Raspberry Ginger Mead

In September of 2009 I made a mead, more appropriately a melomel, but like the previous post regarding metheglin, I insist on referring to this as a Raspberry-Ginger Mead. Actually, melomel, as a term for any fruit mead doesn't bother me as much as the endless terms for variations of honey wine because it is inclusive of many fruits. This recipe was the AHA 2002 National Mead Day recipe, taken from the AHA website.

I carbonated most of the honey wine in bombers and left a handful of corked wine bottles still, bottling after 3 months in secondary. In retrospect, I should have carbonated less of the batch and left this in bulk fermentation longer as it was harsh for well over a year. The carbonated portion was less pleasant than the still portion for a longer period of time but turned out very nice at two years in the bottle. I gave most of the batch away as Christmas presents and whittled away at the rest of it over time, checking on its maturation every so often.  I usually break a bottle out for holiday's when the family is together, and that is the case today with Thanksgiving.

I don't usually make labels for my homebrew but I try to if it is given as a gift, especially if it is going to be a gift that is aged. The Raspberry-Ginger Mead has a picture of my little sister, Lacey, the Viking, wearing a horned helmet in the gift shop at Edinburgh Castle.