What does mead taste like??

[Cove Cottage]

All of a sudden I see lots of posts about mead. Dummy here wants to know what it taste like.

In a lot of the historical fiction books I read (1500 - 1700 time frame),they are always talking about mead. Sounds like it might be fun to make if I thought I'd like the taste. Here in Florida we have access to good quality Tulepo honey.


Margaret

 

[pkcook]

Cove Cottage,


I tried mead for the first time this past week. I too was curious about the taste with all the talk on this forum. I have not made any and didn't know if I even wanted to try, so I purchased a bottle of Oliver mead (and took a lot of ribbing for it on this forum

), but I was very impressed with the taste. It is hard to describe,the flavor is tangy, butthe finish is all honey. I'm going to be making some soon!

 

[Greengrocer]

I purchased a bottle of the same and thought it was Very Good !


Who gave you the ribbing and why?

 

[pkcook]

Just a few here in this forum,and only in fun I'm sure

. I don't live close to anyone I know that makes Mead, so the commercial mead was the only kind I had available forme to try. I just talked with a friend of mine from New Mexico, and he is sending me a recipe for a mead that he has made for years that he loves. I believe I am going to explore making honey wine in the near future

. I really enjoyed it!

 

[PolishWineP]

While mead is a type of wine, I don't think it tastes anything like wine. I love meads! We learned early on that if you ferment them to dryness and don't sweeten before bottling you miss a LOT of the flavors. I can't say there's anything to which I can compare. But, a good mead tastes something like I imagined they would when reading that old literature when they mention them. Yum!

 

[Cove Cottage]

Well ...It looks like I need to go buy a bottle of Mead and give it a try.(Thanks PK)If it tastes as good as it sounds, it looks like Mead making may be in the future.


PWP, Thanks for the hint about NOT fermenting to dryness. Is your recipe posted in the recipe section?


Margaret

 

[masta]

Margaret,


I would definitely try some mead before you go and make it since you might not like it as some I have shared mine with.

Tupelo is wonderful honey and works great for mead. I found out my Tupelo Vanilla did not win a medal in the International Mead Fest but I will share judges tasting notes when I receive them.

 

[smurfe]

I have made the Joe M. Orange Mead recipe and it is very very sweet and had a nice orange flavor. I bought a bottle of commercial Mead (don't remember which brand) and it tasted pretty well exact as the one I made.


On a side note a girl at work gave me a bottle of her Dad's Muscadine wine which was SUPER SWEET and for some reason it taste exactly the same as the Mead!

Don't know what was up with that. I guess it is just after something is over a certain sweetness level it all taste the same to me! LOL


If you like sweet wines and drinks you should really like Mead. I have never tried a Dry Mead but am anxious to try some. Any I can buy here is sweet.


Smurfe

 

[pkcook]

I checked with a wine store here in the valley and all the varieties of mead he carried were sweet. I enjoy sweet wines as much as dry wines so mead is something I want to try.

 

[Cove Cottage]

Masta,


Sad to hear you didn't win an award

.Tupelo Vanillasounds very exotic. It will be interesting to read the notes from the judges.


I'll try to find a bottle of mead over the weekend and give it a try. If it's too sweet for me I'll give it to my 90-year old mother. She loves the sweet wines. We jokingly call her "the old lush". mwm

 

[summersolstice]

I just attended the International Mead Festival in Boulder, CO this past weekend and had a wonderful time. There were 210 amatuer entries and over 100 commercial meads, including entries from Poland, England, Australia, South Africa, and Canadain competition and available forunlimited sampling at the 4-hour tasting sessions both Friday and Saturday night.


http://www.meadfest.com/index.html


Mead can actually have a very wide variety of flavors, depending upon factors such as ingredients (fruit, spices, honey variety,etc), type of yeast, method of fermentation, and age. I've tasted meads that were reminiscent of sherry, carbonated soft drinks,beer, wine, or practically any beverage you can imagine,including both extremelysweet ordry and anything in between. The one thing they all have in common is that they use honey as the basic foundation for the recipe.

 

[dsiddall]

I'm in Fort Walton Beach FL and am looking for good honey. Where did you say you found a good supplier?

De

 

[masta]

Here is a list of places in FL that sell honey:


http://www.honeylocator.com/New_Results.asp

 

[dsiddall]

Thanks!

 

[Wade E]

Rule G, that must ( no pun intended there) have been a great time!