Alden's Mead Label Design

[Alden]

Thought y'all might like to see my mead label design. I'm active in the SCA and most of my friends there will be drinking my mead, so the art is geared towards that crowd. In fact, the artist who does the picture in my labels is also an SCAer. The only requirement for the artwork is to have some representation of the non-honey ingredients (in this case pears) and a bee to represent the honey. Also the color pallet is based on the main non-honey ingredient. I then take a couple colors from the picture to shade the bottom half of the label to compliment the art.

The AD in the circle is my maker's mark and is colored in the same design as my coat of arms (black and white).

http://planet-krypton.com/mead-pear.jpg

The next batch to be bottled is going to be a strawberry melomel. I can't wait to see the artwork. Then will be blackberry mead and last is a spiced apple mead. I'll post the labels as I get them.

Alden

 

[abejita]

Hi, I'm another Houston resident. I think we have four of them (that I know of) on the board.

That is a lovely label. It's a sweet design, cute but not saccharin. Very nice. I can't wait to see the strawberry one.

 

[HomeBrew]

Very nice label.

How is the product? Did the pears assert their flavor well? I have pear trees in my yard that are dropping fruit right now. Every year I consider a pear melomel, but I just don't think that there is enough flavor in mine to hold through fermentation/ ageing.

peace.

 

[Alden]

The pear flavor is subtle, but there. This was my first batch of mead, so it was a bit experiemental, but I got the recipe from a friend who has made pear melomel before.

One of the things I learned from him is when possible use a couple varieties of the same fruit. This adds some complexity to the flavor and keeps it from tasting bland. I used Bartlett and Anjou pears. The same supposedly applies for apples when making cysers and ciders.

Another friend who is a brewer suggested adding fruit to the secondary fermenter instead of the primary to get a more fruity flavor.

I'd imagine that even if you don't taste it and say "hey, there's pear in this", it probably will still have a different flavor than if you just made a straight honey mead. But again, I suspect this is likely due to flavor complexity.

Alden

 

[scout]

Wonderful label, Alden! Glad you and abejita came through the evacuation okay (yeah I'd say the hurricane, but we know that the evacuation is what hurt Houston residents most).

 

[Brewbear]

Way cool label!
Do you have the recipe posted?

Stay dry,
Ted

 

[WRATHWILDE]

Alden,

Makes me wish I could post my latest label. :'( Although said label will probably go out to my friends, and most of my family, including my Mom... My grandmother will probably get something not at all revealing.

Any of the regulars who want preview... email me. I know I'm not the only one with risque labels... I've seen pictures but I won't name names.

Wrathwilde

 

[Oskaar]

:

 

[Alden]

OK Wrath, now you got me curious. Can you send me a copy of your label? alden_drake@sbcglobal.net. Thanks!

Hey Scout - Yeah, the evacuation was the worst part. We *tried* to evacuate and got as far as Pinehurst. It took us 8.5 hours to drive a distance that normally takes 30-40 minutes! We really lucked out though in how the hurricane turned out. Friends of mine in Beaumont didn't fare so well.

Brewbear - I haven't posted the recipe. It's my friend's recipe, so I'd want to get his permission before posting it. I'll ask him when I see him next.

Alden