/ck/ - Food & Cooking

store brought is kinda shit.
I made some ghetto mead and it was kinda shit (fruit juice bottle, glad wrap and rubber band).
I made it properly and used a touch of fruit juice as well as the 6kg of good quality honey and it came out pretty good. Would rather have just made a reg. white wine though. Easier to make and it comes out way nicer (but you have to wait much longer).
It's a meme, just think of a flat sweet white wine but it's a different flavor. If that appeals to you, then try it I guess.

>>16511587
No but I had honey Jack and it sucked. It's basically the same thing. Honey is a shit food.

>>16511587
Friend from way back used to make Heather Mead. Was one of my favorite beverages, hands down. Haven't had store bought, didn't know that was a thing.

>>16511587
I like it. The closest way I can describe it is having the sweetness of whiskey but without any of the burn, and more honey-flavored than oak-flavored. Basically as sweet as a soft drink and alcoholic but no carbonation. Depending on how high-quality the source honey is, you can get notes of different flowers and shit

>>16511587
even high end store bought mead is shitty, just make it yourself. it's just water honey and brewing yeast.

They make mead very traditionally here, with berries and meadherb. I think it is very nice. Planning to make it myself soon

>>16511587
>Have you ever tried mead?
no because im not an autistic neckbeard.

Never had store bought but I brew my own. Its incredibly easy aslong as your patient enough to do it right.
The last batch had blueberrys,cherries,raspberrys and strawberrys mixed in and tasted just like minute maid fruit punch even though it was 12%abv

>>16511587
I like this stuff, the plain is oversweet but with the hops and hibiscus it mellows it out enough that it's very tasty, great for when it's cold out and hanging out in front of a fire or movie.

I didn't like it too much, but I don't like anything akin to white wine, it had a very sugary undertone that was completely overshadowed by the alcohol in it, twas OK

>>16512606
>mead with hops
absolutely haram and unacceptable

>>16511587
Just tasted like shit wine to me, and I don't like wine.

>>16511587
The dry meads that have aged longer tend to be better. There's a balance between too sweet and bone dry and crashing the fermentation before it gets too strong that's hard to achieve. It's also expensive as all fuck to make if you don't have the hookup for 30 pounds of honey.

>>16512656
Its called a braggot, its a style of mead just like a cyzer or melomel.

>>16512669
30 pounds of honey can make you 20 gallons of mead

>>16512670
>faggot
everything you need to know

Was looking for general liquor thread, but I'll try and post here instead.

I've got some excellent sweet rosemary mead I made last year. I want to use it to make cocktails at a BBQ with friends. Any ideas what to mix it with? Ive also got some dry ("hard") apple cider.

I mixed it with some sparkling water/tonic and whiskey, which was very nice.

>>16512810
Try it with iced tea, I've still yet to do it but always thought it would be a good combination.

I had some years ago, I think it was more like a cheap wine than anything. Saw the neck beards buying it
>"dude im 1/10 viking"

>>16511587
yes, it was good

>>16511587
There are a few good local made ones that I enjoy

>>16511587
My dad and I made mead a few years back with our own honey and sour cherries. It came out pretty well. Very sweet.

>>16512277
>Basically as sweet as a soft drink
All the storebought mead I tried was sweet like this, but it's also possible for it to be dry like wine and have no sweetness left at all. I prefer the latter, I've made it myself a few times since it's really simple to do and I like it when it's not really sweet at all. It's like drinking dry white wine while smelling honey.

>>16512680
Imagine making alcoholism into a career. That's who brews, plus or minus a bach or masters in some kind of alleged science.

>>16513438
I think alcoholics would rather just buy alcohol and immediately consume it instead of having the patience to make their own.

>>16513438
What are hobbies?

>>16513483
It starts as a hobby but pure numbers say home brewers have a college degree and my personal study of them say they're professional alcoholics who made kvass and wine under their beds as a teen. My point was that 20 gallons ain't shit for a hobby brewer. That's a weekly average if you have adventurous friends.

Mead has been ruined by LARPers

>>16513638
Dumbest shit i've read today. 20 gallons is about equal to one hundred 750ml wine bottles. For that to be a "weekly average", you're looking at 14 bottles per day, everyday. If you and your friends are drinking 100 wine bottles per week than maybe your the professional alcoholic and shouldnt be talking shit.

>>16513749
For more perspective 20gal is 213 standard size cans of beer, or 30 cans per day for a "weekly average".

>>16512680
yeah, homebrewing is high level alcoholism. a 5 gallon pail (60 lbs) of bulk honey runs you about $100, add in about $10 for a bunch of packs of brewing yeast (you don't have to buy these if you maintain your own live culture), and it's $110 for 40 gallons (200 count of 0.75 liter bottles). that amounts to roughly 55 cents per bottle of mead. alcohol is pretty cheap to manufacture, and mead is one of the easiest alcohols to make. alcohol off the shelf is only expensive because of taxes.

>>16511608
lmfao at your dumb ass

>>16511587
I had some recently, in canned form. It was probably the best mead ive ever had. The more traditional types I've tried have been very unpleasantly sour, like a really sour red wine

There is lots of meads out there anon.
Here in poland we have a lot of traditional stuff with long history behind it, and because of those traditions we have heavy regulations that make our traditional meads very different to others. pic rel is półtorak ( this style of mead requires proportions of 1 l of honey to 0.5 l of water) aged for 15 years in virgin oak barrels. It is quite sweet but not overtly so, the flavours range from honey, biscuits, floral to vanilla and oakiness.
Globaly you've got craft mead, which can be insane, really delicious and sometimes totally off - balance with it's sweetness which only makes it better for an informed buyer. It is also not restricted meaning that there can be some crazy adjuncts in it.
Polish meaderies I recommend: Pasieka jaros, Miody nidzica, M.K piwowar, Mazurskie miody.
Some of the best stuff you can get outside of poland: Schramm's meadery, Pip's meadery, superstition meadery.
I also know that both denmark and lithuania have a worthwhile mead culture however I did not explore it myself yet.

>>16513861
i've tried a schramm melomel and i thought it was an overly sweet desert wine for women. prefer my own brew. schramm's book is good though, especially for modern techniques used for winning contests.

>>16512670
you are utterly retarded braggot is beer - mead hybrid, lots of meads have hops in them, almost none of them are braggots. KYS

>>16513881
I think mead has a lot more to offer when it is sweet, I find dry meads to be lacking in aroma.

>>16513891
i agree, dry mead is a waste of resources. that shramm was EXTREMELY sweet though, far beyond traditional. comparable to an ice wine.

>>16512321
>trying new things makes people autistic neckbeards
Lmfao what how can somebody be as retarded as you and still work a keyboard

>>16513896
it's supposed to be sweet, otherwise it wont have any depth in the flavour

>>16513881
>desert wine is for women
I'll even tie the noose for you anon, as long as you do the jumping.

>>16514269
ONLY RED DRY OOOOOOOOO

>>16511587
I like the taste but I don't like alcohol much other than low abvs like cider or lambic. Used some apple mead cyser last night for deglazing a porc au vin that turned out well.

>>16514365
This stuff

>>16514186
>>16514269
cat mom's triggered lmfao

>>16511587
had some in slovakia, it was good, i wish i remembered which bottle i got

>>16511587
when i was growing up i essentially pictured mead as what most people call 'beer'. a carbonated delicious beverage. Mead itself is a syrupy wine. it's tasty and will get you drunk bit i understand why they needed those big grug type glasses

>>16511587
had homemade mead
It was amazing
would drink it again.

>>16511587
>Have you ever tried mead?
both
>How was it?
underwhelming
too sweet
>Was it hot/cold?
tried both as well as mulled
mulled and hot was the best
>Too sweet?
yes
>Would you drink it again/often?
zero chance
>Is it a giant meme and there’s superior options?
yes

>>16515334
>>16514546

t. tastelets

Lads, where can I get large amounts of honey in England? All the vids I see of it getting made have huge bottles but the largest amount I've ever seen in a single container was 454g

>>16515694
I found 1.2kg containers of good quality local honey at a Persian grocer if you have any stores like that which you can check.

Some local wineries brew it. Pretty good.
I want a good dry mead, though; most are sweeter than ideal for me.

Mead has been ruined by association with vikings, which is totally unfair since mead's been a thing all world over.

>>16515310
>when i was growing up
>tfw 'skyrim came out in 2011' is not a basis to call someone underage

>>16515694
Look for local apiaries or wholesale websites. If you have a good brew supply store just ask them, even if they dont stock it they might know where to get it.

>>16515764
Fuck. I'm getting old.
2011 was 10 years ago.
>Mead question, for those who make their own
Any specific kind of honey I should go for? I have a nearby shop that sells all sorts, from wildflowers to buckwheat. Should I go for a specific one when making my own brew?

>>16515843
orange blossom is the goto premium choice. clover is more affordable and also a good choice. wildflower can be good but it varies (try it). buckwheat is less common for mead, supposedly has a strong taste, haven't used it myself. high quality buckwheat honey should be dark in color.

>>16513923
>mead is a LARP drink for autistic neckbeards
>OMG WHAT YOU DONT TRY NEW THINGS?!?!? ALL NEW THINGS ARE FOR AUTISTS??!?!? HEH YOURE LIKE A RETARD OR SOMETHING
get a grip you fat virgin.

>>16513861
Półtorak looks incredible

>>16511587
Honey wine kind of mead was very very disappointing and just not enjoyable, at least the two brands I tried - maxwell honey mead and lyme bay traditional mead. Maybe the polish stuff is better, but am not in a hurry to check out.
Traditional Finnish Sima on the other hand is a godlike drink. Fizzy and tasty and not nauseatingly sweet.

>>16511587
My step-mom's brother makes mead and he flavors it with berries and stuff because he says it has no flavor plain.

amerimutts cannot into mead

>>16515759
mead =/= wine, the tannins are not what drives the taste, dry mead will never be as flavourfull and intresting as sweet mead.

>>16515882
buckwheat mead can get medicinal, herbal maybe a bit floral, the closest thing in alco is some cask strength rye.
>>16515901
and the best thing about it is that it costs like ~~20$, the 21 year old version get's too tannic and oaky from the barrel 15 is the sweet spot for heavy meads imho.
>>16516028
thats because most of the mead recipies I see from the states use barely any honey

>>16515539
>I only drink alcohol when it's so disgustingly sweet I can't taste the booze
even dry mead is sweeter than a fucking muscato

>>16515843
honestly the fact that your mind went to Skyrim and not some 80s or 90s cartoon reveals more about yourself than anything

>>16516302
> I drink stuff for the taste of alchol instead of everything else it has to offer
do alcoholics really?

>>16516062
>thats because most of the mead recipies I see from the states use barely any honey
i'm a burger, here's some of my best recipes, they are all mainly honey

Fortified Spiced Mead
most popular recipe, everyone loved it. but it takes more ageing and time and $$$
=================
>In a large stock pot, bring around 3 gallons of filtered water to a boil
>turn off heat and cover to keep it hot
>add 4 oz cleaned and sliced ginger
>add zest of 3 oranges (use peeler so you don't get the bitter parts)
>add 4oz golden raisins (blanch and rinse if they come with preservatives)
>let it steep for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and let it cool to 95f (can use an ice bath to speed it up)
>remove the big chunks and strain must into fermenter (6.5 gallon capacity)
>add 20lb wildflower honey (i used monarch's choice, theirs is quite flavorful)
>add 1 gallon of white grape juice (if it contains potassium metabisulfite, then seal the fermenter and let it off-gas for 24 hours, it will leave the container when you unseal it. this could also be done ahead of time outside of the must)
>add water to fill to 6 gallons
>pitch yeast (lavlin k1-v1116) per instructions
>buy 1 gallon (2 handles) of tito's vodka
>dump them both into a gallon jug
>add 12 broken cinnamon sticks
>3 pieces of mace
>20 cloves
>seal it and let it steep the entire time the mead is fermenting
>let the mead ferment to completion
>move the mead to secondary fermenter, another 6.5 gallon capacity should work, at this point i measured 14.37% ABV
>dump in the gallon of tincture, removing the spices, this brought it up to about 18.5% ABV
>flavor was best between 18 and 24 months from the vintage date, being fortified it could certainly last longer

>>16516062
>>16517101
Simple Mead
this was also really popular, easy too
===================
>20 lbs honey (used monarch's choice wildflower again)
>10oz golden raisins (blanched again)
>bring a few gallons of filtered water to a boil, add the raisins and let them steep 30+ minutes
>bring temp down to 95f and remove raisins, stir in honey
>transfer to fermenter 6.5 gallon capacity
>add lavlin-k1116 per instructions
>areate well and top off with filtered water
>didn't use the white grape juice on this one so the starting gravity was a little lower, still came out clear and sweet, probably roughly 13% ABV
>needs to be aged at least a year, 14 months from vintage should be good

Cyser
just a 1 gallon batch, but people liked this too, some liked it better cold
========================
>heat .75 gal apple juice to 95f
>stir in ~2.7lbs honey (didn't note what i used)
>add must to jug
>add lavlin k-1116 per instructions
>add cinnamon stick
>top off with apple juice and aerate well
>starting gravity was similar to the simple mead, didn't take FG, probably also roughly 13% ABV
>14 months from vintage should be good

>>16511587
It's incredibly sweet, but served ice cold on a hot day, it's pretty nice. Never had it hot. Kind of expensive, normally I'd rather have an ice cold beer on those hot days. Too closely associated with larping nerds, too; the last time I bought some, the cashier, a scrawny dweeb with greasy long hair, kept going on and on about his viking themed Dungeons and Dragons game or whatever. I just wanted to get drunk on my porch and watch my kids run around the yard.

>>16512643
You in Montana, too? I've been to their meadery outside of Missoula, had a lot of fun, worth the trip from Billings.

>>16516312
Listen, bud, I was 19 when Skyrim came out. Millennials are old, now. My oldest son is 8. It's been over a decade since I finished high school. I turn 30 in a few months.
If you're remembering cartoons from the 80's, pal, you're a very old man.

Did an experiment a year ago with ale mead and random honey off my countertop. I wanted to see what type of mead I could make with just cheap ale yeast (munton's). I split up a single pack of muntons into 3 jars and made 3 single pint batches. One targeting 10% ABV, one targeting 13% ABV, and one targeting 16% ABV. 10% (already consumed) and 13% (in the glass in picrel) fermented all the way to dry. The 16% (in the jar in picrel) remained sweet, but overly so. I've never liked dry mead, but the 10 and 13 are quite pleasant because the muntons does not floccuate completely, which adds a mild ale like flavor to keep it from being bland. It's better than dry meads I have bought off the shelf. The 16% flocculated very poorly (meaning it cannot floccuate as intended unless all sugar is consumed, it is engineered for dry ales), so my conclusion is that this cheap muntons yeast can only be effectively used for dry mead unless you intend to back sweeten. But the dry mead is pretty good (for dry mead).

I used a high quality local wildflower honey from the grocery store which probably helped, and it aged exactly one year and 5 days. Ratios used were 7oz/5.5oz/4oz honey per 1 pint of fluid, the 5.5oz being the 13% target and my favorite.

>>16517082
>when I drink alcohol, the last thing I want is to taste the actual alcohol
do women really?

>>16517190
>I was 19 when Skyrim came out
congratulations
I was 23
it's not a big deal you fag, we're all old now

>>16511587
I've made it once. It was pretty nice, maybe a little bland/completely inoffensive. Wayyy too carbonated. I bottled it at least a day too early.

>>16512656
Superdry "Mead" is impossible without a bittering agent. Noble hops work great for it. Braggot's made with malt... I think hopped mead counts as a metheglyn (spiced mead) but I can't find a solid term for it.

>>16518322
That was the fucking point of my post, you illiterate idiot faggot nigger kike.

>>16515882
Straight buckwheat honey mead is weird... I mean, buckwheat honey is weird, more like molasses than bee vomit. It works really well if you treat clover honey like a base malt, with something like 10% buckwheat, and 10% of a different honey (I couldn't get wildflower at a decent price, so I just infused a bit of the clover with elderflower) for a different, intermediate flavour.

>>16518568
don't know what you're talking about, that was a fine glass of mead. planning on perhaps making a 6 gallon batch after i move. also hops are for faggots, they turn you into a soíboí. do not consume the jew herb.

>>16518598
Well, hops and soy haven't made me look less like a gorilla with a gym membership, so I'm gonna say that you're talking out of the ass that is 4chan's collective consciousness.

There's always going to be a tiny bit of sweetness to mead (kind of like how there are flavonoids in your diet if you eat any sort of plants). You can mask it with heather tips, gentian, angelica root, burdock, dandelion, marijuana... there are choices if you really want to avoid hops.

And as for "Jew herb," hops are a flowering German vine/bine.

>>16518598
Your ancestors consumed hops. Do not desecrate their memory.

>>16518315
Bro you can just go dilute some hand sanitizer if your priority is the flavor of ethanol.

>>16518315
So you out there sipping everclear?

>>16518791
They make a vodka for that.

>>16518813
Are you not?

>>16518574
Powerful post

>>16518633
>>16518654
the german purity law of 1516 that defined what "beer" means today was not established until after hundreds of years of jewish influence in germany, do not believe these lies. there is studies of women having their menstrual cycle changed just from harvesting hops in the field that long predate modern science.

>>16518818
That's because vodka is literally just a dilute alcohol solution, there's nothing in vodka except 50% ethyl alcohol and 50% water. That's why it smells and tastes like mild hospital.

>>16518842
It's usually 60/40 here. Tastes like dilute ethanol (azeotropic max and pure are... awful). Either way, ethanol's kind of a required flavour in a lot of drinks. They don't taste right without that zip, even if it's only 4-6%

>>16518840
They're going to inherit the earth by... introducing an estradiol analogue into the diet of Germans hundreds of years before anyone knew what estradiol was, before German/Bavarian beer and brewers became vogue, or before Germany tried their year-long summer camp program. If they're playing that kind of long game 4D chess, the rest of us are already hooped. Better develop a taste for gefilte - it's gonna get kosher up in this bitch.

>>16518919
very jewish post

>>16518928
Everyone's Jewish but you, Mr. Sherman.

>>16518936
how much do you get paid per post?

>>16518956
Thousands of shekels, and a pint of gentile blood.

>>16517101
>>16517110
>6.3L of honey to atleast 12L of water
>and you add 3 L of vodka to it as well
thats a fucking abomination, and could never be labeled as mead. And indeed it's barely any honey, with that honey to water ratio, the best people do is a snappy 6-7% beer / cider tier mead, it should be carbonated and hops would be welcome addition. And why are they talking about lasting longer? somehow you hit 10% on that monstrocity it's going to last years with such abv anyway.
>>16518033
well when the there are three things in mead being water, yeast and honey, all of them will play a big role. Later oxydation will play a part too, but that's later. For a fun home experiment I recommend trying to use kveik yeasts in mead, some strains tolarate really high avb concentration, and if you ferment in summer you might get some nice fruity esters in it as well.
>>16518840
what if I told you that hops helped with preservation of beer.

>>16517190
>not even 30
>oldest son is 8
you have wasted your youth.

>>16520185
>thats a fucking abomination, and could never be labeled as mead. And indeed it's barely any honey, with that honey to water ratio, the best people do is a snappy 6-7% beer
>20lbs of honey to 6 gallons of must can potentially ferment to over 15% ABV
based retard

Just because of this thread, I'm going to pick up some mead next time I'm at the grocery store. I live in Ohio and the closest meadery is called Brothers Drake. Any anons who live in this area and know of this place can tell me if it's worth buying or not?

>americans think cider is gay
>mead
>picrel
cringe.

>>16520248
Not everyone's American. Mead and cider are gay, so's beer, so are cocktails. Pick the gay you like the most and make gay little stomach babies with it - life's too short to give a shit what a handful of anonymous closet cases on a Samoan rug weaving forum think they think.

>>16520231
yea and you can make "sugar wine" doesn't mean you should retarded cunt

>>16520990
It works for the Finnish, and the resulting "brandy" (rum) worked in the Caribbean.

>>16520248
fun fact, cider was the drink of choice for americans before prohibition. Since cider is made with specific cider apples that are sweeter than cooking apples and dessert apples (apples you eat raw) they had no use once alcohol was outlawed. So lots of farmers killed their orchards to grow something else so they could make money. After prohibition was lifted there was no apples to make cider with since it takes 10 years to grow a fruiting apple tree. Beer took it's palace since grain was cheap and plentiful. fun fact: Johnny Appleseed was said to be growing cider apples.

>>16520990
based and completely illiterate retard kek. a single non-bot posting in this thread other than me?

>>16521039
Apples that are specifically used for cider are bitter or "dry" because of tannin and malic acid content. They may have more sugar, but are less palatable because the bitter and sour flavours outshine the sweetness... that said, there are really only a handful of cider-only apples - even sharp varieties and crabapples tend to cook down quite nicely.

>>16513861
>superstition meadery
Holy shit even people in Poland know about this place? I’ve heard its name get thrown around but damn. I’ve been to it a couple of times whenever I’d visit my folks in AZ. It’s good stuff don’t get me wrong but fucking A do they overcharge like 2-3x what it should cost lol

>>16520224
I don't understand that, I never stopped going to bars with the boys, and then I get to come home to little replicants telling me they love me, and then I fuck my wife and potentially make a new replicant. What about that seems like a wasted youth, to you? Is it because I'm not buying a six thousand dollar anime sex doll or whatever it is you people spend your negligible disposable income on?

>>16521116
Does your $6000 anime sex doll tell you it loves you? No; you have kids and a wife, so you're not allowed to have one.

>>16521119
Cool, don't have one or want one. Just trying to figure out how having a family at the prime age to have a family is a wasted youth.

>>16521097
it depends on how autistic they are about craft beverages, also I am pretty sure they took part in one of our beer festivals here

>>16521309
You pronounce party as "Roh-back-suh-set"

>>16512663
this is my opinion

>>16511587
just picked up a bottle of this at a liquor store today.

>>16523175
what appealed to you most? the childish flavor or the childish packaging?

>>16523207
the amazing taste and brand reputation

>>16523207
>childish flavour
>giving a fuck a bout packaging
you were never meant to make it

>>16511587
Had a bottle of Lancaster mead about a year ago. It was nice, basically a sweet honey wine. It wasn't expensive so I might buy it again sometime.

>>16511587

If you are American then there is probably a meadery near you that ships.

Otherwise it's good to make. The best book out there is Ken Schramm's Compleat Mead Maker, along with Facebook groups like Modern Mead Makers or discords like The Mead Hall.

>>16511608
>Honey is a shit food.
Bee detected. You're not fooling me.

>>16524398
Bees use honey to feed their larvae, they would never say honey is a shit food source.

My mead tasted like tapestry glue and nail polish remover. Why?

>>16524632
shitty yeast strain, shitty fermentation temperature, not enough time to settle for the alcohol. Also you might not be using enough honey or cheap honey without much flavour

>>16511587
I've made it twice, it's really nice. Spritzy, flavourful and not really all that sweet
The hangover is fucking brutal, though. Enjoy it, don't get drunk on it. You will absolutely puke your guts out.

>>16511587
>Have you ever tried mead?
many times, typically at a ren faire you'll be offered a glass, or because someone distills at home (beekeeper types), or someone hit up the local Total Wine and thought it'd be fun at a party, some of it quite pricey due to the cost of honey.
>How was it?
100% of time it will be absolutely disappointing, and often barely palatable beyond the first couple of sips
>Was it hot/cold?
room temp or cold
>Too sweet?
mostly, yes
>Would you drink it again/often?
Never will it be great as a food pairing, nor for drinking alone over any other more delciious option, like ordinary wine, or some craft beer. Never. Ever.
>Is it a giant meme and there’s superior options?
It was from a different era, where off flavors were covered up by random botanicals. For the most part, they were drank for their purported health benefits, and they did offer antiseptic use, for gargleing and dental hygeine, actual calories, and long term stored tippsy inducing fun. Think winter.

>>16524632
You fucked up. Don't drink that unless you live stream it

>>16524673
> I drank shit mead
>it was shit
>all mead is shit
KYS

>>16524665
> I cannot ferment for shit
> OH GOD THE HANGOVER
btw you know that we live in PRESENT YEAR, and you can just take curcumin, yoghurt and NAC pre and post drinking and you wont have any hangover?

Mead has been ruined by retards believing that it absolutely has to be sweet. I hate how common the sweet variant is, compared to the dry.

>>16511587 this was mead made with honey from my friends apiary. was about 14% alcohol, and it was light and even a little carbonated.

worth that secondary ferment for the carbonation btw