# Mead Liqueur.



## Dave70 (8/2/11)

I bought a bottle of this stuff for a change the other night, and actually really enjoyed it.






I don't know much about mead's, or even if this is a good example of the style, but I know what I like - I even tried a little on some good vanilla ice cream, very nice - but I felt combining my alcohol and food was somehow crossing a line..

Anyhow, now I want to make my own and the bottle is a little light on detail, you know - a 'secret blend' of such and such.

Can anybody shed some light on what goes into liqeur mead?


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## zephon (8/2/11)

Dave70 said:


> Anyhow, now I want to make my own and the bottle is a little light on detail, you know - a 'secret blend' of such and such.
> 
> Can anybody shed some light on what goes into liqeur mead?



Start here: JAO Mead Thread


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## Lord Raja Goomba I (8/2/11)

simma said:


> Start here: JAO Mead Thread



Pay attention to the procedue at the start, and the end notes. I've just made some mead - it was dry - and there has been some discussion as to why. Very interesting reading.

Goomba.


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## Bongchitis (8/2/11)

Dave70 said:


> I bought a bottle of this stuff for a change the other night, and actually really enjoyed it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



G'day Dave,

That Mead Liqueur seems to be what Port is to Red wine. Sweet, thick etc.... A fortified Mead maybe? Dans has 3 items from Maxwells ... Mead, Spiced Mead and Liqueur. Have you tried the other offereings that are probably closer to what a Mead 'should' be?

It was a while ago that I tried it and enjoyed it also but I'm really not sure what they have done appart from back sweeten to the shithouse with honey.

Maxwells is probably not one of the best either. I think it was Brewer Pete who listed some better commercial examples.

Cheers mate.


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## Airgead (8/2/11)

Those liqueur meads are often just neutral spirit sweetened with honey and spices.. no actual mead in them at all.

Proper ones are a sweet mead fortified with either neutral spirit or brandy with spices etc added. 

I make them myself. Its easy to do. Just take your basic mead, better if its sweet but can be done with dry as well. Fortify to about 20% with brandy or vodka then sweeten with sugar or honey to the desired level, add any other flavourings you want and leave to age for a while. The fortification stops the mead from re-fermenting.

Cheers
Dave


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## Dave70 (8/2/11)

Bongchitis said:


> G'day Dave,
> 
> That Mead Liqueur seems to be what Port is to Red wine. Sweet, thick etc.... A fortified Mead maybe? Dans has 3 items from Maxwells ... Mead, Spiced Mead and Liqueur. Have you tried the other offereings that are probably closer to what a Mead 'should' be?
> 
> It was a while ago that I tried it and enjoyed it also but I'm really not sure what they have done appart from back sweeten to the shithouse with honey.



Yeah, I've given the regular spiced mead a go and it more or less tasted like a watered down version of the liqueur - surprise, surprise. But I felt the spices (clove and cinnamon?) were _very _noticeable in the sweet stuff.

You're probably right about the back sweetening thing and Airgead's method wouldn't be a bad way to make a cheat version.

I'll go through the JOA thread and look for some answers to, the only time I had a crack at a mead, it turned out dry also, horribly so.
I thought it was off turfed it.


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## Airgead (8/2/11)

Dave70 said:


> You're probably right about the back sweetening thing and Airgead's method wouldn't be a bad way to make a cheat version.



Its an excellent cheat version... another great one is to take a cider, fortify with brandy and back sweeten with honey. It has been voted best thing in the history of ever by the missus. Liquid panty remover.

Cheers
Dave


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## Muggus (8/2/11)

For traditions sake more than anything else, if you wanted to make a liqueur mead you'd fortify with a spirit distilled from fermented honey (mead).
Does anyone know if such a thing exists?
I recall trying a "honey brandy" before, but i'm pretty sure that was just a combination of honey and brandy.


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## Airgead (8/2/11)

Muggus said:


> For traditions sake more than anything else, if you wanted to make a liqueur mead you'd fortify with a spirit distilled from fermented honey (mead).
> Does anyone know if such a thing exists?
> I recall trying a "honey brandy" before, but i'm pretty sure that was just a combination of honey and brandy.



Not commercially...


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## rageyes (1/1/12)

At last I found a recipe for mead that I could follow. I have done EXACTLY as per instructions but find that after 20 hours I have very little reaction from the yeast, almost no head at all. I am uncertain if I have used the correct yeast, the only one I could find at my supermarket was Tandaco Dry Yeast , I added 1 teaspoon full. Am I becoming concerned too early. The packet says 7g of dry yeast =15g of compressed yeast. Cheers..........apparently this was supposed to go in JAO thread.


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