Meads I'd like to Brew
I now have a full - time job which pays fairly well (at least for a college student). This means I can afford lots of nice honey. And more bottles, along with contraptions to cork and cap them. If I'm nasty, I can even slap pretty labels on them. At the same time, my friends and family have learned from experience that I am not making Prison Wine. And a dear friend has encouraged me to date Renn Fair Girls. Ergo, my motivation to brew has increased substantially.
So, I thought I'd write down a list of meads I might want to make. I've made a few simpler meads and made them well — cysers, a traditional, a metheglin, a pyment. So, I think I'd like to experiment with it a little, invent a few recipes of my own accord. I'll probably be making mead for years, I plan to try all of these at some point.
Massala chai mead. The other day, I tried honey in massala chai tea. And it was great. I feel like this will either be excellent or utterly horrifying.
Dark Bochet Braggot. Braggots are meads made with grains. Bochets are meads made with caramelized honey. Stouts taste Nice and Toasty, bochets taste Nice and Toasty. Will they combine to make something Supremely Nice and Toasty?
Unhoppy Honey Guinness. In a similar vein, I wanna make a garden variety Stout Braggot. I have made Honey Guinness before, but I added far more hops than I enjoy (which is a shame, because it tasted really good before the bitterness got you). I wish to make Honey Guinness again, but good this time.
Jasmime Tea Mead. More or less what it says on the tin.
Peach cobbler mead. Embrace my southern heritage. I figure this would just be flavored with caramelized peaches and cinnamon?
Cold Brew Coffee mead. Coffee and honey go well together. Maybe throw in cacao nibs. This is not original, but I will call mine Saint Drogo's Respite, and that is original.
Earl Grey Peppermint Cinnamon Mead. I made a very nice Earl Grey Peppermint Cinnamon tea awhile back, and I feel like it would be very nice as a mead. Normal Earl Grey mead sounds great too.
Bourbon - Chip Aged pyment. My parents love this whacky wine called Apothetic Inferno. It's a blend of red wines that somebody aged in bourbon barrels, tastes weird and toffee-like—love the stuff. I really want to do this with a red pyment, age it on bourbon - soaked wood chips for a long time. Might have potential as a bochet, I dunno.
Rose hydromel. A hydromel is low - alcohol mead, more honey beer than honey wine, I like them sparkling. I wanna flavor one with rose tea, has potential as a cold Summer / Spring beverage. This would be nice with some other flowers too. Hibiscus Hydromel, Dandelion Hydromel.
Ginger Hydromel. When I was making non - alcoholic ginger beer, a friend suggested I make some with a kick. But it occurred to me that I could use honey as a source of fermentable sugars, and that's just mead. Ginger braggot has potential?