Daulton Ranch Snowmelt Mead

I guess if I'm going to keep my brewing recipes on this blog, I might a well add a link to the mead we did back in Febuary. We cracked open a test bottle a couple of weeks ago, and it was not good at all. Smelling it was like smelling two different liquids at once - one was floral and nice, the other was like smelling grain alcohol or petrol or something - not nice. The flavour was almost bitter, with chemically overtones.

However, the guys at the brew shop said it didn't immediately sound off or anything, and that meads often "run a little hot" when theyre young, which they described as a very harsh alcohol flavour. So with that advice, and taking into account the Fine Lemming Wine we did (which started off tasting harshly of sulphur, but ended up quite drinkable, if a bit bland) we've decided to leave it in the cellar for another 6 months, then crack it out and try it again.

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anti ob
And tried it again just now (Aug 22). Definitely better, and Coz agrees. Still a bit of a spirits flavour about it (which is odd, because it really shouldn't be that strong) but now it tastes a bit like an over-strong cocktail instead of a glass of slightly watered down meths. So that's got to be a plus, right?

I could drink it as it is, but I might wait a bit more still and crack it out for Christmas. Mead is more of a cold-weather drink to me anyways...
08/22/2009, 03:23:26 PM

[This user is an administrator] anti ob
I did try it again, sometime around the beginning of the year. Its hard to compare tastes across 6 months, but it seemed a little better? Put it back down for some more rest...