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Onion article on enthusiast communities strikes close to home

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edblanford

Premium Patron
Premium Patron
Dec 19, 2010
232
0
0
Salt Lake City, Utah
Seems there are many pits to fall in, and I thought there were only a few! I live in Salt Lake City, but eat bacon from Corralitos, CA, mustard from a winery in Half Moon Bay, CA, garlic hot sauce from Gilroy, CA, cured meats from an Austrian immigrant (who is local, thankfully), specialty salts from all over the world (primarily France and Real Salt from Utah), ham from Kentucky, and wines from small wineries in California and Colorado (that cannot be bought except at the wineries). I don't see his mustard fling as unusual at all!
 

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
Moderator
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Apr 27, 2010
8,443
53
48
Ottawa, ON
Has anyone tried a mustard metheglyn?

...it actually IS on my to-brew list and has been for some years... mustard and marshmallow weirdomel, complete with Chevette part. I will use mustard seed for this silliness, and not a lot of it (I can't stand yellow mustard, a little dijon here and there is OK though).

I think wine and meadmaking has consumed a big chunk of my life, but honestly my palate isn't discerning enough for me to go all crazy on someone for putting their reds in the fridge or not chilling their whites. I don't like a lot of wines enough to buy a bottle. I make the wines I make because I can't get them at the wine store. I make the beers I make because the fancy frou-frou fruity beers I like are hard to find and expensive. I drink everything alcoholic except beer at room temperature. I have processed cheese slices in my fridge. I buy whatever lunch meat is the cheapest that week. I do bake a lot from scratch but there are still a few boxes of cake mix in the cupboard and a couple containers of Betty Crocker icing. My meat does grow on styrofoam and not in butcher's paper, and my carrots come topless in a plastic bag, not in a bunch with an elastic around the tops. I have a bag of inexpensive frozen pre-cooked hamburgers in my freezer right beside the bag of frozen precooked Italian meatballs. I use more instant mashed potato flakes than I like to admit. Hell, I _prefer_ instant coffee to brewed most of the time (shut up JD!). I know my tastes aren't the same as everyone else's. This is convenient when I make wine or mead that's way too dry for my own tastes, if I can't drink more than a sip, my mother thinks it's great.

There are a few things where I have specific preferences (give me real, full-fat whipped cream, death before Dream Whip) but I'd never project them onto anyone else, because I know that (as my mother says) "my taste is in my toes". So at least I won't be frothing at the mouth when someone violates "the way things should be done".

Because I believe wholeheartedly that there is no one way. You'll notice even when I post answers to specific questions, I start with "this is how I'd do it", not "this is the right way to do it". There is no one way that is correct for everyone, you have to find out what works for you. Applies to a lot of life, actually.
 

mannye

Administrator
Administrator
Moderator
Oct 10, 2012
4,167
25
38
57
Miami Beach, FL
You can't compare the insanity in that article to what we do. I mean, sure, I sold my classic muscle car so I could take over the garage with a meadery but that's because I ran out of room for carboys in the house. Sure, I MAY have traveled to Atlanta just to try some mead and MAYBE I spend a lot of time in the TARD.I......Oh no.


Sent from my TARDIS at the restaurant at the end of the universe while eating Phil.
 

MrRogers

Got Mead? Patron
GotMead Patron
I don't think this hobby is taking over my life at all.

I only have one shelf in the cupboard full of honey, another one full of glassware for measurements, yeast starters and other things.
Two shelves in the fridge contain bottles of random meads and beers, as well as liquid and dry yeast. My freezer has almost half of a shelf (in 3) which doesn't have anything to do with brewing ingredients (in the others there are cherries, chestnuts, hops and whatever more I can fit in there).

Besides this I only have the cellar with a few hundred full bottles and a few vessels with fermentations going on and a few buckets of honey. And a garage which was taken over by equipment and empty bottles.

I'm pretty sure there's nothing to worry about.
 

curgoth

Why do something when you can overdo it?
GotMead Patron
Jun 10, 2014
721
4
18
Toronto, ON
www.memento-mori.ca
There is a constant struggle in my apartment between Team Yarn and Team Mead for storage space. Yarn is currently ahead, but soon I'll be getting my 5 gallon gear...
 

bathtub brewer

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 19, 2014
59
0
0
Palmer, Alaska
My brew stuff is confined to a bathroom (note it's not really a bath room any more it is my brew room) and one drawer in the refrigerator. For better or worse my wife and I have too many hobbies all competing for limited space.
 
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