This past Friday it was the 3 month mark for the first batch of Prison Mead. Unfortuantely, it looks a bit of a bust.
While the fermentation was just fine and everything went as it should, it seems that the manuka honey just isn’t suited for mead making — there are nasty flavor compounds that developed. What starts as a nice dark caramel-like taste in the original honey, translates into a bitter and oddly plastic taste in the ferment. Not good at all. Perhaps there are some hillbillies somewhere that would like to get drunk off of it, but not me. I’m going to take just one bottle from it and dump the rest.
Happily, it’s not all bad news. The second batch which will be coming to maturity next month is tasting very good. This was made with simple wildflower honey, and has developed a very mild and sweet taste.
This was always a big experiment, so now we know: manuka honey is fit for toast, not mead.
