Type of honey

[Ldcecil]

My son recently made a mead from a rather dark honey and the honey flavor is a little too strong/harsh. First, is there any way to tame it down some? Second, what is the best type of honey to use to yield a smoother and not as strong/harsh flavor?

 

[winemaker81]

Time is your friend. A wine-strength mead can take years to age, although it's typically decent after a year.

Regarding what honey to use? Probably anything lighter. My last batch was made from Costco honey, and it has a mellow flavor.

 

[Jim Welch]

+1 to what Brian said previously, if this mead was "recently" made it should improve drastically with proper aging.
I believe clover honey is generally the standard honey most mead makers use and it is very light when fresh. Honey darkens as it ages though there are naturally dark types like buckwheat honey.
I have several batches of mead in the pipeline I made with coffee blossom honey which was a medium shaded honey.

 

[Rice_Guy]

Harsh Is an interesting word to use. I have to wonder if the mead actually is oxidized? I describe low level of oxidized alcohol as an apricot like note and high levels as a burn in the back of the throat when swallowing.
Any idea when metabisulphite was used? how much head space was in the carboy?

 

[BernardSmith]

Here's the thing: every varietal honey - from orange blossom to Tupelo , from meadow foam to heather, has its own unique flavor (and aroma). Some honey - clover and wildflower, in my humble, are more like spear carriers than soloists. They are great vehicles for other flavors (fruit, herbs, spices, nuts and the like) but they cannot hold the spotlight. BUT... these "also rans" tend to be inexpensive. One honey - east coast buckwheat, might be OK on pancakes... but unless you are into the very earthy and some might say, horse stable flavors, you might want to avoid that honey like the plague (west coast buckwheat is said to be far more pleasant).
If your son has made a mead that no one likes - because of the flavors - not because of the amount of ethanol you taste and the lack of flavors but because of the intensity of the flavors (sounds like buckwheat - and that , for the record, was my first mead - I never mead another mead for more than 5 years because I found the flavor so undrinkable) , what you might do, is look for a wildflower honey (that is a term given to any honey where the bees are near any and every flowering plant withing a about 2 miles or so of the hives and no one species dominates -) and blend the undrinkable mead with this other one. But that said, my own philosophy is not to blend a poorly made mead (or wine) with a well made one in the hope of salvaging the poor one. What is likely to happen is that you now have a blend that you cannot drink.. so the better approach is to make the second mead and then take samples, of say, 25 ml of the first and add different amounts of the second (5 ml, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, ... to it... and see if you can find the sweet spot and use that ratio to blend the two. If there's no "sweet spot", then simply put away the awful mead and see if time improves it.

 

[Ldcecil]

Here's the thing: every varietal honey - from orange blossom to Tupelo , from meadow foam to heather, has its own unique flavor (and aroma). Some honey - clover and wildflower, in my humble, are more like spear carriers than soloists. They are great vehicles for other flavors (fruit, herbs, spices, nuts and the like) but they cannot hold the spotlight. BUT... these "also rans" tend to be inexpensive. One honey - east coast buckwheat, might be OK on pancakes... but unless you are into the very earthy and some might say, horse stable flavors, you might want to avoid that honey like the plague (west coast buckwheat is said to be far more pleasant).
If your son has made a mead that no one likes - because of the flavors - not because of the amount of ethanol you taste and the lack of flavors but because of the intensity of the flavors (sounds like buckwheat - and that , for the record, was my first mead - I never mead another mead for more than 5 years because I found the flavor so undrinkable) , what you might do, is look for a wildflower honey (that is a term given to any honey where the bees are near any and every flowering plant withing a about 2 miles or so of the hives and no one species dominates -) and blend the undrinkable mead with this other one. But that said, my own philosophy is not to blend a poorly made mead (or wine) with a well made one in the hope of salvaging the poor one. What is likely to happen is that you now have a blend that you cannot drink.. so the better approach is to make the second mead and then take samples, of say, 25 ml of the first and add different amounts of the second (5 ml, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, ... to it... and see if you can find the sweet spot and use that ratio to blend the two. If there's no "sweet spot", then simply put away the awful mead and see if time improves it.

Thank you.

 

[Ldcecil]

Harsh Is an interesting word to use. I have to wonder if the mead actually is oxidized? I describe low level of oxidized alcohol as an apricot like note and high levels as a burn in the back of the throat when swallowing.
Any idea when metabisulphite was used? how much head space was in the carboy?

Not a burn in the back of the throat - just a very strong honest flavor, very strong.

 

[distancerunner]

Light honey color is usually lighter in flavor. Early in the season (spring/summer flow) in western Pennsylvania the honey is water white, very sweet, and almost flavorless. Consumers like it for the unique color and the sweetness. Beekeepers tend to keep it to blend with late season (fall flow) honeys that are dark and full flavored. They include wingstem, knotweed ("red bamboo"), and golden rod. Buckwheat is definitely in this category though is usually earlier than the fall nectar sources. "Barnyard" and "manure" are oft used descriptors of both the honey and mead.

Allowing the mead to age for a year or two or three will mute some of the back-of-the-throat or back of the palate harshness.

Bernard is right. Putting good stuff into bad stuff just leads to having a whole lot more bad stuff. Figuring out how to fix the bad stuff is what makes you a wine maker. Or, in this case, a mead maker.

 

[Ty520]

given your initial description of it being dark, my guess is buckwheat or avocado, or sim..

Some people find that no amount of time will make these into a palatable mead...that being said, some people enjoy them. every person's palate is different

 

[TheSeed]

Mead maker here (above all else).

As others have pointed out, it sounds like your son used (what I call) a super-dark like avocado blossom or buckwheat honey. One of my first yeast comparison trials in early 2021 was a run of six half-gallon avocado blossom honey meads (~2½ bottles each, when finished). They bulk aged for about 2 months before bottling, and they were all rather harsh tasting like you described (so I know exactly what you mean).
It sounds like your son's mead turned out the same as my experiment runs, with a very robust roasted flavor reminiscent of strong, unsweetened dark roast coffee. My brother and I didn't especially care for the taste at bottling, though I found it more drinkable than he. I tried chilling some of the bottles, which helped a lot more than I expected. Just a couple months after bottling, I uncorked one and found the harshness had mellowed out considerably. Even still, the honey flavor was just a bit too intense to stand on its own.

Advisable options:
1) Chill before drinking
2) Age at least another 2-3 months before trying again
3) Use in cooking

I do NOT advise:
Diluting
Mixing with other meads
Adding adjuncts to alter the flavor

I am a member of multiple mead making communities and have discussed the use of super-dark varietals many times in the prevailing couple years. They definitely have their places in both home and commercial mead making--and are highly praised for those places--but using it by itself for a traditional just isn't one of them, at least not at the home mead making level.

 

[Jovimaple]

@TheSeed Welcome to WMT!

 

[sour_grapes]

Indeed, welcome aboard, @TheSeed

 

[BernardSmith]

Mead maker here (above all else).

As others have pointed out, it sounds like your son used (what I call) a super-dark like avocado blossom or buckwheat honey. One of my first yeast comparison trials in early 2021 was a run of six half-gallon avocado blossom honey meads (~2½ bottles each, when finished). They bulk aged for about 2 months before bottling, and they were all rather harsh tasting like you described (so I know exactly what you mean).
It sounds like your son's mead turned out the same as my experiment runs, with a very robust roasted flavor reminiscent of strong, unsweetened dark roast coffee. My brother and I didn't especially care for the taste at bottling, though I found it more drinkable than he. I tried chilling some of the bottles, which helped a lot more than I expected. Just a couple months after bottling, I uncorked one and found the harshness had mellowed out considerably. Even still, the honey flavor was just a bit too intense to stand on its own.

Advisable options:
1) Chill before drinking
2) Age at least another 2-3 months before trying again
3) Use in cooking

I do NOT advise:
Diluting
Mixing with other meads
Adding adjuncts to alter the flavor

I am a member of multiple mead making communities and have discussed the use of super-dark varietals many times in the prevailing couple years. They definitely have their places in both home and commercial mead making--and are highly praised for those places--but using it by itself for a traditional just isn't one of them, at least not at the home mead making level.

Not clear from the OP if they had tried back sweetening the mead. That might mean stabilizing and adding MORE of the same honey or adding a different varietal that is less intensely flavored. Often, upping the finished sweetness greatly improves the balance of the mead or wine and helps bring to the front flavors that the dryness tends to mask or push towards the back.

 

[Hazelemere]

My son recently made a mead from a rather dark honey and the honey flavor is a little too strong/harsh. First, is there any way to tame it down some? Second, what is the best type of honey to use to yield a smoother and not as strong/harsh flavor?

raspberry, blackberry, cranberry even clover