Has any loungers ever tried mead?

[Swede]

Closest I ever did was my cousin used to make moonshine from honey,but that was like pure alcohol. I have never tried the fermented stuff,is it like beer?




wiki link to mead: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead

[XemaSab]

1. It's not like beer at all

It's more like a dessert wine.

I've had some mead that was really good and I've had some that was awful.

This stuff is DELICIOUS: http://www.skyriverbrewing.com/

[GoCubsGo]

2. Yes.

I have also made it. As XemaSab said, it's usually like a dessert wine. However, the batches I have made have been more dry and sparkling, like champagne. I would love to make some more, but honey has gotten so outrageously expensive.

[Swede]

5. My cousin is a bee farmer.

Although the competition from China is destroying his business.

[GoCubsGo]

12. I'm sure the fact that the honeybees are dying isn't helping matters.

In fact, I suspect that is the main reason prices are so high.

[Kali]

3. yes, homebrewed, not comercial

know a guy who brewed it and used to meet up with him pretty often before he and his wife divorced - he brewed beer too, and gave me a bunch of equipment.

I kind of liked it but wanted to try doing my own as we used to have trade honey to a guy for letting him keep his hives out here and I really wanted to make it from our own mesquite honey

alas he retired and we seem to have a lot of Africanized bees around now (plus the mite thign that was happening) so I think the biz has slowed down around here.

No it really doesn't taste like beer. It can be carbonated or still and tends to taste kind of like a brandy and water on the rocks maybe??? hard to describe. Not thick and heavy sweet at all if it has fermented long enough but a real kick of alcohol and a top of whatever kind of honey it was made from. Some people add spices and flavorings but I haven't tried any like that. Saw a recipe for a ginger mead that was to be well carbonated and that just sounded delicious to me!

[Brother Buzz]

4. I made mead for years

I was a beekeeper and a winemaker too, so yeah, I made mead. Tastes totally crappy.

My wines have taken ribbons in the state fair, my pyment too, but mead tastes so awful I'd never even consider entering it.

Mead tastes nothing like beer, think wine.

[Major Nikon]

7. My dad was a beekeeper

We used to make mead also. Tasted like hammered shit, but we drank it. I have had mead that was quite good though.

[Brother Buzz]

9. Give me a pint of scrumpy over mead any day

My meads were fermented dry, which was probably my first mistake, but I will not tolerate sweet wine.

[Major Nikon]

6. Some mead is kinda like beer

Some use hops in their mead, which kinda gives it a beer-like taste. There's so many different ways to make mead you can compare it to lots of different things.

[Rambis]

8. It will get on you quickly

be careful the last person I advised to slow down on the mead ended up with his head in the toilet all night.

[geardaddy]

10. My brother makes it.

That's the only stuff I've had. It's pretty good.

He will be quick to tell you that anyone who has anything other than honey, yeast, and water in their mead, isn't making mead.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

11. good mead is good to sip

[OriginalGeek]

13. I still have a partial bottle in my fridge

from christmas 2 years ago. Been kind scared to try it lol. It was OK when I first opened it but apparently not good enough to make me finish the bottle.

It had a pleasant burn mellowed by the honey flavor.

If it was whisky or vodka I wouldn't worry about drinking it even that old but I guess I'm just not sure if honey "keeps"?

edit to note that if had been whisky or vodka, it would be looooong gone. lol

[yankeepants]

14. I have three bottles sitting

The recipe called for oranges.I knew it was wrong in my heart. I don't hold out much hope for this batch but I may cut it with champagne on New Year's Day.