Thorwing in the hat with a paring

[yabodie]

Oskaar,
Sorry if this is in the wrong folder, but I see it as applicable to this and the food paring one.

I'm getting ready to throw my hat into the commercial mead business (starting small while still having my day job). It is all in the planning stages (I have the name: Clear Skies Meadery), but I have an educational opportunity in my consumer base that I can't pass up.

A little background.
I was talking to one of the folks at Gillie's here in the Rockville, MD area, where they sell Brad's mead, and I was asking how sales were going, etc. She said that the people who know what mead is can't get enough of Brad's mead. NICE!!! However, people who do not know mead tend to stay in their comfort zone with other wine/beer. So I figured, as has been stated in other threads here, there needs to be more consumer education about mead.

Here is the opportunity:
In my area one of the local DJs on a major radio station is having a wine/food paring event at his home on July 16th. He has had my mead in the past and has been raving about it when he gets the chance. His wife asked me to attend and both the DJ and his wife were stoked when I found out that we would be able to attend and bring some mead.

Here is the problem and where I need some assistance.
I want to use this chance to educate people about mead and how it can be paired with food, just like wine and just like beer as evident by the success of SAVOR in the DC area, I am just not sure what to pare the meads with.

My two meads are these:
Vanilla-Cherry sack semi-sweet, aroma of cherry, slight rose color, initial flavor is vanilla, followed by a faint cherry and almond and after you swallow your mouth is coated with a long lasting vanilla flavor.

Heather Cyser, sack, semi sweet, straw color, aroma is floral with a slight citrus (orange blossom honey) and crisp apple, flavor is floral, grassy from the Heather, followed by apple, with an apple flavor lingering. The apples were Kingston Black if you are interested.

For the vanilla, I was thinking maybe cured salmon, ie lax. or maybe milk chocolate.
For the Heather, I was thinking cheeses, such as Vermont cheddar, or some mild Swiss or Austrian cheeses.

Any thoughts/suggestions on the pairing and tips on educating people who are in the media arena in the DC area to help bolster mead as an alternative or complement to wine and beer?

Cheers!

 

[Oskaar]

Oskaar,
Sorry if this is in the wrong folder, but I see it as applicable to this and the food paring one.

No worries, I put it into the Mead and Food forums since you're looking for some suggestions.

My two meads are these:
Vanilla-Cherry sack semi-sweet, aroma of cherry, slight rose color, initial flavor is vanilla, followed by a faint cherry and almond and after you swallow your mouth is coated with a long lasting vanilla flavor.

For the vanilla, I was thinking maybe cured salmon, ie lax. or maybe milk chocolate.

I'd stick with dark chocolate the higher the cacao content the better and more toward the bitter side. Maybe a mixed nut cluster brushed with honey when baked and dipped in dark chocolate.

If you're going with salmon I'd be inclined to try smoked salmon as the smoke will make a nice astringent counter to the soft vanilla character. You might try something like a puff-pastry filled with smoked salmon mousse (salmon, creme cheese or mascarpone, white pepper, and a hint of allspice or lemon, tangerine or orange zest). I think that would go well with the cherry and almond characters as well.

Heather Cyser, sack, semi sweet, straw color, aroma is floral with a slight citrus (orange blossom honey) and crisp apple, flavor is floral, grassy from the Heather, followed by apple, with an apple flavor lingering. The apples were Kingston Black if you are interested.

For the Heather, I was thinking cheeses, such as Vermont cheddar, or some mild Swiss or Austrian cheeses.

To me, this screams out for pork. A nice grilled pork loin dry rubbed (salt, pepper, brown sugar, small amount of smoked paprika, little bit of cumin) and sliced thin on some butter/garlic/rosemary toasted Italian bread with some soft cheese (smoked Gouda would be nice) should go awesome. Pork Kielbasa with some cheeses should work too. Melon wrapped in prosciutto would be very nice as well.

Hope that helps,

Oskaar

 

[TheAlchemist]

I like the salt/sweet balance and agree that pairing with cheese might be tasty, what about a cheese pizza?

 

[IanB]

I can't resist

Ok, I can't resist posting some experience. The paring you recommend (whatever it might be) needs to fit the audience. Is the DJ tasting with 100 other foodie geeks, or a local rock band, or the local farmers market. All those people will want a different pairing.

When all else fails, go for the most universal pairing. (IE: White wine goes with chicken and fish.) Think along those lines if it is a broad appeal type of event, or go with the esoteric food stuffs if it is a foodie event, or the home-grown is better foods for the farmers market community.

Good Luck! Hoping you bring some well deserved attention to MEAD! (and your local liquor store owner is right about who buys mead)

Ian

 

[akueck]

Last night my wife put together a dessert consisting of blackberries, blue cheese, and desert wildflower honey (Death Valley area). It was awesome! Doesn't really inform much for these particular meads, but it wasn't something I'd consider "typical" yet everyone liked it quite a lot. Be daring!

 

[yabodie]

Well after recovering from the after effects of a homebrew club meeting on mead and the wine/food paring party, I can report back to folks about some lessons learned.

First at the homebrew club meeting: It was focused on mead and we had some great commercial meads and, unfortunately, the classic examples of why people automatically assume meads are a sweet drink. I'm very happy to see that the meads from more recent meaderies were favored. Overall I think the folks who were there have a better understanding on mead because we had an educational event and a tasting with meads. Unfortunately the location was a haul so attendance was very low.

The wine/food paring party: *too much fun was had here* I ended up paring the heather cyser with pork kielbasa on sliced baguette. It went really well but unfortunately the wines/mead were not near the dishes they were to be pared with. Note for a future event. I did do what I could when I saw someone looking at my bottle, I suggested they take a sip and give me some feedback. Some people actually took the bottle around to their friends to share it. When people learned that I made it the questions became more interesting. The vanilla cherry I pared with Spanish chocolate (milk and dark) and placed the bottle right next to the chocolate and told people about it, then watched their expressions. It was really great to see. The dark chocolate won.

Overall impressions: I think the main hurdle to get people to be more interested in mead to to try and undo the perception that all mead is sweet. I think the best way is to hit the pavement with a good selection of meads and one by one educate the public. I think this can happen most effectively by holding tastings in stores that sell mead, tastings with store owners who do not sell mead, farmers markets, block parties, etc.

Anyway these are just a few ramblings/thoughts about how I hope to increase the acceptance of mead in the US.