My Christmas gift idea is going to work!

[azasadny]

I brewed two 6 gallon batches of mead (fermented honey) 8 years ago and the two batches have been sitting in the temperature-controlled basement, in a sealed secondary fermenter all this time. Last summer my wife tasted a sample and said it was good, but flat (no carbonation). For Christmas, I thought I would get it bottled and put customized labels on each bottle for family and friends. Well, my brewing area has been turned into an ammo reloading area, so no place to bottle and no time to do it.

I went to a local wine making shop and they are out of business (which is very common in our area), so I remembered that we have a homebrewing ship not far from our house, so I went over there yesterday and talked to the owner. I asked him if he would be willing to bottle the mead for me and I would gladly pay him for his time and supplies. At first he wasn't too anxious to do it, but after we talked for awhile and found many areas of interest in common, he said that he would bottle the mead for me.

12 gallons of mead should yield about 60 champagne-size bottles of mead and he's going to add champagne yeast and priming sugar so these will be "sparkling meads" instead of "still meads". I'm dropping off the mead today and I can't wait to see everyone's expressions when they realize they have an 8 year old mead for a gift!!

[UconnTim97]

That is a great gift idea!

Do you need my address to send one? Hehe.

[azasadny]

I really hope everyone enjoys it. Many have never tasted a real mead...

[Jagshund]

I have honey in the pantry that's been there for at least two years but I don't think my wife would taste it for me.

[id10t]

Call us when you get to the 18 year old Scotch

[azasadny]

One of the great things about honey is that it doesn't "spoiled" or "go bad". As long as it's been sealed and protected from bugs and weather, it will be fine! I think I used about 30lbs of honey for a 6gal batch of mead. After 8 years, it should be very smooth. Fermented honey actually develops quite a complex flavor character.

[Jagshund]

I've never had it get out of hand. Whenever it gets cloudy I simply nuke it clear.

[masraum]

Yeah honey won't go bad under normal circumstances. Usually the only thing you'll get is crystallization.

[legion]

What is the difference between mead and xtabentum?

[azasadny]

xtabentum had anise flavoring added, so it's got a little Ouzo character to it.

[azasadny]

I made one batch with Orange Blossom honey and the other with Buckwheat honey, so I'm curious to hear which one folks like best.

[Icemaster]

If you send me a bottle of each, I'll let you know...

Seriously though, one of my PM's brought 8 bottles of his home brewed champagne mead to our christmas party last year, he uses cleaned out Grolsch bottles. Man that was good stuff....

I'm envious of your family, good on ya for that, that's an awesome, personal Christmas present.

[Red88Carrera]

Great idea.
Here's what I handed out last year.

[ZOO]

I've always wanted to try mead. I've never seen it for sale in Ontario (and the LCBO usually has a huge selection of alcohol).

[azasadny]

Don,
That looks great! Where did you get the foils for the top of the bottles? Mine is going to be in Champagne bottles and I'll be looking for the foil this week...

[Superman]

I heard that honey is the only food that doesn't go bad. Interesting stuff.

My GF has made a couple of batches of mead lately. Ladies seem to like it. It's okay, but I prefer beer. Fortunately, she makes WAY more beer than mead.

[M.D. Holloway]

I wish I was your PPOT Gift Exchanger!

[M.D. Holloway]

I'll trade you a case of oil for a few bottles!

[azasadny]

Originally Posted by LubeMaster77

I'll trade you a case of oil for a few bottles!

Mike,
If the mead turns out as good as I'm hoping it will, you're on!

[M.D. Holloway]

Cool!