Toggle sidebar

What got you started?

  • PATRONS: Did you know we've a chat function for you now? Look to the bottom of the screen, you can chat, set up rooms, talk to each other individually or in groups! Click 'Chat' at the right side of the chat window to open the chat up.
  • Love Gotmead and want to see it grow? Then consider supporting the site and becoming a Patron! If you're logged in, click on your username to the right of the menu to see how as little as $30/year can get you access to the patron areas and the patron Facebook group and to support Gotmead!
  • We now have a Patron-exclusive Facebook group! Patrons my join at The Gotmead Patron Group. You MUST answer the questions, providing your Patron membership, when you request to join so I can verify your Patron membership. If the questions aren't answered, the request will be turned down.
Barrel Char Wood Products
I've been away for a while. Life took its turns and twist.... But, I'm back now.

My interest was pricked while studying ancient Euro/UK history. I wished to experience their fermented drink, which is fit for gods. This was about 3 years ago. I did a one-galloner in the bedroom. Now it's difficult to navigate through my cellar, due to carboys, bottles, etc....

That basic desire to experience Mead as the anceint folks did, blossomed into a passion that is never quinched.
 
Welcome back Marion. Sheesh, it's been a while, glad to see you back on the forum!!!

Cheers,

Oskaar
 
Yea, been a while. Thanks for the reception. It's nice to see your witty self still around.
 
Hi this post will serve as my introduction. My name is Mel and I am about to start my first Mead. I am going to try the Ancient Orange. What got me interested in making Mead was mustard. That may sound a bit odd but it is true. I was looking up how to make mustard and found Leeners. Noticed the link to the Mead kit on the mustard making page and started searching the web and found Got Mead. Been reading the forum and gathering equipment, I went to some local home brewing shops, and am going to start tomorrow.
Mel W.
 
Welcome to the club Mel,
I started my first batch of ancient orange yesterday, couldn't wait for Saturday. I should have waited, in my excitement I sort of fumbled the yeast part. What got me interested in mead???? Hmmmm.... A show on the food channel filmed partly at the winery where they make Chauncers, my curiosity, the mention of mead in Harry Potter, Okaar and Joe's postings. BTW, Oskaar, did you get your mead wenches? I haven't had a taste of mead yet but I like sweet wines, I collect them ( mostly empty bottles now ::) ). I have a bottle of Chauncers but since everybody keep saying that home made is better, I'll wait.....I gues ;D

Hey Mel, will you be brewing a melomel soon?
Sorry, couldn't resist.
Have fun,
Ted
 
Welcome Mel and Brewbear. May your glasses always be full and your mead ever bountiful!

cheers,

Oskaar
 
better late than never right?

I'm a Norse pagan and one of my Kindred members started brewing mead many years ago. He would bribe us to help him bottle with mead ;-) Then at our campouts it seemed Brewers were sprouting up everywhere.

Finally I moved from SF to Chicago to live with JackalGuy and he likes to cook and drink, so I introduced him to mead. Made some not so subtle suggestions and here we are. Fully addicted to the brewing experience. Preaching Talking the word of Mead to all our friends, who, after their taste of the Jadwiga are quite supportive ;D

Bella
 
melw, Brewbear, and (belatedly, sorry) BellaCrow, and anyone else I've missed,

Welcome to the board. This is a wonderful place to learn and pass along knowledge, and it's a great collection of people. Enjoy, enjoy!

-David
 
Mel,

Yes, mead is insidious, popping up in strange places to seduce and wind it's wiley way into the minds of the unwary ;D. Worst of all, it's addictive. Addictive to make, and to drink, well...

Miriam
 
Hello!
I am new to the board and brewing mead. I got my first taste from a friend about 10 years ago. Since then I have thought about trying to brew it and finally one day I got off of my butt and tried it. I have three batches so far: the first is still perking along (3mo now), the second is already bottled and tasting great, the third is clearing rapidly and I plan to try to bottle them live within a month or so. I am somewhat suprised by how much I enjoy making mead!

Bob
 
Was chatting with a friend about his cyser brewing experiences. He convinced me that it wasn't difficult, and that since I was a fan of fruity tasting drinks, I'd probably like it. :) After he laid out how little it cost him to start up a small batch, I figured I'd give it a try. My cyser has been bubbling away since May 20th now. ;D
 
I would like to say it was the 13th warrior, well kind of. While at my friend house, who was a homebrewer, beer, wine and mead, he offered me a choice, port, beer, wine or mead. Since I have my degree in history,and like the 13th warrior, and it is mentioned, I tried it. Got happy :D Since then I have made several with him and will make more. ;D
 
Derf said:
Ok, this is more of a question or a poll than a tale: What was it that motivated you to make your first batch of mead? I'm sure there are some good stories out there just waiting to be told.
Click to expand...

I started brewing beer in 1994. My first batch was a kit. My second batch was some sort of Dopplebock/Stout/Barleywine thing that after a year of aging rocked. The very next thing I tired was a mead because of some of the things i had read in the new Complete Joy of Homebrewing. That first mead was...heinous. I knew nothing of campden or anything. The stuff fermented violently for 3 weeks, hit about 21% and was absolutely foul (It was the only batch of ANYTHING that I have ever actually dumped). It was so bad that I decided to do it again, I was hell bent on making a drinkable mead so between beer batches I kept making mead. Nowadays my stuff is alright and I'm in the running for North Carolina Mead maker of the year (I took second the last two years running to Steve Peek, a great meadmaker in his own right). I am hooked and I cannot stop!
 
Part of it is coming from a punk rock DIY ethic. I want to brew my own because I'm not so psyched about liquor companies. Also, being from WV I come from a tradition of moonshining. My daddy ran the stuff.

But what really got me started (and I just started) is that I have a chronic illness. As part of treatment for my condition, I have to severely limit my sugar consumption and alcohol is definitely off-limits. So I am making mead, which takes at least a year to mature enough to be really good (and more to be great). By the time my mead is ready, I'm hoping to be healthy again. It forces me to think about a time when I won't always be in pain.
 
Well, I guess this is as good a place to introduce myself as any (since some others have done so as well). Hi, my name is Scout, and I have C.A.D.D. (Crafter's Attention Deficit Disorder). My usual support group only meets once a month, so I have to find a lot of stuff on my own. :) Only halfway joking, as I currently knit, embroider, sew, do beadwork, make beads, do altered art, cook, and well just about anything I can get my hands on without making my husband shake me for spending way too much money.

I was actually researching home winemaking when I came across these forums, and well, to be honest, it was y'all who got me started in mead making. You all seem so friendly and helpful and excited and funny, I knew I had to at least make one batch just so that I could not feel guilty for reading this *big grins*. That and when I told my husband that for my first "tester" batch (to test if I like doing it), I could get all the equipment for less than $10, he was more than happy for me to give it a whirl.

My first batch, Joe's Ancient Orange - of course, is bubbling away as of this morning. I can't wait to see what it tastes like! :)

Oh, and I tend to ramble . . . sorry. - Scout
 
Hey Scout!

Welcome to the forums! We're glad to have you aboard and actively making mead! Congrats on the batch of Joe's Ancient Orange.

Feel free to dive right in read everything you can and ask questions.

Cheers,

Oskaar
 
I'll bite,
About eight years ago I was watching the OLN and they had a special where they were talking with a sheep farmer in England. He took the reporter out to his shed and showed them his mead, bubling away in a plastic pail with a damp cloth on top of it. I remembered reading about mead all my life and I thought to myself "I can do that..." :o. And so I did a lot of research and even more experimentation over the years. I am still learning and trying new things, but one thing is sure. My love for mead will never die, it just grows stronger each passing year. I wish I could make more, it never seems to last very long, but I am happy with what I have. And one more thing...I am not greedy, I always have mead to share! ;D
 
I won't bite, but I'll gulp.

I am a beer lover and home brewer. I lived in England for many years and know the wonders of a good Ale or Bitter served at just the right temperature. I also savored many a fine Cider having lived close to Hereford, where the best Scrumpy Jack is made (if you go there, try it. There is no better cider!!). I was always trying different drinks and looking for the perfect one.

When I returned to the States, I bought the Complete Joy of Home Brewing, and noticed the section on Mead. Perhaps my Celtic ancestry woke up, for the idea of a strong honey beverage sipped in front of a roaring fire started me thinking. Unfortunately, I am not a wine lover (which is what I thought Mead was). Truth is, I just don't like it. So I did not attempt to make it. But last year, I went to the Wisconsin State Fair and was pursuaded to try some local wines. None changed my opinion of wine until I saw the Sweet Mead from White Winter Winery. Understand, I love honey. I put honey in Peanut Butter sandwiches and have even put it on pancakes and French Toast.

So I quaffed. It was delicious!. I quaffed again, and again. This was everything I had dreamed a Mead should be. Sweet, yet not cloying, with a light honey taste that stayed on the tongue long enough to last till the next sip. This was the drink I had been looking for. No more beer brewing for me. I had found my new obsession.
 
For me, it was the SCA and trying other people's mead. As someone with a Celtic ancestory, it was just the thing to get into. Before I started my first mead, I had done one ale, and several cordials. I just sampled my first mead, and it's starting to clear so it's nearly time to bottle! This was a 5 gallon mulled mead that is going to be sooo good when it's had time to age.

2 weeks ago, I started my first batch of Joe's Ancient Orange and it's comming along nicely. What's funny about the Ancient Orange is that my boyfriend asked what that smell was, and it was that mead in a cupboard.;D I may do another beer, but I'm hooked on meadmaking. Before we went to the local Highland war, my boyfriend made me very happy by giving me yet another empty wine bottle.
 
I can’t remember when I first hear about mead, but been a student of classical things I got intrigued. So I played with fermentation in small jars, just with bread yeast. Tasted like, well I cant really describe the taste so we will just say bin water. I went and got some mead from the local bottle shop, tasted it and thought, that’s nice but I like stuff sweeter. Since there was no other mead there for me to buy, and since I was doing medieval studies I thought….Practical. So I got myself a carboy, and all the other stuff I needed, and got my first batch under way, very sweet just the way I like it. It’s still bubbling away, in it’s third week.

Mu.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Barrel Char Wood Products

Viking Brew Vessels - Authentic Drinking Horns

Top Bottom