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How did you get interested in drinking / making mead?
- Thread starter keepitlow
- Start date
Back in 1977 a college buddy of mine let me taste some "mead" that he and some other SCA'ers had made a couple of months before. Sweet spiced swill, but enough different from what everyone else was drinking at the time that it piqued my curiosity. There was absolutely nothing like it available commercially in the US at that time (with the exception of some "ethnic" meads that were not widely distributed), and I figured here is something that I could do, and probably do better than my half-crocked colleague! 
So about a year and a half later I started my own first batch - and started at that time working on the recipe which eventually evolved into my Christmas Spice. Many years (and many meads) have been made (and drunk) by me since.
One thing led to another, and after all these years, now I find myself here! ;D
So about a year and a half later I started my own first batch - and started at that time working on the recipe which eventually evolved into my Christmas Spice. Many years (and many meads) have been made (and drunk) by me since.One thing led to another, and after all these years, now I find myself here! ;D
I've long been interested in both the scientific and artistic aspects of brewing, but I don't like wine and don't like beer, so...
I could never have afforded it until recent years, anyway.
I could never have afforded it until recent years, anyway.
My dad used to keep bee's and kept on about having a go.
One day I happened to find that there is a local home brew shop so I went and got a "starter kit" for home wine making and a book. Read up the recipe, bought some cheapo supermarket honey and bingo........
I've managed to make a few good meads, but also a lot of drain cleaner.....
regards
fatbloke
p.s. and yes, I'm constantly frustrated by the lack of reasonably priced, decent quality honey here in the UK, as well as the relative paucity of appropriate yeasts and adjuncts.......
One day I happened to find that there is a local home brew shop so I went and got a "starter kit" for home wine making and a book. Read up the recipe, bought some cheapo supermarket honey and bingo........
I've managed to make a few good meads, but also a lot of drain cleaner.....
regards
fatbloke
p.s. and yes, I'm constantly frustrated by the lack of reasonably priced, decent quality honey here in the UK, as well as the relative paucity of appropriate yeasts and adjuncts.......
Why is that? Members have replied it is just a few $$ per bottle to make?
OK, the good mead is high priced, if your talking buying it.
Yes, but making batches of 5-6 gallons (the normal batch size) require a large investment, especially if you're experimenting. Even doing mainlly 1 gallon batches, I've easily sunk somewhere between 4-6 hundred dollars in just my first 6 months of mead making.
I read about it in a book. Then I looked for it around me but I couldn't find any in stores, so I decided to make my own. Now I've mostly moved onto cider and melomels though.
Read about it in a lot of books, and had talked about it for years before one of my friends sat me down and forced me to watch him make it. Only then did I realize how "easy" it was and started filling my basement with carboys... ;-)
Not just the ingredients, but the equipment. I've spent more so far on toys than I have on the ingredients, although that is changing.
Well, maybe not. There are still a lot of things that I want to buy for myself.
I first had some at an outdoor wine festival on Vancouver Island, it was a light coloured spiced mead, and it was pretty terrible - way too much ginger. But, I'd heard of mead (vikings), and was able to taste something interesting behind the spices. I then had a glass of black mead (black currant melomel), and while it was too sweet for me, again I could taste that same something interesting behind the berries.
After searching endlessly to find some mead at liqour stores (and not finding any) I decided to make some, and did some research.
I originally had planned to make only 1 or 2 gallons, but once I stumbled upon this website and saw the possibilities...
Now I'm definitely hooked, and will probably never stop fermenting things.
After searching endlessly to find some mead at liqour stores (and not finding any) I decided to make some, and did some research.
I originally had planned to make only 1 or 2 gallons, but once I stumbled upon this website and saw the possibilities...
Now I'm definitely hooked, and will probably never stop fermenting things.
which, to me, would be a little confusing........
because I've tried to make this a couple of times and it's always turned out "thin" or lacking in body, and not tasting very good at all, even after 12 to 18 months ageing.....
I've yet to work out what it is that he does, that I'm missing.......
Hey ho!
A friend made mead and was generous about sharing it. He kept telling me how easy it was to get started and I finally caved in and tried it. Now I'm obsessed....
I was working my way through college as a campus security guard, doing rounds in an abandoned building and came across a copy of an 1880's book, The Whitehouse Cookbook, a collection of recipes used in the Whitehouse at that time. Included were recipes for alcoholic beverages, including mead. I tried it, was intriqued, researched the 'net and came across the Mead Lovers Digest, have been involved ever since.
Twas the story Beowolf (sp?) and a copy of Mother Earth News back in the late 70's that sparked my interest. That with my family logging in the midwest and cutting down a few bee trees every year which gave me plenty of raw material, it was only natural to make it.
Mine was from trying some of DaleP's more recent (read that the past two years) batches. Once he told me how easy it was and what his process was, I too, was hooked!
My brother had been homebrewing for a few years and his son, who was 19 at the time, was reading Beowulf and wondered what mead was, since it was mentioned quite a bit. He read up on it and most of the stuff he read said that you had to age mead for 2 years. Doing the math rather easily, he figured he'd make a batch and it would be ready for when he turned 21.
We all tried it and liked it.
We all tried it and liked it.
One of the very first things that happened when I moved to Berkeley was being invited to the quasi-annual "Materials Science Homebrew Party". At the time, a large chunk of the grad students in the department brewed. Many still do now, though I'm not sure if the ratio has changed (I did my part by indoctrinating the class below me). At the time I wasn't all that keen on beer, but one person had made some mead which was quite good. Oddly enough, I started brewing beer a few months later and didn't get around to mead for another 18 months.
After trying my first batch (which barely got to the 6 month mark), I recalled trying some mead in NY, I think it might have been from this place, at the awesome local wine shop's Friday tasting (along with cider which was pretty good). Their fruit meads struck us as sweetened fruit wine more than anything else, so I hadn't thought of it again until after making some of my own. Unfortunately (sort of) I've been slowing down lately in anticipation of being out of the country for several months starting next fall and moving to another state when we get back. Big plans for then though!
After trying my first batch (which barely got to the 6 month mark), I recalled trying some mead in NY, I think it might have been from this place, at the awesome local wine shop's Friday tasting (along with cider which was pretty good). Their fruit meads struck us as sweetened fruit wine more than anything else, so I hadn't thought of it again until after making some of my own. Unfortunately (sort of) I've been slowing down lately in anticipation of being out of the country for several months starting next fall and moving to another state when we get back. Big plans for then though!
