Comparing mead styles

[Dmntd]

I've been asked to compare the taste of braggot to that of other styles of mead.

This is difficlut since braggot really does not taste like any other style of mead, nor does it taste like the base style of beer, be it ale or lager. It falls somewhere inbetween.

The best way to determine whether or not you'll like braggot (I didn't at first, it's like beery mead), would be to get a few bottles of your favorite beer, a measuring cup and a couple bottles of your mead.

Pour 6oz mead, 3oz of beer mix and taste (1/3 malt is minimum for braggot), followed by 5oz mead, 4oz of beer mix and taste, 6oz mead - 6oz beer and so on untill you get to 3oz mead to 6 oz honey (1/3 honey is minimum for braggot). Try this with 3 or 4 beers you like, take not as you go along (you'll need them tomarrow), then Follow this with 3 pints of water, an okie dog and 2 asprin.

This will do a number of things, let you know whether or not you care for braggot, give you a real good idea of what base style of beer you like best for a braggot, help you figure out the ratio of honey to malt you like best and provide an opportunity to try out some of These hangove cures. >

Demented

 

[yabodie]

I will have to give this a try. As you are aware I have been pestering you for a descriptor of how a braggot tastes, however, I will have to omit the Okie dog.

Hmmm, Redhook ESB and a dry show mead, Dogfish Chicory Stout and a semi sweet show mead, maybe an Alaskan Amber with a heather cyser, Guinness with a orange blossom dry show mead.

This could get interesting, and painful, yet FUN!! ;D ;D

 

[JoeM]

For me, trying to describe what a “typical” braggot tastes like is kind of an interesting task. “Beery” mead is definitely a good place to start, but the thing that I find so interesting about it is that it sort of has a character of its own.

The other problem is that I’ve had braggots made by myself, as well as a few other people, and what I’ve found is that the style in general is just SO open to interpretation. The first consideration is weather the braggot is more “beery” or more “meady” in profile. This includes whether it is fermented with beer yeast or ale yeast and whether it is beer strength or wine strength. Then does it contain hops? This in itself can be an entire debate. Then finally, what style of beer is it based on? Personally, I would have to say that I strive for a particular balance between the elements in most of my braggots.

Typically I like a beer strength recipe that is fermented with ale yeast but obtains more than 50% of its fermentables from honey and includes a small amount of hops for balance (this is excluding the barleywine braggot recipe I posted a few days ago which departs from my standard braggot style). This yields a beverage that is in my opinion more like mead than beer, but still has a distinct ale character to it, and really is unlike any other mead (or beer) that I make.

And whether or not mixing pre-made beer and mead together will give you an idea of what real braggot is like, I’m not really sure. I cant say I’ve ever tried anything like that, and for all I know it may taste exactly like braggot, but it may also be like mixing honey and vodka to try and see what mead tastes like…or grape juice and vodka to try and see what wine tastes like.

So basically what I’m trying to say is…get out there and make some braggot! It’s the only way to know for sure.