# Do you like Mead? Do you not like Mead? Have you tried Mead? POLL



## FlowerPlanter

1. Do you like Mead? 
Sweet, Semi, Dry or any?

2. Do you not like Mead? 
Why?

3. Have not tried Mead?



Just curious


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## notaclue

Friend made some and gave me a bottle. We will open it around the holidays.


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## ralittlefield

I have not tried mead because I have frequently heard mead and battery acid used in the same sentence.


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## Michael B

I like mead, dry mead.


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## tabby

I love good mead. Mead, just like any wine, can be good or bad and I've had some very bad mead. But I've also had some very very good mead. Don't write off mead if you've only had it once.


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## WVMJ

We make mead, very good mead, we grow our own berries and now have our own bees and this year was our first to finally make a mead with everything coming from our own farm. WVMJ


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## RiodeLobo

Dry and crisp. Perhaps semi dry, but I dislike the sweet meads.


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## cg3

I've only had mead that was dry enough for my tastes once. So I know it exists. Otherwise, it's usually too sweet for me.


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## VolunteerK9

I'll let you know in about two more weeks when my first run is ready. Then about two more weeks until my second batch will be ready. I did the Joes Ancient Orange recipe.


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## Colleen O.

I had it once in Ireland and loved it. My sisters tried it too but didn't like it so I got to drink theirs as well. That was fine by me because it was delicious! It wasn't dry or sweet but nicely in between.


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## natureboy68

My first taste of mead was a chaucers, yuck! Had to give mead another try. I tasted a few homebrewed versions and a small commercial brand, and brewed my own! So far I have made Joes ancient orange, and joes quick grape, both were excellent! I am going to try to brew a cyser and a melomel this winter. Let mead age, and it will surprise you!


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## Nichols747

I've had Tej - Ethiopian Honey Wine, and it's not great...  

I don't have a taste for alcohol, and I drink it for "ceremonial purposes" with friends over there, but you won't find it in my fridge... 

I may try making some of the other fruit - infused varieties for curiosities sake!


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## indypartridge

tabby said:


> I love good mead. Mead, just like any wine, can be good or bad .... Don't write off mead if you've only had it once.


Exactly right. We've got a local winery that makes very good mead, although I'd probably enjoy it more if it was a bit less sweet.


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## Luterra

I LOVE mead. I used to brew beer, but have switched almost entirely to mead. I figure a 22 oz bottle of beer costs me $2-3 to brew and about $4 to buy, while a 22 oz. bottle of mead costs $3 to brew and about $15 to buy. Plus it is just so delicious.

I brew "sipper" meads, starting around 1.130 and finishing between 1.010 and 1.020 (semi-sweet to low on the sweet side), with around 14-15% alcohol. I must be doing something right because all of my four housemates are brewing mead now too. Finally got enough honey this year to make a "homegrown" mead. I plan to age it on oak for a few weeks as an experiment. Blackberry mead is finishing up nicely. GF's apple cyser mead is settling out, finishing a bit on the sweet side. Brewing a grape mead (pyment) with assorted wine grapes next week.


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## Barry

Luterra said:


> I LOVE mead. I used to brew beer, but have switched almost entirely to mead. I figure a 22 oz bottle of beer costs me $2-3 to brew and about $4 to buy, while a 22 oz. bottle of mead costs $3 to brew and about $15 to buy. Plus it is just so delicious.


What beers where you buying a bomber of for only $4? Most of the ones I buy cost between $7 - $12.
I've yet to taste a mead I'd drink a second time.


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## Luterra

Ninkasi (local Eugene brewery) usually has bombers for between $4 and $5 around here. Good beer too. Granted I more often pay in your $7-$12 range as I am always trying "unique" beers brewed with vanilla beans, rosemary, agave syrup, yarrow, etc.

I've had relatively few commercial meads that I really enjoy. APIS in Poland makes some of the best in the world - try a "Kurpiowski" or "Jadwiga" if you get the chance. They are definitely in the dessert category in terms of sweetness but with exquisite flavor. 

To me, the most common mead mistake is a lack of flavor intensity. With no hops/roasted malts as in beer or grapes as in wine, mead is left with whatever non-sweet flavors were in the honey. This flavor profile is usually subtle and not always delicious. My solutions are to 1) brew "big" meads with high alcohol and a fuller body, encouraging sipping (and tasting subtle flavors) rather than just drinking, 2) add fruit, spices, and/or oak chips to complement and add to the flavor profile of the honey, and 3) aim for a level of sweetness that is definitely noticeable but not cloying. I want my mead to taste like it was made from honey, and this is difficult to achieve without sweetness.

Don't give up on mead yet!

Mark


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## Barry

My biggest complaint with the meads I've had is the alcohol is way too prominent and up front. Tastes like I'm drinking medicine. With beer, that can quite easily be corrected. If I'm drinking a big beer (10 - 12 ABV), I want that alcohol to be an afterglow that sneaks up on you.


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## beemandan

I’ve never had a mead I liked. I’ve tried commercial, tasted blue ribbon contest winners and made all sorts of my own…even using recipes from books. There’s just something that isn’t pleasing to my palate. I keep making it…trying different techniques…hoping to finally make one I can enjoy. I have a blueberry in mid brew as I speak. The stuff I make often gets oooohs and aaaahhhs from folks who try them (oooohs and aaaaahs are good sounds) but they still have that distinctive diesel fuel flavor in my mouth. Disappointing…but I keep trying.


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## Jeanette

I tasted my first honey mead couple of years ago in Tasmania, Australia. It was so smooth and sweet. Fantastic. I wish I could remember the brand name because I have not found any other honey mead as pleasant. I agree with Barry that some honey meads taste like medicine. I prefer them sweet. Maxwell Honey Mead has a nice flavour. http://www.maxwellwines.com.au/maxwell-mead/


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## Vance G

When making mead, it initially can taste like your horse has diabetes or like an especially brutal form of chemotherapy! It need aging and fiddling with just like most wines get unbeknownst to the end user. Lower alcohol meads get civilized first, but most take a year for a start to get good or start getting good. I have a cherry and a peach going that are going to be just fine and dandy for the Christmas after this next one. A few bottles will get tested this year. I have one carboy of 20%ABV that will sit plotting evil for at least it's second full year before it is pleasant to sip. It is starting to taste like honey but is still a little hot. Another year and it will be wonderful on non driving days.


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## Robbo

I reckon a bad beer is still better than a good mead. Still like a mead tho


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## VolunteerK9

My first batch of Joes Ancient Orange was ready this week. Not too bad. It probably wont last the week. I do have a 2nd batch brewing that Im going to try and leave alone at least until Christmas.


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## heus

Does mead have any advantages or disadvantages for diabetics compared to traditional drinks?


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## VolunteerK9

heus said:


> Does mead have any advantages or disadvantages for diabetics compared to traditional drinks?


 Not sure about diabetics, but it sure made me forget about the pain in my recently rebuilt shoulders . Best sleep I've had in a long time.


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## beedeetee

I make wine and have a son that makes beer. I have bought meads but they have always been too sweet for my taste. They were okay chilled on a hot afternoon, but generally they were nothing that I would buy much of. A few years ago my son (the beer making one) said that he wanted to try a mead so I gave him some honey. He gave me back a couple of bottles which I put on the wine rack in the basement and kind of forgot about. One day we got one out and chilled it. Was I surprised, it was very nice. Very much like a nice riesling. A had a sweetness, but it was something that I could easily drink. It was about two years old at that time. I keep thinking that I should try another, but I keep selling all of my honey.


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## Jeanette

heus said:


> Does mead have any advantages or disadvantages for diabetics compared to traditional drinks?


Jarrah honey is claimed to have a lower Glycemic Index than other honeys, so maybe consider talking to your doctor about a Jarrah honey mead ???? http://www.jarrahhoneyinfo.com/


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## BeeGhost

I love sweet things so a sweet mead would be awesome!! My buddy and I just racked our first mead, and I tried a little bit for fun, it was pretty hot!! Felt like I just took a shot of blueberry brandy on a cold day, could feel it from my throat to my gut!! Im not a wine taster, but i tasted like a champagne to me, kinda bubbly i guess.


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## Steves1967

I love big sweet port-strength meads.


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