Mead Lover's Digest #1143 2 December 2004
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1142, 27 November 2004 (Michael Faul)
Honey scents (MargieMcDonnell@aol.com)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1142, 27 November 2004 (Phil)
Mead descriptors (Ken Schramm)
Re: Sweet Mead (Timothy Harris)
Re: sweet mead yeast (Jim Johnston)
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Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1142, 27 November 2004
From: Michael Faul <mfaul@rabbitsfootmeadery.com>
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2004 23:02:36 -0800
> Subject: Re: MLD #1139 ?Honey flavours once fermented
> From: Randy Goldberg MD <randy@randygoldberg.net>
> Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2004 19:46:55 -0500
>
>
>>>>> UC Davis worked on a flavour wheel for describing wine. The mead/honey
>>>>> industry doesn't have the clout or money to pay for the developing of a
>>>>> similar resource for describing honey.
>>>>>
>>
>>> It is not possible. There are too many variables in honey. Rain that
>>> year, fruits and blooms in that run of honey, where you bought it, Maine
>>> or ZCalifornia wildflowers are totally differnet etc.
>
>
> Nonsense. Grapes vary just as much from season to season and even from slope
> to slope. It's the same idea of "terroir" that the viniculturists use.
> However, terroir doesn't prevent us from developing a uniform nomenclature
> to *DESCRIBE* the flavor and smell of honey and mead. Just as oenophiles
> generally understand "oak" and "plum" and "vanilla", and can often talk
> about what factors create these sensations, there's no reason we can't do
> the same with honey and mead. "Hm, that's got a sort of citrussy note to it,
> must have used orange blossom honey," and thoughts of that nature. We do it
> already when we taste and discuss - it's just a matter of codifying it.
Not at all. I have a several meads that have 'citrussy notes' and none
of them used orange blossom honey at all. In fact the yeast (IMHO)
accounts for one of the primary flavor makers second only to a strong
flavored honey.
I have a sweet mead that used a Jasmine honey and was very powerful but
the exact same honey from the exact same field in the next year is
completely different once it was fermented.
I *agree* that notes like oak and vanilla are easier to identify but
those come not from the honey or grape but from the oak. A dictionary of
terms that identify the individual floral notes is essential, but it
cannot be tied to individual honey as they vary too much from year to
year, with the noted exception of buckwheat..
If you want to use the same nomenclature for mead as you do wine then
feel free to do so. Personally I don't think it is appropriate and we
should have our own. The newly formed IMA will do this in the next year
or so.
Mike
- --
Rabbit's Foot Meadery
Award Winning Mead that is both historically accurate AND delicious!
http://www.rabbitsfootmeadery.com
Subject: Honey scents
From: MargieMcDonnell@aol.com
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 05:31:14 EST
I've been reading this newsletter....great newsletter by the way......for
some time now, without saying much. I'm a newbie to the mead making world, but
my first batch of sweet honey mead was like heaven to drink and I'm trying
more variations on the theme now. (Thanks for all the great information!) I
grew up in San Diego county, Southern California though, up in the mountains
where there was sage EVERYWHERE. This last batch of honey mead I made was
with sage honey. I find I can tell sage honey easily by its scent, and you can
get sage essential oil, if that helps. This next batch is with avocado
honey, and I fancy that has a peculiar flavor too, as my home was surrounded by
avocado trees and I know the taste of those real well. I think some of the
mead makers here are right; comparing honeys to flavors is just a matter of
practice. Anyway, thanks for all your help.
Margie McDonnell-Welsh
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1142, 27 November 2004
From: Phil <dogglebe@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 05:58:38 -0800 (PST)
> Subject: Looking for a sweeter Ginger/Cinnamon/Cloves Metheglin
> From: "Michael Zahl" <mzahl@neo.rr.com>
> Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2004 13:27:55 -0500
> This weekend I bought 120 pounds of honey and
> started several mead batches.
> 36 pounds of it is a pumpkin flower honey. Great
> stuff and I highly
> recommend it if you can find any pumpkin farmers out
> there!
I've used pumpkin honey and I think it's great stuff.
I probably made my best batch to date with it and I'm
looking forward to getting more.
> So I have 12 pounds of pumpkin honey left... I want
> to do my first clove,
> ginger and/or cinnamon metheglin, but I've not yet
> found a suitable recipe.
My first mead was a cinnamon/ginger/clove metheglin
and it won me my only best in show. I used clover
honey in the recipe so YMMV.
simmer 1.5 gallons of water, simmer 16.5 pounds of
honey, 1/4 oz of cinnamon stick (crushed), 4.5 cloves,
and four ounces of grated ginger for 30 minutes. Let
cool and add to carboy and top off to five gallons.
Top off to five gallons. Pitch a six cup starter of
wyeast 3184 sweet mead yeast. Rack as needed.
Phil
Subject: Mead descriptors
From: Ken Schramm <schramk@mail.resa.net>
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 10:06:47 -0500
I'm all for moving the mead descriptor lexicon forward. I put together
a descriptor list a few years back for the Mazer Cup judges and as a
guide for folks in the BJCP. I will be happy to share it with anyone
that wants it, and would also be delighted if it were posted on
gotmead.com or honeywine.com, and reviewed, improved and updated by
anyone who would like to contribute. It includes flavor and aroma
descriptors, as well as the kinds of adjectives which can be used to
articulate one's impression of a mead. The lingo may sound a little
froofy to some folks, but read the Wine Enthusiast or the Wine Advocate
for a few editions, and you'll see how valuable those descriptors are in
drumming up interest in a given beverage. We didn't invent this game,
but the commercial folks do need to play in it.
I think that educating palates is a complex process, and not one that
comes to most folks as second nature. I don't feel that many wine
drinkers begin their appreciation of red wines thinking, "Hmm, this
offers aromas of red currant, ripe blackberry and tobacco, with a strong
note of new oak." They like or don't like it, and only get around to
sorting out the flavor and aroma components after they really begin to
consider the complexity of the wine later (if they ever do). The same
can be said for mead, and there have been few role models of folks who
can sort out and vocalize their impressions in a way which makes the
components clearer and more "available" or recognizable to the consumer.
I also think that the basics of mead floral aromatics _can_ be described
in a basic sense using a few descriptors that most folks are familiar
with. Smell is the most deeply imprinted sense memory. If you close
your eyes and think of a few basic floral scents, I am quite sure you
will come up with a platonic smell memory that is quite distinct and
easily recalled. A few examples: Rose. Carnation. Tulip. Honeysuckle.
Iris. Apple blossom. Lilac. The challenge comes in sorting them out
from the total bouquet/aromatic profile "picture" that presents itself
when you stick your nose in a glass, and then getting that down on paper.
I do agree that the complete list of possible floral signatures is huge,
and familiarity with the whole range is beyond the limitations of any
one person, let alone a whole complement of judges or mead critics. The
list I gave is limited by my midwestern regional upbringing. But that
doesn't mean we shouldn't start somewhere, and try to build as much
knowledge, both personally and institutionally (as an industry and as a
set of judges), as we can. Even Robert Parker says there is something
about the Pinotage grape that he can't put into words.
I also think that many of the yeast-produced aromatics that we find in
mead are the same ones produced in wines made with the same yeast
strains. D-47 pushes the same pear and citrus notes from meads that it
does from chardonnay grapes. We need to work to build that knowledge
base, too, to include a much larger set of strains which may be used to
make mead.
The science of taste and aroma perception is complex and inexact. The
work that Meilgaard and others have done illustrates that different
people have different thresholds for recognition (I do or don't
taste/smell _something_) and identification (it's _this_), and the range
of those thresholds is large. By and large, however, the concept of
principal peaks for flavor and aroma delineation (the
isoamyl-acetate-as-banana example that Vince makes) holds across a whole
range of identifiable chemical compounds. The beer and wine industries
have made huge strides in isolating positive and negative compounds and
how they come to exist in their products, and consequently, how to
suppress or increase their production to optimal levels. That work is
non-existent in mead. We can use their work as a jumping-off point.
Getting some basic analysis done is the first step toward having that
set of bottles of mead aromatic components available. We are a long way
from that, but having the goal and incrementalizing the steps to
complete to get there is a great start.
Ken Schramm
The (OK, not yet quite) Compleat Meadmaker
Troy, Michigan
Subject: Re: Sweet Mead
From: Timothy Harris <jrsyby88@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 17:48:25 -0800 (PST)
Hi Gary! In answer to your question, for a mead with a gravity around 1.100 I
pitch 2 tsp of Wyeast nutrient. I make a big starter and when I pitch I save
a little. Make sure you aerate it like there's no tomorrow. If the gravity
is too high at bottling I hit it with another starter from the little I
saved and give it another few weeks. It's all in your preference as to
how sweet you want it. I like a sweet mead in the low 1.020's. Taste it,
your taste buds will know! If it is too cloying I mix in an acid blend of
citric, malic and tartaric in 1/2 tsp. increments. Make it taste the way
you want it. Hope all works out-
have fun- Tim
Subject: Re: sweet mead yeast
From: Jim Johnston <jim@tervolk.com>
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 23:12:03 -0600
>> To make a sweet mead what has worked
>> for me is to use a good starter of Wyeast#1056 American. Thats right BEER
>> yeast. It's crip and clean and does the trick, provided you pitch a little
>> nutrient and aerate the hell out of it!
>
> That will certainly work, but you'll only get 6 to 9% alcohol - that's why
> it's sweet, because the yeast dies from alcohol poisoning before eating up
> all the sugar.
I had a braggot go to 11% on this before going dormant. But then, this
might be due to the other nutrients in the malt that are lacking in
just honey. This one started at 1.124 and ended at 1.024 on champagne
yeast (sort of reminded me of the Holy Grail-"the first castle sunk
into the mud..."), the 5th yeast added.
Jim
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1143
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