March 2017 Wine of the Month Club

Bodenski · May 25, 2017

Well I bottled mine two days ago. What I tasted included the small amount of lees at the bottom (probably along with some of the spices that made it though the first rack) and I was not at all impressed. I can't really tell what it tastes like. I can taste the orange, but the vanilla doesn't really come through much. I think the yeast is overpowering!

It's still pretty fizzy, so it's all bottled in beer bottles/flip tops. I'll pop one open in another week to see if it's OK at that point (especially since it won't have the lees in it at all.) I'm calling it 9.5%. The plan is wait until this fall to do most of the drinking. But if it doesn't improve considerably with time, I don't think I'd try this recipe again. I am thinking still of making a straight Vanilla Metheglin, but that's going to be after I try a fire mead

Bodenski · May 29, 2017

I tasted one of the clear bottles today. It's very bitter, and not at all enjoyable. I won't taste this again for a least 6 months. So far it seems to be my biggest disappointment compared to everything else I've made. So I wouldn't recommend this recipe at all yet. (It's the "Falls Spice Metheglin". Maybe the fall it will be better.)

Arne · May 31, 2017

Bodenski said:
I tasted one of the clear bottles today. It's very bitter, and not at all enjoyable. I won't taste this again for a least 6 months. So far it seems to be my biggest disappointment compared to everything else I've made. So I wouldn't recommend this recipe at all yet. (It's the "Falls Spice Metheglin". Maybe the fall it will be better.)

Next time you taste it if it is still bitter, try adding a bit of honey to it. Don't add to all of it for now, just a little to the glass you are tasting from. Might make all the difference in the world. Maybe this one might be a wine that takes a long time to come around.
Arne.

Bodenski · Oct 16, 2017

I just recently tried another small bottle. It’s gone from “undrinkable” to just “unpleasant.” Not exactly what I was going for! I didn’t try and add any honey to it. NOt sure it would have helped. I won’t open another bottle until I get to a year out. So far this is the only batch I’ve made I’d consider a “failure.” Maybe it will really come around with aging. Luckily I have plenty of bottles so I’m not in a rush to open these up. All I know is there is no way right now I would make this one again. Too many other recipes I like that are ready to drink much earlier.

Bodenski · Jan 13, 2018

So I lied. I felt like seeing where this was at, so I opened a bottle. It has further changed from "unpleasant" to an unpleasant aftertaste, but there isn't much to this one. I figure in another several months the aftertaste will be be gone, and I'll be left with a light mead (9.5%) that I won't be in a hurry to drink. But as opposed to what I thought 3 months ago, I don't feel I'll need to open bottles and pour down the drain anymore!

Bodenski · Mar 8, 2018

I made two different meads in early 2017, one for this month and one for April. I forgot which was which, so I popped open a bottle of my vanilla cherry melomel thinking it was my March drink. I am really enjoying it, but it was a month too early! I'll have to open a bottle of my fall spice one at the end of the month to check again. It's getting better with time, and I want it to have all the time it can get. It's one of the few things i've made that I really want to age before trying much of.