I just bought a gallon of fireweed honey
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I suspect Oskaar and Ken Schramm would concur with WVMJack. Smell and taste it before you decide on a style. Melomels will overwhelm/hide strange tastes, metheglyns can enhance a particular flavor, but traditionals are bare naked.
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I expect it on Monday (tomorrow). I'll post some tasting notes when it shows up.
So my honey came yesterday. I'm having a hard time finding a description. It is very delicate. Very neutral in every way. It is very light in color. Not much nose to it. The taste comes and then goes away pretty quick. Not a long lingering taste. The acidity is pretty neutral as well. I know that is not very descriptive. I think that is one way to define it. Just very neutral in every way. About all I can think of to use it is just a sugar source for the yeast to make alcohol out of. Maybe you could say I have an invisible canvas to paint on. WIth that said, maybe it could be used with delicate spices. I doubt I will buy it again. Kinda pricey for nothing special.
Aww..pity. Well, see if you can find a local beekeeper to connect with so you can try before you buy, rather than do mail order
I picked up a gallon of wildflower (aka fireweed) honey from Western Colorado Honey in Silt when I went to the CSBA summer meeting. Paul gets it from a private property in the high mountains in the Flat Tops wilderness that is full of fireweed. It is a tad darker than I expected and full of flavor. I'm going to try it out in my next BOMM batch with Fermaid O. If that turns out well, I plan on stopping by his shack when I'm over the hill and get more. He got a good harvest from that yard last year and there were lots of pails in his warehouse.
I also grabbed two gallons of the Rabbit Brush honey. One for me to just eat. The butterscotch notes may make something interesting too.
I also grabbed two gallons of the Rabbit Brush honey. One for me to just eat. The butterscotch notes may make something interesting too.
"Rabbit brush" or rabbitbrush is something that looks sorta like sagebrush but sometimes taller and just as wide spread everywhere in the west. In the late summer and fall it sprouts yellow flowers on the tips of branches. From the moving car, it would look like yellow tipped branches on sagebrush. Specifically: Ericameria nauseosa or Rubber Rabbitbrush or more commonly Yellow Rabbitbrush. Bees love it when it blooms but more probably because it is the only thing blooming late in most of Colorado. If the beekeeper throws up empty supers before they bloom, you can pretty much be assured that the next honey flow is from rabbitbrush (this happens over in Silt where the sides of the road and hills are all yellow). This varietal will be my second Fermaid O experiment after the fireweed.
As soon as you described it I knew exactly what you were speaking of. Would you PM me your number please. I would like to get that guys number if you would and it would be great to meet you as well. I don't know a single person who knows what Mead let alone makes it
Look a little harder, you might find someone in the migratory bee business. That might open your options. Also, try asking Oskar or Wayneb where they get their special varietals.
