Mead for Dummies

( Drink more mead! )

Well not exactly. Mead for newbies maybe. A catchy title is worth a many more words so when you find one, use it!

Mead is a beverage made from fermented honey, and is also often referred to as honey-wine. Traditional mead is very straightforward in concept, it is made with honey, water and yeast. It can't be that simple, can it? Yes, but that is very much just the beginning. But let's start at the real beginning by jumping in the way back machine!

Mead is old beverage. Recent archaeometric evidence, check out the book Uncorking the Past, from the Jiahu region of China suggests that fermented beverages that included honey, rice and hawthorn fruit were produced there about 7000 years ago during the Neolithic era. The chemical analysis undertaken to provide this evidence is based on identifying chemical signatures of residues found in pottery. While not an exact science, ongoing analysis suggests that in addition to the ingredients listed above, other fruits like native grapes, Asiatic cherries or flowers from the geranium family may have also been included in these very old beverages. 

The best explanation of how early humans may have stumbled upon the knowledge that honey would ferment (a process they didn't understand early on, but had enough experience to harness) into a pleasurable beverages goes a little something like this:

A hunter gatherer type happens upon a beehive that had fallen from a tree. The top of the hive was open and there had been rain since it dropped. There was a pool of liquid filling the hive. The liquid smelled sweet so the curious human stuck his/her hand in it and tasted it. Bam, it was sweet and delicious so he drank all he/she could extract! A little while later the imbiber felt a bit funny and maybe a little light on their feet. This was a light bulb moment. Find beehives laden with honey, fill them with water and let them sit exposed to the air for some time and it was assumed that this tasty, and intoxicating beverage, would result. The rest is indeed history!

Speeding through history there is evidence from Greece, India, Scotland, England, the Baltic countries, Russia, Finland, Ehtiopia and many other locales that mead (or beverages fermented with honey) were part of the local foodstuffs and are still important local products. Mead is seeing renewed interest in America, something akin to how craft beer took beer-making back to its roots and has now achieved cult status for many.

So what else do you need to know about mead? Mead comes in a variety of styles. The most common (and popular) are listed below.

• Traditional – water, honey and yeast. That’s it. People interested in mead should try this style to get a baseline for what wine made from honey tastes like. All of the rest of the variations below are riffs on this, using the honey, water and yeast as the starting point.
• Metheglin – contains spices. I made an Orange/Vanilla mead this year that is technically a metheglin. The orange was low volume and the vanilla is a predominant flavor in the finished product. Other spices like cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, tea and ginger are all commonly used. My first mead was a Blackberry with nutmeg so either a metheglin or melomel (up next).
• Melomel – made with fruit. Next to traditional mead this is the second most popular type in my experience. Berries, cherries, currant, mango, etc. These can come dry or sweet depending on the maker’s preference. If made with apples and grapes, see below.
• Pyment – made with grapes or grape juice. I've only had a few of these, one just last night in fact that was rockstar, and this is an area I will experiment with in the coming years. If oak aged it can have a port-like character.
• Braggot – made with hops and/or malt. Another variation I've only had a couple of times, but has intense character. The best one I've had came from Michael at Moonlight Meadery (we’re getting to he and his meads!) and was in an Imperial Stout form. Another area for potential experimentation for me.
• Cyser – made with apples or cider. I am making one of these next weekend, with some cinnamon. Sort of baked apples perhaps.

Mead can be both dry and sweet and this choice is more of a stylistic one than anything inherent in the different styles. You will also find meads that are still, pettilant (very gently sparkling) and those that are full on carbonated. This is again a choice of style, and both choices coupled with the different styles really allow a meadmaker to create unique beverages for different tastes. Additional character can be added to mead through barrel aging, and the results can depend on both what the barrel had been used for previously and the composition of the mead being aged.

Drink more mead!

For me personally mead-making is of particular interest right now. I shared a bit my personal history with mead-making in a recent blog post entitled Sweet Dreams. In that same post I shared the story of making a commercial version of a recipe of my own with the folks at Moonlight Meadery in Londonderry, NH. That new product hasn't yet reached the bottle so I can't tell you anything more about it just yet.

I definitely can share (and have many times in my blog) more about Moonlight Meadery though, and in fact they will be tell all the #winechat participants about themselves and their products tonight (October 3rd) at 9PM EST.

Moonlight Meadery makes a dizzying array of meads covering all of the styles above, except braggot (which they can't make it legally, bah!) and pyment, something they have yet to make, but I have it on good authority that we should expect one in the coming months!

There is a Moonlight mead for everyone. Folks that want to go traditional will dig Sensual. Desire is flavored with a blend of blueberries, black cherries and blackcurrants and is the flagship product from Moonlight. If you are a bit more daring you might try Fury, flavored with a blend of chili peppers. If heat isn't your style then maybe Sumptuous, flavored with mango, might hit your sweet spot. Kurt's Apple Pie never fails to please and when Fall comes to New England then blend of apples, honey, vanilla and brown spices fit right in. Maybe Flirt (apricot), Tease (plum) or Fling (strawberry/rhubarb) would work best for you. All I know is that you WILL find something you like!

( Michael Fairbrother spends lots of time at the tasting bar educating guests about mead. )

The following comes directly from the Moonlight Meadery web site.

It all started back in 1995, when Michael tried a cyser (apple and honey mead) for the first time.  Since that first sip Michael has developed a passion, and a masterful skill at making international award winning meads. Michael Fairbrother has started Moonlight Meadery®, with a mission to bring ultra premium meads to the market place.  It is more than a product and it is more than a process, it's our obsession.

    "Mead to me is passion, it's about living and love, it's about enjoyment, family and friends, and sharing." says Michael Fairbrother, Founder and Mead Maker. 

Our meads will be unique, and unlike anything you have ever tried, you will find it incredible!   We are going to embrace the unique nature of natural honey as minimally processed as possible.

All of that is true, and I know this because I have heard it from the people involved directly. But those words don't really do the product justice, nor do they make the authenticity and sincerity of the Michael and his team at Moonlight real, something everyone visit to experience. When you meet people who are passionate and truly love the work they do you can't mistake it for anything else.

I've written about the meads from Moonlight on several occasions since walking through their door for the first time in 2010, hell I've been inspired by their range of products to make a few crazy meads of my own!

• Local Sips December 2010
• Local Mead Tasting
• Local Mead Cocktails
• Highlights from the Best of New Hampshire
• Second Annual Live Free & Wine Festival
• Moonlight Meadery - Liquid Gold From New Hampshire
• Motherhood and Kurt's Apple Pie
• Mead Free or Die, The Path to Here

My meadmaking bender started in 2011 with my Orange/Vanilla mead. When that little dandy took medals twice in competition I realized I might be on to something. The follow-on projects were a bit less successful, Cherry/Black Currant, Blueberry and Pecan Pie (yes, it tastes weird) and only because I was still learning how much additional flavor I really needed to add to the honey to get a balanced, yet forward result. None of those meads are bad, they are just really light in flavor and didn't meet my expectations.

My cyser using local apple cider, Vermont honey and cinnamon moved me in the direction I was looking for, but still left plenty of room for improvement. I then made a hoppy braggot (riffing on the recipe for a West Coast IPA named Pliny the Elder) that drinks like a dream and needs it own security, finally stepping back to review what I learned and collect my thoughts on where to go next. I consulted the mead-making bible, the Compleat Meadermaker by Ken Schramm, quite a bit during my reflection and just let the ideas flow.

In June my wife and I attended the fifth annual WineMaker Magazine Conference where the yearly competition awards are announced. We also took some Moonlight mead with us to share, something I have been doing for conference trips, including the 2011 Foodbuzz Festival shown on the left. We took home several medals for our meads & wines which of course made us happy. Much to our delight the winner of Wine Maker of the Year was a meadmaker, Godwin Meniru who has his own meadery opening soon, http://www.menirumeadery.com/, from Ohio who makes some pretty mean stuff! We were lucky enough to taste his meads during the trip and I can't wait to see where his exploits take him.

I really cranked up the creative energy since coming home from the conference. To start I made a traditional sweet mead from Vermont honey that is sure to please anyone who gets a taste. The second batch of Orange/Vanilla mead is waiting to be bottled and meads flavored with cinnamon, hot peppers, dandelion & tea, strawberry, hops, sage & lemon and ginger are at various points in the process. I have some unflavored mead that is finished and waiting for infusions of flavor, and boy do I have plans. Tea, other fruits, spices and herbs are all in the line of fire. Like I said, I'm a really amped up to create new and interesting beverages, all in a quest to see what is possible.

Wow, that's a lot of information! I hope you caught all of that and will come back to follow the links to learn more about mead and people who enjoy making it. Tune into for #winechat on Twitter tonight (10/3/2012) to learn more about mead and Moonlight Meadery.

Cheers!

Jason

Sweet Dreams

I don’t know how many times since I started making my own fermented beverages (2003) people have asked me if I was going to go commercial. I’ve toyed with the idea, I still often daydream about it, but I’ve never convinced myself that I am really that serious about it that I would make the jump to being a commercial producer. Despite being a driven individual I do have a sense that some things in this universe reveal and work themselves out in their own time, and I firmly believe this is one of those things.

Short of commercial aspirations, my motivations continue to be to learn about the art of fermentation, make tasty “house” beverages, and pay homage to my New England roots by applying fermentation to preserve the bounty of the harvest. Each year since I began I’ve experimented with different mediums, flavors and techniques to keep things exciting and to keep the learning rolling. Six years back I made my first mead, honey fermented into a wine like beverage, and while it came out good and went on to win a medal, nothing about mead really grabbed me then so I didn’t make another one until 2011.

In December of 2010 I walked through the front door of Moonlight Meadery for the very first time. I immediately met Michael Fairbother the owner and meadmaker. Michael was busy at the tasting bar for the grand opening in their new commercial space. Michael carefully explained what mead is, the different styles and his personal history with mead-making to the assembled. On the back of the tasting bar was an impressive lineup of different meads, their product line has grown quite a bit since, ranging from dry to sweet, and unflavored to those infused with fruits and spices. As I tasted each new flavor my mind was racing. How are these different styles made? Is honey a canvas waiting for an artist to release its secrets? Could I successfully make more mead?

( Vanilla beans ready for my mead. )

Madagascar, a mead flavored with vanilla, really caught my attention. Real vanilla flavor can be an intoxicating experience. It is decidedly savory and earthy, and when blended with the slight sweetness of the mead it is allowed to express an inherent warmth and a gentle bitterness.

I left Moonlight Meadery that day with neurons firing all over the place. I wasn’t immediately sure of what to make of the experience, but I did know that I needed to educate myself a little bit more on mead. Tune in next week for post with an overview of mead leading up to mead being the topic for #winechat on October 3^rd.

A few months later inspiration hit. Having recently returned from a West Coast trip that involved several beer tastings I had orange flavor on my mind. I enjoyed several Wit beers with varying degrees of orange flavor, including a sublime offering from Santa Barbara Brewing. Orange and vanilla, what a killer combination! When I was a kid I was allergic to chocolate so in the hot weather a creamsicle was, and still often is, more my style. I figured if I used orange and vanilla in a fermented beverage it would be a like an adult creamsicle, oh how delightful!

The recipe for my first mead in five years was decided (and the final product can be in the top photo). The process went smoothly, you can find the original recipe and some of the details at the WineMaker Magazine blog, and the result was beyond my personal expectations. A little orange, a little vanilla and whiffs of wildflower honey. Only slightly sweet, my new mead came off as complex and was immensely drinkable. As competition time rolled around I happily entered my creation hoping to get some useful feedback on where I could go with it. Boy was a surprised went it took first place in its category! The feedback was overwhelmingly positive from friends, both those who are knowledgeable about mead AND those who just love my fermented creations. This mead has gone on to take additional competition accolades, a very humbling result indeed.

I knew I could make it better though. And I planned to do just that in 2012. Before I set about planning my attack on the second batch I got an email that would serve to take this whole experience higher. Michael Fairborther, whom I have gotten to know both through the Brew Free or Die home-brewing club and my love of the products he creates, was interested in the recipe. But it gets better. He wanted to make a commercial version of my recipe in collaboration with me! And, wait for it, I would get to write a short paragraph to go on the side of the bottle as well as give the product a name! I was in shock.

Everyone who knows me knows that I make the beverages I do first and foremost because I want to drink them. I’m pragmatic about my craft though. I’m not the best brewer or winemaker out there, and I’ve purposely kept my process low-tech and simple which hasn’t always been the best decision. I’ve made my share of crappy products and I try my darnedest to keep on top of the various batches of stuff I have going on so nothing goes wrong, or at least terribly wrong.

So it took me a bit to wrap my head around the fact that a successful commercial producer wanted to collaborate with me. If this person thought my recipe was likely to make a commercially viable product I had to think beyond my own personal goals and see this as a vote of confidence that my inspirations and efforts were bearing grander results.

I decided to name the mead Summer Love. I choose the summer theme primarily because of my initial inspirations (creamsicles) and added love to marry with Moonlight’s own theme of Romance By The Glass. The idea that a product born from a recipe of my own would soon be available commercially was exciting to say the least.

( The mixer was a bit under-utilized for such a small batch, but it sure beats hand mixing! )

Time went by and I set about making my second batch, which is going to be better based on my pre-bottling tastings, and then the call came in. Honey was available and the desire to make a pilot batch was at hand. We finalized the details of the recipe based on the batch size, 40 gallons, and picked a date to make the new mead. As an aside, the name “Summer Love” has had unintended humorous consequences in Tweets and Facebook messages. Saying you are making summer love with somebody is a door wide open for jokes. Laugh freely, we do, it only adds to the story that this new beverage has around it!

( Chopping oranges for our creation. I didn't get a pic of me mopping the floor. I should have! )

I can’t really romanticize the process of making the mead, because I already knew how to make mead and a 40 gallon batch isn’t really a stretch in terms of equipment and process from my own enterprise. But, I had a blast doing something I love in a different way with people who are even more passionate about it than I. That's that's real life and a story worth telling!

( Me, Michael and Rick. Thanks for the fun day guys! )

I've spiced the pictures from the day throughout this post and they tell the story better than words. I very much enjoyed being able to spend the time with Michael and Rick bringing this new beverage to life. I was on site to work and I did anything and everything I could to help, including mopping the floor.

( Oranges through the port hole of the fermentation vessel. A rare artsy shot from me! )

Hopefully Summer Love will be finished and in the bottle for the holidays. The last report was that the fermentation was complete and it would soon get dosed with vanilla and be allowed to settle and age. I will definitely be letting everyone know when Summer Love is available so we can buy it all up and enjoy something new and different from Moonlight Meadery and Ancient Fire Wines!

Next Monday I will be posting an overview of mead, including a little history, notes on different styles and additional details of my mead-making projects from 2011 and 2012. If you would like to learn more about mead, and from Michael Fairbrother directly, join Moonlight Meadery, Marie Payton and the crew from #winechat on October 3^rd at 9PM on Twitter.

Cheers!

Jason

Mead Free or Die – The Path to Here

( The precursor to Cherry/Currant mead. You'll get it farther down. )

In late 2010 I went to the Moonlight Meadery Open House at their current (new then, thus the OH) location and tasted an impressive lineup of meads. I posted the visit in a Local Sips column, and based on the positive experience and plans for new connections I described in the post (BFD, brewing, mead-making and getting to know Michael Fairbrother are my fun times!) it was clear then that my visit left an impression.

In the year and a half since that posting Moonlight Meadery has seen an explosion of growth and fans, a Moonlight Nation if you will. The Nation is really a nation too. The Moonlight team have been on the road to conferences, publicity stops and breweries/meaderies all over this country. I’ve also written about them a few times, a festival tasting, a visit and a tribute toKurt’s Apple Pie. The great lineup of quality products coupled with active participation in clubs and events at both the regional and national level has garnered Michael, Bernice and the whole crew at Moonlight very lots of well-deserved attention.

I was also inspired to make mead again from that visit. I made a blackberry spiced one in 2006 or 2007 which I vaguely recall; but nothing really stuck from the experience. I have since made eight different styles to gain more experience, including the very popular Orange/Vanilla, Cherry/Currant, Cinnamon Cyser, Blueberry Hydromel, Pecan Pie and Hopped Braggot; all of which have gone to the bottle and taste like decent first attempts. I’ve also got batches of Dandelion/Oolong/Meyer Lemon and a plain sack-strength (high ABV) mead that are still in the carboy. The experiences have been rewarding, educational  and not without aspects which make for great growth opportunities!

The Cherry/Currant mead is in the spotlight for the rest of this post. During my first visit I tasted the Moonlight Meadery Desire which is made with cherry and black currant. Just in case you missed the above paragraph, this would be where the inspiration for my own came from and if you are thinking ahead you might be wondering what is going to happen next? How about I taste them side by side? Sidenote: I do not have a preference for my own and for those who know me, you know I can be very pragmatic about my own creations so this is a fair comparison and the drink that tastes the best is going to get the nod.

Moonlight Meadery Desire

Pours reddish brown with plenty of black currant influence. The black current funkiness leads the way in the nose, but having made a blockbuster all black currant dessert wine a few years back, this is a good thing by me. Slightly viscous with intense fruit flavors, a racing stripe of acidity and a long hard-candy finish, this mead really is spectacular.

Ancient Fire Cherry/Currant

Pours cherry red. Mild nose with mostly wildflower honey notes. Light flavors with a slight hint of cherry soda before it fades. Plenty of acidity to balance the minimal residual sugar. Drinks cleanly if not at all inspired.

Moonlight wins hands down. If I were going to do a cherry/currant mead again, and I will, I would most certainly double up on the fruit and amp up the honey as well. More of everything and leave a little of the sugar to balance out the fruit. Back to the cherry soda aspect, I could use this mead in a cocktail, maybe with some Cheerwine and homemade cherry-infused vodka, which will really pump up the cherry flavor present in the mead!

This is the first part in a series on my 2012 mead-making projects and the quest to develop recipes for delicious flavored-infused fermented honey beverages. In the next part I will review how I am making a large batch of straight mead that will have a number of different herbs or spices steeped in it. I will also share the return to my Orange/Vanilla mead (the picture above) and the plan to take it up to 11.

Cheers!

Jason