Mead ideas

[badseed1980]

* Evergreen metheglin: Pine Barrens honey (if I can find it, maybe buckwheat if I can't), juniper berries, rosemary
* "East of the Wall" melomel: redcurrants, thyme, and mint (maybe with some lavender too?)
* Concord grape pyment (because I love those Concord grapes!)
* Samhain "Pumpkin Pie" mead: wildflower honey, pumpkin, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg
* Simple, straight-up mead made with the wildflower honey from near my parents' home
* "Flower Garden" metheglin: clover honey, rose, lavender, violets, maybe elderflowers

Comments

[tisana.livejournal.com]

I've been putting my mead flavor ideas in a notebook because I know I'll forget them by the time I'm ready, but I'm thinking I should try some single flavors first. Your combinations sound interesting, especially the flower and herbs. Mmm...rose mead.

The pumpkin pie...would you use just canned pumpkin? I don't know why that's any different than using fruit, but it just seems unusual. It sounds a bit like an idea I had for mead that tastes like an oatmeal cookie--pretty much the spices in Penzey's cake spice (http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeyscake.html). ...I hadn't worked out the details, yet. Still a newb. ;p

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Yup, canned pumpkin. :)

[tisana.livejournal.com]

If you hadn't seen it, there's Howling Jack (http://www.winepress.us/forums/index.php?s=6fbf493f8f18124bb31470e6244d6f2a&showtopic=7671) pumpkin mead, where you brew right in the pumpkin as secondary fermenter (the book version I have is a little different--1 gallon pumpkins may be easier to find) and seal it with wax. Frankly, I'm not that brave. I've seen how pumpkins rot. It's intriguing, though.
In a power-tools-and-mess,wheee! kinda way.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

I have that or something like it in a book. I wouldn't really try it myself.

*woot*

[bittercat.livejournal.com]

"East of the Wall" and "Flower Garden" FTW! Those both sound utterly YUUUUMMY! :)

[lindalee.livejournal.com]

I've made Evergreen metheglin. Pine Barrens honey, juniper berries, spruce essence (like the stuff you use in beer, get it at the brewing store). It's strongly-flavored stuff...more for the sipping than for the drinking-outright. But yum!

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

I've had yours, and that was what inspired me to want to make one! Spruce essence, eh? Eeeeeenteresting.

[lindalee.livejournal.com]

Whereas I find myself saying, "Rosemary, eh? Eeeeeenteresting!" :-)

well, they _look_ like pine needles... ; ^ D

[giftchild.livejournal.com]

...and for a reason at that, it is an evergreen.

when teaching friends about herbs, i tell them that rosemary and sage, and to an extent lavender as well though it's a little more 'flowery' in scent, are the pine-y/resinous denizens of the average western herb garden, giving us those wonderful scents we associate with sausage and stuffing.

far too few folk learned to cook growing up, it seems, though i admittedly have a leg up having worked in a house museum's medicinal herb garden. mmmmmm, the smells | ^ D

i should go back there and get some cuttings sometime...

Re: well, they _look_ like pine needles... ; ^ D

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Oh, believe me, lindalee knows how to cook and knows her herbs. :)

Re: well, they _look_ like pine needles... ; ^ D

[giftchild.livejournal.com]

seeing all of the thread i'm sure that's the case, my apologies for any condescension, but having worked for a few years in said herb garden and having taught several non-clueful, it just hit a geek-button. typing commenced before brain even fully engaged.

man, i'm a geek...


<: ^ \

[quepid.livejournal.com]

Some advice I may offer is that certain inclusions to mead can retard the fermentation or even prevent it in large enough amounts. So be aware of such. I know rosemary has always retarded fermentation for me, as have ginger and cinnamon but to a lesser amount than rosemary. Some flavors/essences/essential oils are often added at the very end of the fermentation because they interfere so much with fermentation.

Oh watch about anything proteinaceous too, I made a hazelnut mead once which was absolutely atrocious because the proteins were being broken down and yielding sulfur compounds *not good drink!*...the stuff ended up tasting like gym socks.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know mint, for example, can retard fermentation, and I'd probably add it at the end. I wasn't planning on adding anything with protein, either.

[fyrebloom.livejournal.com]

yum yum yum. We did a pumpkin pie cordial this year that was awesome, I bet it would taste delish in a mead. Have fun!

[elissa-carey.livejournal.com]

Ooooh. I love the sound of the "East of the Wall" melomel, the Samhain "Pumpkin Pie" mead, and the "Flower Garden" metheglin. Those would be absolutely lovely.

ooooooooooooooooooh

[wench33.livejournal.com]

Concord Grape pyment!

You need a taste tester you let me know ;)