Oskaar's Tasting notes and Boars Head
Went to Boars Head... an event north of Milwaukee and at a Liquor Making class spread the Word of GotMead for those who were also wanting to learn mead making, about 12 asked for cards... so I expect one or two will actually register. I also met a Master Vinter who has been brewing over 30 years and talked shop with him for a 1/2 hour or so. He claimed he's at the point now where a word will pop into his head and he'll design a mead around the word, which he say's has led to some unusual meads. So I imparted some of the stranger meads that have made their way onto the forum... when I told him of a Jerky Mead his face lit up and he said I've got to meet the man who made that mead... So I told him to come to the forum and look for Oskaar. He also gasped at the fish tank mead and had a good laugh... I did tell him that it hadn't been initiated by one of our members but was cross-posted.
I took a # of meads and met Angus at a Bard's gathering after the event... I'll let him post his impressions. Hey angus... every time I hear "Blow the bloody doors off" the voice I hear in my head is Michael Cain? was it one of his films?
I did meet a German at the Bard's gathering who, when offered my Honey Maple, said... "I warn you... the best mead I've ever had was a seven year old mead... aged in a cask that had been in use for over 70 years making Sherry." After tasting he exclaimed "This is the best mead I've had in America." then followed up with "I have a friend in Germany that runs a mead bar, and we've sampled over a hundred meads from all over the world... I would put this in the top five."
I can't tell you how thrilled I was to get an endorsement like that.
Wrathwilde
(On to Oskaar's Tasting Notes of my Honey Maple)
Wrathwilde’s Maple Mead:
This one weighs in at a Final Gravity of 1.0525 and will cure one’s sweet tooth in a hurry.
Appearance:
This mead has a very deep copper/brown color and is clear but not brilliant or gemlike. Upon swirling it is thick and glyceric coating the glass generously. Small legs form quickly and develop into long lazy trails down the side of the glass to the resting mead.
Aroma:
The honey and maple are amply evident in the nose, as is a good dose of alcohol. They are not out of balance. Of note was an initial impression of sanitizer both on the cap and from the neck of the bottle of mead itself. Once poured into the glass, the mead did not present any sanitizer aroma, or trace characters. Perhaps the aroma came from the outside of the bottle. There is a very faint hint of distillate/medicinal character under the alcohol and high in the nose, but it is in such a trace amount that it does not influence or detract from the overall aroma and character. There are hints of spice, sandalwood, smoke, clover and rock candy followed by licorice, molasses, cedar and root beer. There is a trace of citrus on the fore which washes across the top of the middle palate and fades with the finish. There is also a faint yeast character noticeable on the upper palate as well. Again these are not out of balance and do not detract from the overall mead’s impression.
Flavor and Character:
This is a thick, brawny dessert mead with a high residual sugar and plenty of character to keep one going back to the bottle until it is empty. It is dense and full of character and the honey and maple are well represented in the mix. This is still a fairly young mead, and it would be a great candidate for some additional aging and oak treatments. I believe that with further aging the wide flavor profile would have a chance to integrate more gracefully, and then gain some beneficial structure from an oak treatment (American or French would both be great in this instance) There are slight undertones of bittersweet chocolate on the fore which fades to a rock-candy character along the roof of the mouth as described above. The maple flavor and character dominate in the mouth initially but then fades gracefully to the background has the honey character emerges and develops. There is a hint of vinyl-phenol on the top that reminds of EC-1118, Montrachet and sometimes D-47 when not given enough nutrients. Again, this is present in trace amounts only and would not be considered a fault in my opinion. This is a character that ages out with time. There are some subtle spice and floral characters along the sides that I’m going to classify as nutmeg/allspice along with some honey varietal character. As it sits right now this bottle seems to be an excellent match for one of my Montecristo No 2 Cigars. Guess it’s time to find out.
Intermission while Oskaar heads to the humidor and preps one of the aforementioned sticks for a hedonistic interlude.
I found myself a comfy spot in the backyard to sit with a nice cigar and the second half of the bottle of Maple Mead. As I suspected this is an excellent pairing between the Montecristo No 2 and the mead. The sweet maple/honey match well against the woody, spicy, leathery flavor of the cigar. The creamy smoke of the cigar really brings out some nice nutty and cedary nuances in the mead. I would recommend this mead to anyone hwo like a good thick sweet full bodied dessert mead with a smooth medium bodied cigar.
Thoughts:
1. A bit more aging to allow more structure and flavor integration
2. Lay it on some wood and let those wood sugars and tannins do their thing.
3. Small dose of nutrient at the 2/3 sugar break should help eliminate that vinyl-phenol character.
4. Give the bottle a full rinse off after the bleach sanitizer treatment..
Questions:
1. Which yeast? EC-1118, Montrachet or D-47?
2. Was this clover honey?
3. Was this a bleach sanitized batch or something other?
Hope that helps,
Oskaar
