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As Seen In |
Equanimity at the Equinox BY Bruce L Brode (Published in the November 1996 Brews and News)
Mead, Mead and More Mead
Due to popular demand, our annual Great Mead Tasting has now evolved into an equinoctial celebration of what may be civilization's oldest fermented beverage tradition. It has certainly become a Falcons tradition, too. On Saturday, 9/21/96, we had what was probably our most studious mead roundtable tasting and discussion yet. Compared to previous tastings, this one was downright orderly. Maybe it was about time...At any rate, all of our meadmaking regulars were there, accompanied by the enthusiastic and the curious (some of whom are also regulars), about 18 of us all told. I believe we all came away from the event with an increased appreciation for much of what is possible in meadmaking techniques and tastes and ideas, which is the point of this whole thing. As is my custom, here are my selected tasting notes from among the 23 different meads tasted. We began with sparkling meads, appropriate for the warm weather at this time of year and a much under-appreciated style: Tom and Lois Hamilton poured a vertical of ginger-flavored sparkling meads, vintages 94 and 92 from their cellar. The 94 had a good fruity-peppery ginger aroma, lotsa bubbles, and a very dry and slightly dusty flavor. I found the 92 to be more subdued up front, with more honey character to it, some fruity ginger, the same dry flavor with a touch of bitterness and less intensity of ginger. A nice comparison, and a refreshing way to start the tasting. John Rasmussen poured a sparkling traditional mead made with orange blossom honey which was force-carbonated in a keg and displayed a smooth, fruity flavor. Very nice. I poured a traditional sparkling mead also made from orange blossom honey, bottle-conditioned. It's medium in sweetness, pretty gassy ("crisp" if you prefer), good honey essence, and has a touch of resiny bitterness. It has no acid addition, just honey, water, yeast a little yeast nutrient. Most felt it would improve with age. Next was a sparkling tangerine mead on draught from the Hamiltons, made with Flor Sherry yeast. Fruity aroma, gold-orange color, very alcoholic, with crisp acidity. On to the still meads. James Mead (that's a person, not a beverage) poured a mixed citrus mead with rich citrus and spice in the aroma, a bit of smooth mellowness on the palate, and good balance of honey and citrus in the finish despite its richness. David Lustig, the Cellarmasters home winemaking club president, has developed a fine affinity for mead. His pear mead displayed a consistently rich pear character throughout, with some honey character adding a nice complexity. Wonderful for pear fans like myself. Later in the tasting, Dave poured a Raspberry Melomel that had been vinted at the Shop in a winemaking demonstration early in the year, and it was also very well-received: bursting with raspberry character, a gorgeous deep red color, very rich and classy. Doug King, who complains that he hasn't had much success with making mead but is developing a palate for it nonetheless, poured a boysenberry-mint mead with a rich sherry-like aroma, good fruit character, and a certain vegetative quality that may have come from the mint "dry-hopping" that he did. Good effort, and we hope he keeps at it. We've all had our own spectacular failures in meadmaking, at least I certainly have, but I wouldn't call this one a failure. The boysenberry-mint combination, a David Janss idea, even calls to mind some Bordeaux wines with that complex to them. Speaking of David Janss, he poured some currant mead. I guess it's one of his "current" projects (sorry, I couldn't resist). This one had a fruity-sherry wine aroma and a nice reflective amber-brown (dare I say honey-colored) shade to it, slightly spritzy from some CO2. Somehow, while discussing this one, the phrase for the day emerged: "While you're watching TV, shake it." I'll let David explain, if he remembers. We had a couple of first-timers there, too. Well, Dean Lynn isn't really a first-timer since he's been to previous tastings, but he keeps bringing the only mead he's ever made (to my knowledge) and is always a bit apprehensive about it. It's a traditional mead made from a very pale avocado honey, with a buttery character to it, and I think it continues to improve each time I taste it. It now has a slightly raisiny flavor, which is nice. Dean, when are you going to make more mead? Also, just before Dean, Jim Moormen poured his first mead, a traditional style made from Purple Sage Honey. It was slightly spritzy, with a pleasantly smooth yet stimulating flavor. Frankly, I wish my first mead had been anywhere near this good. Keep up the good work, Jim. After tasting Dean's mead, we took a break and sampled some home- smoked salmon brought by John Rasmussen. This was a real treat, and allowed us to clear our palates and "catch our breath" a bit, so to speak. When we resumed, we tried the only commercial mead brought, which I brought from the As You Like It Meadery in Fitchburg, Mass. I have had this for a couple of years; it's a Thyme Blossom Traditional Mead. The aroma had elements of sherry and maple, but the flavor came across as rather dry and solvent-like with some grapefruity acidity toward the finish. I served a pyment, or grape mead, which is a style that has been one of my projects for some time. It's made as a "second run" wine, using red wine grape skins after pressing off the first run wine. To the skins remaining from 100 pounds of grapes, I add water, honey, a touch of tartaric acid, and some grape concentrate, and let it ferment all over again. This one, from the 1994 vintage, was made using Sangiovese grape skins, and had a bit of that fruity-spicy-acidic Chianti wine character, some tannin, and some strawberry-rhubarb essence, too. It came out dry, but has good potential to acquire smoothness with some additional age. Bill Taylor, who showed up late (he wasn't the only one) but was forgiven since he brought several meads, also poured a few of them. I found to be particularly notable his "premium desert wildflower" (someone said "premium despot") honey mead to have excellent honey character throughout despite a fairly dry finish, with a creamy flavor and body and an intriguing buttery yet nut-like character. He likes using spices, too, and poured a couple of spiced cysers, or apple meads, one of which had a prominent cinnamon-and-clove character to it--good for sipping mulled, or warmed, near the fire on a cold night! Our next mead tasting will likely take place near the vernal equinox; consult your celestial calendars. For information about meadmaking, consult yours truly or any of the individuals mentioned above.
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