Dry Meadowfoam/Carrotblossom Traditional

[mmadmikes1]

How did I miss this thread. (O ya left until I got fast internet) Loved reading. God I love good info sharing

 

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I'd like to try one! I'll trade u for a bottle of my elderberry bochet if you want. PM me if you're interested..

 

[seth8530]

deal! PM inbound!

 

[seth8530]

Ok! So, yee old standard mead was starting to taste kind of oak a tad tid too oak forward so we decided to rack it off the oak and superklear today. I hope that when the oak dies down some, that the mead will end up having an extra layer of complexity.

 

[seth8530]

So, it turns out the cranberry mead was not qutie as clear as I suspected it was. It is more than clear enough for enjoyment and serving. However, it is certainly not competition clear.

I currently have three bottles in the deepfreezer at 28F trying to get all the sediment to drop out before I send this guy off the mazers cup.

 

[SouthernChemist]

So, it turns out the cranberry mead was not qutie as clear as I suspected it was. It is more than clear enough for enjoyment and serving. However, it is certainly not competition clear.

I currently have three bottles in the deepfreezer at 28F trying to get all the sediment to drop out before I send this guy off the mazers cup.

How would you describe the taste of this mead at this point? I recently tried a cranberry mead that also had chili peppers added to it. It was interesting...tangy, fruity, and a little honey note followed by a little heat from the pepper. Not something I would sit around and drink regularly, though.

 

[seth8530]

How would you describe the taste of this mead at this point? I recently tried a cranberry mead that also had chili peppers added to it. It was interesting...tangy, fruity, and a little honey note followed by a little heat from the pepper. Not something I would sit around and drink regularly, though.

The taste is kind of floral up front with a tartness followed by a slight smokey woodiness and finished up with a kind of honey taste. I left my mead on the dry side. I sent some of it out to the mazers cup today, so I will post the results when they come in that way we can all see an objective opinion of the mead.

All in all, I like it but my heart is really in it with the more potent non cranberry version I have going. I am considering adding some tannin to it.. Maybe.. Maybe not.

 

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Well, I promised seth i would give this a review since he was kind enough to send me a bottle. I want to start by saying that since I haven't ever tasted meads other than one commercial offering that was terrible- and my own two or three attempts, I don't really have much of a base to speak from, nor much language for it. But who cares, I can taste it right?
First thing on this mead is the fragrance. It really shocked me how floral (almost perfume like) it is. I guess that stands to reason. Flower juice sans the sugar leaves behind something more floral than honey like huh? The taste is the same, but with a hit of cranberry thats unmistakeable. The floral aroma is unlike anything I've smelled before. It makes me want to get out and smell some of the flowers this honey came from for a match. I'll bet it is there.
As much as I say it is almost perfume like, i really enjoyed the flavor.. That's only odd to me as I wouldn't think I would enjoy the taste of something described that way. Very delicate, with a spicy note as it washes over the tongue.
Only criticism i have (and I'm not really sure if it IS one) is that I wonder what it would be like without the cranberry tartness. I don't know if it is too tart for a mead so dry.. I like it so much (and have so little to compare it to) though that I cant really say for sure.

Which do you like better Seth?


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[seth8530]

Thanks for the review, I am glad to see that it was not my imagination when I said it smelt floral. I was up in arms when I was back sweetining it, in the past I had ruined a mead by adding back too much honey so I was very carefully this time around. The reason why I kept it so dry was because I felt it started to cover up some of the non honey flavours. However, I can certainly understand why you might like it a bit better if it was not quite as tart.

The other mead is around 3% abv higher ( around 13%) and is a little bit stronger on the oak and has no cranberry in it. Ie, it is the mead you had, but with more oak in it, and no cranberry to dilute the honey flavour. I think I am going to add some Uva Tan to it (grape tannins) and let it finish out its aging.

At this point, I am not sure which one I like better, but I am more apt to say with time I will prob enjoy the traditional a bit better. However, it is at this point only around 16 months old so it might be a bit hard to tell.

 

[seth8530]

So after leaving the un frutied mead in the deep freezer for a month at 29 F I noticed that I had dropped over an inch of leas.. Where in the world did all these guys come from! I would of figured these guys would of dropped out somewhere over the past 15 months! Does anyone here have any experience with issues like this? I am going to rack the mead off the leas tomorrow and add some Uva Tan to it to give it a little bit of structure in addition to the previous oak addition. After that, if I do not have a sufficiently large carboy to fit it in I will bottle after a few weeks.

 

[seth8530]

Racked from a 6 gallon to a 5 gallon carboy of the meadowfoam mead. Lost around 1.5 gallons. The amount of sediment that dropped in the freezer was insane, no idea where it came from. Decided to add .1g/L of Uva tan grape tannin to the mead since I figured it already had enough wood tannin from the oak addition. The French oak definitely plays a strong role in the flavour profile.

I have around a half gallon of head space and to be honest I really do not have anything to top it off with. The sulfites read 50+ PPM so I am hoping that the sulfites along with the natural properties of honey will help prevent oxidation for the next 3-6 weeks. ( amount of time the tannins need prior to being put into a bottle.)

 

[seth8530]

The cranberry mead won second place in the mazers cup international in the dry melomel category! Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I will post the scorecard when it gets here from the mail!

 

[SouthernChemist]

The cranberry mead won second place in the mazers cup international in the dry melomel category! Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I will post the scorecard when it gets here from the mail!

Very nice! Congratulations! I'm sure it feels great knowing you have that sort of feedback about a mead you've made. I'm sure it tastes great, too!

 

[seth8530]

Ha, well thanks. The feedback is definitely the best part about it. I cant wait to get the scorecard in.

BTW, I plan on consolidating this thread by putting all of the important notes into a PDF or new thread that way the actual process will be a bit easier to follow.

 

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Congrats Seth! I knew you would do very well!



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[seth8530]

Thanks! BTW, you still owe me some mead (;
BTW, compilation is now complete and uploaded as a PDF. I am posting the PDF here and in the recipe section.

View attachment A Touch Of Cranberry Melomel.pdf

 

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Coming soon i promise! After the last shipping fiasco, I'll be sending it back in your awesome packaging. Just need to find a little time to bottle again. That was the last bit of the earlier bottling. I will send you some blackberry jam wine with it.


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[seth8530]

Ha, cool. You know I think that piece of packaging originaly came from danger dave. I look forward to receiving it.

 

[vernsgal]

Congratulations Seth! and thanks for the great post. I enjoyed the read

 

[seth8530]

I am glad you enjoyed it. I like the feedback, It helps me to write these things if I know people read them.