To me, a "purist" is someone that does not add chemicals to the mead but I tend to refer to that as "natural mead-making", not purism...
Welcome to Gotmead and the world of mead. Joe's Ancient Orange (JAO) is drinkable as soon as it drops clear. While it does get better with age, there is something about the recipe (maybe the orange rinds) that make it a lot less harsh right after it clears than a new mead using a more standard recipe.
As others have already recommended, try doing JAO with NO recipe modifications. See if you like it. Then use your culinary background and talents to begin to fine tune things. JAO also has the benefit that you can taste it and know what you have got within a few months where as most standard mead recipes should age almost a year before you really know whether you have a winner or not.
But most of all, have fun!
Pewter
Welcome to Gotmead and the world of mead. Joe's Ancient Orange (JAO) is drinkable as soon as it drops clear. While it does get better with age, there is something about the recipe (maybe the orange rinds) that make it a lot less harsh right after it clears than a new mead using a more standard recipe.
As others have already recommended, try doing JAO with NO recipe modifications. See if you like it. Then use your culinary background and talents to begin to fine tune things. JAO also has the benefit that you can taste it and know what you have got within a few months where as most standard mead recipes should age almost a year before you really know whether you have a winner or not.
But most of all, have fun!
Pewter
