This mead is called after one among my favourite overheard feedback once I was coming into extra usually than I do now. Fermented higher 60s Fahrenheit. Not fairly a Dwojniak (1:1 honey to water), however extra like 2:3. Gravity is excessive sufficient that it’s nonetheless clever to slowly introduce the yeast to the should over a day or two, and to step feed the final little bit of your honey. Caramelized honey was performed in a sluggish cooker, and I’m not very skilled at it. Most bochet I’ve had tasted burnt; I simply needed a lightweight however noticeable heat, inviting caramelized character. Preserve tasting, and bear in mind it tastes darker than it appears to be like as it’s caramelizing, and watch out to not burn your self. Don’t be in a rush—this was a long-term mission that took a couple of years earlier than I used to be comfortable. I ended up doing a complete sequence of “cognac barrel” stuff. I didn’t supply a used cognac barrel, though although that might be cool. I simply use small (often 10 L) new barrels, often medium toast. First a cider would mainly go in in a single day to rinse a number of the uncooked flavors out and giving me tremendous oaky cider that I can use in small quantities for years in cider blends. Then I actually added a cognac I preferred and rolled it round for weeks. No, you shouldn’t get away the XXO, however don’t low-cost out both. Go for essentially the most intense taste in your buck–this isn’t the time for subtlety. After rolling round within the barrel, the cognac was dumped and a conventional mead was aged, then a pear mead, then this mead, and eventually it was soaked in maple syrup and a spiced cyser went in. In every case, the barrel mead was deliberately a bit barrel-intense, because it was then blended again into the portion with out the barrel. Maybe I’ll ultimately share the others if you happen to ask properly.
