Who has made a partial bochet mead?

[keepitlow]

I read up a little on bochet (burnt) mead. It seems to be an all or nothing thing. I just want to add a little color and flavor to the mead so it is not straw yellow.

Has anyone made a partial bochet...25% to 35%? How did it come out?

I wonder how caramelizing sugar would do if added to a traditional mead...anyone try that?

Thanks

 

[Fisher kel Tath]

you could always use a darker varietal of honey for color... also could consider a dark belgian candy sugar

 

[akueck]

I agree, blending honey is a good idea. You can intentionally burn some and blend that in, or you can use a naturally dark variety, or both! Some wildflower honey is dark (depending on what flowers are around). Certain varieties are known to be dark in color (buckwheat is the classic example). Dark color doesn't always mean dark flavor, but often they go together. Darker honey does tend to have (slightly) more nutrients & solids content.

 

[uncleflip]

I read up a little on bochet (burnt) mead. It seems to be an all or nothing thing.

Blacksnake meadery in Virginia makes a fabulous one called Meloluna, which uses half caramelized and half raw honey. Awesome stuff. As the mead-maker shared a bit of his recipe and such, I'm going to try to make something similar, once I research a technique for caramelizing honey. (Obviously, I've never done it before, and vizualize the process going more like boiling than caramelizing, due to my ineptitude......)

 

[Jestig]

Yea I have been fearful of trying this, but think it could have great potential. This last batch, we used a big gas burner. Was worried that we were going to burn the honey. Of course we had 96lbs for the batch.
What if you caramelized a little butterscotch and blended that with the honey. Granted give a big taste difference, but could get you a little darker color. Probably a dumb idea just throwing it out there.;D