What to do with my traditional dry mead

Mead
1

I’ve got a colleague with an apiary so it was natural that I should make some mead. I’m not a huge fan of mead and decided to go with a straight forward dry mead. I fermented about 5 gallons that started off around 1.094ish. I let it sit in primary for a couple months and then racked it into a glass carboy in January 2014. It’s now a little over a year old and it’s cleaned up considerably although there is a bit of a medicinal note on the finish (however it’s much better than it was when I last tasted it in June).

I’m assuming the off flavors are from fusel alcohols… any chance they will dissipate entirely? FG is quite low at 1.002. I’d like to bottle this soon as I’ve got 5 gallons of honey crisp cider I’d like to bulk age for a bit (and that’s my only glass carboy).

Are there different ways I might try to bottle this to make it enjoyable? I’ll probably do most of it straight into the bottle but may try bottling it with some other flavors. Recommendations?

Any chance there is any viable yeast left after a year? I might bottle some with some carb drops and let them sit for another year.

Anywho… I’d love some advice on how to proceed from here. Thanks!

2

why not buy another bulk fermenter and age it longer on some oak, or maybe even cedar? Fusels can oxidize and turn to pleasant sherry-like esters, which would come with more aging (I have a biere de mars that took over 2 years to age out…now its excellent).

I never thought I would say this about a beverage, but I tend to prefer meads still as opposed to carbonated. I still don’t really drink mead though.

You could also blend it with a blonde ale and make a braggot. Maybe check out Moonlight Meadery for some ideas, they do everything from blend meads with stouts (a straggot?) to dry hopped meads.

I’ve made one braggot in my brewing career and its ‘ok’. Great with a cigar though! :cheers:

3

Thanks for the tips… I think some sort of blend is in my future. Racking it on some oak sounds good too. Thankfully I’m in no hurry to do anything with this… but sadly I’ve got more time than space. Maybe I’ll just get rid of some of my wife’s things and make some room for another carboy :lol: