Sniffing mead....

[TimT]

So, sitting on my step like a suburbanite this evening, and swirling around a glass of my first mead under my nose like James Halliday, and I'm noticing some strange and wondrous aromas coming off. I'm thinking caramel, or toffee - it's hard to describe directly, but this is getting pretty close to it.

The mead is almost one year old, from a very basic recipe I got off Digby - water, honey, raisins boiled and then pressed for their juice. I may or may not have added yeast nutrient. I can't remember now. For the first few months of its sojourn upon this earth it had those powerful, hangover-causing flavours happening; now it's mellowed out nicely. Still not entirely presentable in polite society - there's a definite sharpness to the flavour - but there's also a dry kind of sweetness, very pleasant.

But what is this smell I'm experiencing? Is there a name for it? Is it going to increase with age? Can I expect it in future meads? Because I like it.

 

[TimT]

So, sitting on my chair at the computer like a slob and drinking a second glass of mead, like a person who drinks a second glass of mead, and reaching for the glass I accidentally spill it all over the desk, my papers, and the computer... like a drunkard.

Hooray! It works!

 

[Mardoo]

Too funny mate

 

[TimT]

Er, I mean.... cheers!

 

[Airgead]

I know exactly the small you are getting. Its what mead starts to smell like as it ages. It will tend to get more like that as it ages more.

Young padawan... you have just taken your first steps into a much larger world.

 

[TimT]

Oh joy oh joy!

Airgead, thinking about it after it reminded me strongly of the smell I got from a barrel-aged porter that I'd had a few months ago at the Alehouse. So good I had to buy another. (I had thought it was from the barrel.)

I can definitely live with this strange new development.

 

[Airgead]

Embrace it. Mead goes through some remarkable changes as it ages. Particularly fruit meads. They may taste of nothing at first then after a few months they taste really strongly of the fruit then after a few more the fruit isn't there any more but the honey has come through strongly then the fruit might come back...

These days I try to drink a bottle of each of my meads every 2-3 months just to see how they are changing. its a tough gig but someone has to do it....

 

[Hintadupfing]

Ditto. Meads are delicate, volatile things, They need constantly to be checked on, throughout their years of ageing.

I have an oakleaf mead from 4 years ago that has finally overcome its tannins and has become ... well, I'll tell you in a minute. *looks around for a glass*

 

[Mardoo]

Must be good. That's one hell of a minute!

 

[Hintadupfing]

Sjhorry. Cannnt talk. Sciencnig..

 

[philmud]

This is making me want to get my mead on. Any tips for reasonably priced, good, raw honey in Melbourne? I'd love to do it with roof-top honey, just for the novelty factor, but I'm not sure I'd get enough $$$ for my first-born to cover it.

 

[TimT]

Not sure, you could head in to Bee Sustainable, on Lygon St, Brunswick and chat to Robert there - they have honey in store. Robert (bee keeper dude who runs the business) would probably have a few suggestions. Or you could hook up with a group like Rooftop Honey, or Yarra Valley Bee Group, or the one we're members of, Permapiculture Melbourne, and offer to do a swapsie - work with them to do a mead next time they do a honey harvest.

It's kind of a seasonal thing I guess - you make it when you get a glut of honey. We probably won't harvest yet for another month or so.

 

[Mardoo]

I've gotten some from the Slow Food Market at the Abbotsford Convent. There's an apiary there that sells 5 kilo buckets for a good price. If memory serves me it was $45 for 5 kilos, but I may be remembering wrong. They had some pretty awesome 10-year-aged mead last year too.

This mob, The Organic Buyers Group in SA has nice Kangaroo Island honey in 3kg tubs with insanely low shipping at $10 per order, no matter the weight:
https://www.organicbuyersgroup.com.au/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=220&zenid=ctv5f9p1r9thnt7dagm7p0q6g0

 

[TimT]

Gave the mead another go today.

At the moment it has a really nice banana ester vibe going on. The smell also seems to have mellowed out, gained more of a beeswax character (like the mature Moonlight Meadery drinks we had the other night). Funnily, the other month when I tasted it it seemed more muted if anything. I wonder if it's doing the same in all the bottles?