porn, I talk to my bee equipment supplier. Not only is he knowledgeable about bees; he has a history of producing honey wines. This was my first year making mead.
My second batch was a little tart compared to the first. The add-on of more honey and yeast may have caused a champagne effect in the second batch. The wine guy at the wine store told me this.
The first batch had fermented for three to four weeks when it twigged my curiosity so an early sampling of the musk was made. It was delicious, unique and prompted more tasting and mead to be made. The first batch was racked and a week later filtered, then it was bottled.... and it disappeared. Early wine or musk is zingier and sweeter according to my friend the bee supplier.
He tells me that in Germany and France tourist resorts serve their guests what is termed "New Wine" or "neuer wein" (German). This wine is not quite wine yet, it is in a stage of fermentation. It is sweet, fruity and popular. It is served with traditional meals, like weiner schnitel and potato pancakes etc. This is grape wine he is talking about. The alcohol could vary; however, the majority of alcohol seems to be produced in the first few weeks. I don't really know
I'm a mead maker. My friend the bee supplier says when the mead mulch starts to clear you are making wine. This is when it gets tart and white foam may form on the top of the wine. In Germany this stage is called white feather.
It was that zingy, fruity taste, I wanted. So I headed to the make-shift wine cellar for a taste. After three weeks the fifth batch was still slowly bubbling. I siphoned off a glass. Wow...that zinging sweet fruity taste was there...what a buzz.
This is going to be bottled and served right away... It is young wine, still changing, I have no doubt. Maybe a bottle will get old... but I doubt it. I read blogs from Europe telling me of new wine in plastic bottles, soaking the groceries. Plastic bottles are used to avoid exploding glass bottles. I think this is a good idea. I suspect there is a safe stage for new wine consumption...I'll find out.
My supplier tells me of another aspect of new wine sampling at German resorts. The inhibriation lessens the inhibitions to enjoy naked co-ed saunas.
My second batch was a little tart compared to the first. The add-on of more honey and yeast may have caused a champagne effect in the second batch. The wine guy at the wine store told me this.
The first batch had fermented for three to four weeks when it twigged my curiosity so an early sampling of the musk was made. It was delicious, unique and prompted more tasting and mead to be made. The first batch was racked and a week later filtered, then it was bottled.... and it disappeared. Early wine or musk is zingier and sweeter according to my friend the bee supplier.
He tells me that in Germany and France tourist resorts serve their guests what is termed "New Wine" or "neuer wein" (German). This wine is not quite wine yet, it is in a stage of fermentation. It is sweet, fruity and popular. It is served with traditional meals, like weiner schnitel and potato pancakes etc. This is grape wine he is talking about. The alcohol could vary; however, the majority of alcohol seems to be produced in the first few weeks. I don't really know
I'm a mead maker. My friend the bee supplier says when the mead mulch starts to clear you are making wine. This is when it gets tart and white foam may form on the top of the wine. In Germany this stage is called white feather.
It was that zingy, fruity taste, I wanted. So I headed to the make-shift wine cellar for a taste. After three weeks the fifth batch was still slowly bubbling. I siphoned off a glass. Wow...that zinging sweet fruity taste was there...what a buzz.
This is going to be bottled and served right away... It is young wine, still changing, I have no doubt. Maybe a bottle will get old... but I doubt it. I read blogs from Europe telling me of new wine in plastic bottles, soaking the groceries. Plastic bottles are used to avoid exploding glass bottles. I think this is a good idea. I suspect there is a safe stage for new wine consumption...I'll find out.
My supplier tells me of another aspect of new wine sampling at German resorts. The inhibriation lessens the inhibitions to enjoy naked co-ed saunas.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
mead, like bees, is not for everyone
People either love them or hate them. Some people want to give them names...others ignore their sex and say "he did this" and "he did that." Love them or hate them they're only honey bees. To the ancients they were a source of alcohol and a relief from being ancient.
Today we have 40 proof Black Velvet, more beer than Fred and the boys could drink in several lifetimes and more vintages of grape wine of ethnic origins and type than even the wine store can keep up with. But it is hard to find a fine mead and maybe even harder to find a drinker who appreciates one. Friar Tuck in the latest rendition of Robin Hood questions the characters whether they have tried the honey wine called mead....but by the time Russel Crowe gets to drinking it is mixed with barley brew.
I have been keeping bees all my life....Maybe even before I was born...My father was a beekeeper... Last year was the first time I made mead. It was a success and the first batch had trouble hanging around long enough to get into bottles. It was potent and delicious. The second batch was potent to the point of ruining the taste (a Champagne, if you will).
People tried the mead and loved it and hated it. Doesn't matter....it takes all kinds to make the world go round....and round....and round......mmmmmmmmm....mead.
Are you starting to feel a buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... As Tuck says I look after the bees and the bees look after me.
Today we have 40 proof Black Velvet, more beer than Fred and the boys could drink in several lifetimes and more vintages of grape wine of ethnic origins and type than even the wine store can keep up with. But it is hard to find a fine mead and maybe even harder to find a drinker who appreciates one. Friar Tuck in the latest rendition of Robin Hood questions the characters whether they have tried the honey wine called mead....but by the time Russel Crowe gets to drinking it is mixed with barley brew.
I have been keeping bees all my life....Maybe even before I was born...My father was a beekeeper... Last year was the first time I made mead. It was a success and the first batch had trouble hanging around long enough to get into bottles. It was potent and delicious. The second batch was potent to the point of ruining the taste (a Champagne, if you will).
People tried the mead and loved it and hated it. Doesn't matter....it takes all kinds to make the world go round....and round....and round......mmmmmmmmm....mead.
Are you starting to feel a buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... As Tuck says I look after the bees and the bees look after me.
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