14th Century Bouchet / Burnt Honey Mead

[Dave70]

Thinking of carbing half of my batch slightly to make it a little 'spritzy'. I reckon about the amount of sugar you'd use to carbonate a stubby per 700mm bottle should do the trick. I've force carbed Stones Ginger wine before and it was great.

Indeed, mead hangovers are in a class of their own.

Wouldn't say mine has a 'Christmassy' taste though, but then again, how does one capture the essence of 'I wish these people would just fcuking leave and let me have a drink in peace!' in a bottle.

 

[mr_wibble]

So one carbonation drop per 700ml you reckon ... Hmmm, that is a tempting idea.

 

[Mardoo]

Wouldn't say mine has a 'Christmassy' taste though, but then again, how does one capture the essence of 'I wish these people would just fcuking leave and let me have a drink in peace!' in a bottle.

Sounds like bourbon to me. Or Tequila if you're feeling a bit Nicholas Cage

 

[Dave70]

So one carbonation drop per 700ml you reckon ... Hmmm, that is a tempting idea.

I'm kind of leaning toward trying a small bit, say in a 600ml soft drink bottle and see how it goes first. With less than 5L to play with I'd hate to see half the batch burst over the garage floor.

 

[TimT]

There are some mead recipes here, including amounts of sugar for carbonation. They're for 3 gallon bunches, so divide the amount of sugar by three for a 4-5 L batch today. I'm bottling some mead today myself which I plan to carbonate.

 

[mr_wibble]

So I finally bottled this over the weekend.

It's *very* fricken spicy.

So much so, that when SWMBO did a blind tasting, she screwed her nose up.
It didn't taste that bad to me, the toffee-honey was there, but definitely in the background WRT to the spices. Of course I knew what I was tasting beforehand too.

We'll see how it tastes in another six months.

I'm wondering if this recipe is one to show off how 14th-century rich you are...
Being able to afford all those super-expensive spices from far off lands, and have your servants brew them into strong drink.

*shrug*
-kt

 

[TimT]

I'm wondering if this recipe is one to show off how 14th-century rich you are...
Being able to afford all those super-expensive spices from far off lands, and have your servants brew them into strong drink.

Probably partly that - and honey was/is a luxury ingredient for brews. So burning it to make a mead is kinda like burning money.

 

[mr_wibble]

I opened a small bottle on new-years eve.

The toffee-honey is still there, and it's a nice aspect of the rather-complex flavour.

But the spices are very much there too, and now have a kind-of woody note, not in a bad way I guess, but it's not a huge plus either.

There is also some secondary pepper-like warming of the palette in the aftertaste. I don't remember how much pepper was added, but I enjoyed this part.

We did not finish the bottle though, no-one thought it was good enough for a 2nd taste.

So if you're reading this trying to decide Bouchet Vs JAO, go with the JAO.

But I'll do another tasting in a year or so.

-kt

 

[Mardoo]

That said, we tasted a bochet by AJ80 at the recent VIC case swap that was fan-freakin-tastic and totally convinced me to make one. No comment on your brewing prowess Mr. Wibble, just an alternative viewpoint He just went straight honey, no spices. It was interesting and complex and I would have gladly grabbed the whole bottle for myself.

 

[TimT]

My one is mellowing nicely and finally - to my nose, at least - developing a bit of the ordinary mead aroma.

I wonder how it's going to age given another year!

 

[Tahoose]

That said, we tasted a bochet by AJ80 at the recent VIC case swap that was fan-freakin-tastic and totally convinced me to make one. No comment on your brewing prowess Mr. Wibble, just an alternative viewpoint He just went straight honey, no spices. It was interesting and complex and I would have gladly grabbed the whole bottle for myself.

Yeah that was awesome, only thing that came to mind when I was drinking that was port. The glares around the table was that off a group of men almost ready to throw down for a bag of cash.

 

[mr_wibble]

That said, we tasted a bochet by AJ80 at the recent VIC case swap that was fan-freakin-tastic and totally convinced me to make one. No comment on your brewing prowess Mr. Wibble, just an alternative viewpoint He just went straight honey, no spices. It was interesting and complex and I would have gladly grabbed the whole bottle for myself.

Yeah that sounds good, all toffee, not so much spices.
Maybe a bouchet with JAo style spicing ... yeah

 

[AJ80]

Cheers for the feedback gents! I'm tempted to make the spiced version this winter to see how it compares.

 

[Tahoose]

A little off topic but does $10/kg sound reasonable for honey and how much will you bed for 10ltrs?

 

[Airgead]

Its OK but not great. If you search around you can get it for 8 pretty easily and I've found if for 5 or 6 occasionally.

If someone had 10kg of honey and wanted me to bed them for it, I would do it if they were a 7 or above. Normally I just give them some money in exchange for honey, but hey... whatever.

 

[MetalDan]

I was hoping to try a bochet soon, and was looking into what yeast to use and thinking D47 or 71B. Can't find any at the LHBS or site sponsors (point me in the right direction if I'm wrong), so was looking on ebay and other sites for some.

Anyone have any recommendations as a good seller on ebay, I was thinking this one from the UK:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/5x-Lalvin-D47-Yeast-White-and-Blush-Wines-5g-Homebrew-Wine-Making-4-5L-23L-/281451487651?hash=item4187d0e1a3:g:yh4AAOSwq7JUJf8r

 

[TimT]

I too wish to find this 71B. A few brewers here and there in Aus might have it but I don't think it's sold commercially.

 

[barls]

http://www.ibrew.com.au/collections/wine-yeast-strains
thats where i got my last lot from

 

[MetalDan]

Thanks for the aussie link barls, will order some in

 

[Airgead]

Ibrew is the only place I have found that sells 71B in small lots. Winequip has it in half kilo and kilo bricks if you need that much.