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Show Mead

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jab

NewBee
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Mar 15, 2004
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It is mead in it's purest form. Honey, yeast, and water. That's it, nothing less and nothing more.

"Isn't that a traditional mead?", you ask?

I agree, but according to Ken Schramm, "Traditional mead generally describes mead made only with honey as it's fermentable sugar and flavor source. Some meadmakers hold that traditional mead can contain only honey, yeast, and water. Others contend that traditional meads were made with any number of adjunct flavorings in small amounts."

So, for the Mazer Cup they went with a distinction used in competitions in Europe called "show" which essentially means nothing but honey, yeast, and water.
 

scottlind

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Nov 14, 2004
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jab, thank you very much!

the term is used a lot but i couldn't find a definition for it.

thanks again,
scott
 

jab

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No problem. I was confused by that as well for a while.

If you can spare the bullion I would get a copy of Ken's book. Worth every penny!
 

Norskersword

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May 19, 2004
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Yet another name that refers to traditional mead is "Sack" Mead. You may have seen this before too.
 

jab

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Correct me if I am wrong. I think a "sack" mead is a traditional mead but what makes it a sack mead is it's uncommonly high amount of honey so it is very sweet.

From dictionary.com:

sack
n.
Any of various light, dry, strong wines from Spain and the Canary Islands, imported to England in the 16th and 17th centuries.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[From French (vin) sec, dry (wine), from Old French, from Latin siccus, dry.]

From http://www.honeyshop.co.uk/mead1.html:

Mead can be dry, medium or sweet (Sack) and all stages in between...a sack mead [contains] about 5lbs of honey per gallon...a Sack mead should ideally have at least four years to develop properly. The alcohol level will [be] about 15% for a good Sack (lots of honey) mead.

From http://www2.eos.net/beerwine/mead styles.html:

Sack Mead: Sweet honey wine (made with additional honey only, no sugar)

http://www.homemadewine.net/glossary/glossaryM.htm has a nice listing of types of mead including:

Sack Mead, a mead containing no flavoring other than honey but is sweeter than most other meads and is made using about 4 pounds of honey per U.S. gallon of mead.

As a side note the the above link to www.homemadewine.net they give a definition for:

Bochet, sack mead that has been burned or charred

and

Oxymel, a mead mixed or blended with vinegar

Does anyone have any experience with either of those? How is a mead 'burned or charred'? I assume it has to do with heating the honey until the sugars start to burn?

See http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=sack+mead for many more links to info and recipes for sack mead.
 

Norskersword

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jab said:
Correct me if I am wrong. I think a "sack" mead is a traditional mead but what makes it a sack mead is it's uncommonly high amount of honey so it is very sweet.

Oh yeah, I had forgotten. Sheesh, you think you provided enough proof? ;D

I guess Chaucers would be a Sack Mead then...
 

jab

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Sorry if I went overboard. Wasn't necessarily trying to prove either you or me right or wrong. I just wanted to get some info out there for anyone else who might be curious about sack.

Though I must admit, re-reading my post now, it does sound a bit daft to say 'correct me if I am wrong' and then bury readers in enough evidence to drown a (wo)man. Sorry.
 

JamesP

Senior Member
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Dec 3, 2003
654
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Brisbane Australia
jab said:
How is a mead 'burned or charred'? I assume it has to do with heating the honey until the sugars start to burn?

A red-hot poker plunged into the mazer - always sounds impressive, but you probably lose a lot of volume as steam :-\ (not to mention the taste of soot)
 

Norskersword

NewBee
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May 19, 2004
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jab said:
Sorry if I went overboard. Wasn't necessarily trying to prove either you or me right or wrong. I just wanted to get some info out there for anyone else who might be curious about sack.

Though I must admit, re-reading my post now, it does sound a bit daft to say 'correct me if I am wrong' and then bury readers in enough evidence to drown a (wo)man. Sorry.

No harm done. No offense taken. ;)
 
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