Micahpedia » mead

Meade Classe August 7

mdubinko — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 01:20:11 +0000

Join me for another Meade Classe at the Los Altos MoreFlavor brew shop.

Saturday, Aug. 7, 2010 2:00 – 4:00 pm

MoreFlavor 991 N. San Antonio Road

Los Altos, CA 94022

We will taste some meads, focusing on sensory evaluation, then walk through the steps of brewing up a batch. As usual, seating is limited, so email me to reserve a spot. To help the brew shop recover the costs of the honey, yeast, and light snacks available, a $10 donation will help make sure these events can continue.

On a personal note, I’ll be traveling back from a conference in Montreal the day before, so I might be a little jet lagged. Could get interesting. :-) -m

Steve Martin mead joke

mdubinko — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 02:02:25 +0000

Steve Martin leaves an awesome list of demands for venue staff when he’s on tour, including

BEVERAGE SERVICE must include a thoughtful assortment of meads and bendy straws.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Bendy straws must be strong enough to be able to be used as blowguns. ADDITIONAL IMPORTANT NOTE: Local paramedic aid may be required.

Read the rest, it’s great. -m

Mead Judge study guide

mdubinko — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 04:02:58 +0000

The BJCP has released a new study guide for the Mead exam. At the homebrew competitions I’m one of the (seeming) odd ones who asks to be on the mead flights, so this is a welcome development. -m

Bronze Medal at California State Homebrew Competition

mdubinko — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:07:52 +0000

I won a bronze medal (white ribbon actually) in the Mixed Styles category for my Dusseldorf Altbier, the first non-mead-related beverage I’ve ever entered. It’s a deep copper-colored ale made with a special Alt yeast and with a strong balance of clean malt and hops. There are very few bottles of it left at this point.

The competition itself was a blast–I got to spend the day judging barleywines, including a spectacular one that went on to win the category. Official results should be posted soon. -m

Meade Class, the nexte

mdubinko — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 07:13:45 +0000

Another mead class is scheduled for November 15th in Los Altos. Come join me!

Mead, honey wine, “the nectar of the gods”. Whatever you call it MoreFlavor Los Altos is sponsoring a class to help you learn more about this wonderful fermented beverage and equip you to brew your own.

Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008 2:00 – 4:00 pm
MoreFlavor
991 N. San Antonio Road
Los Altos, CA 94022

Learn about:

Different types of meads
Brewing techniques
How boiling affects mead
The three most important factors in mead brewing
How to taste and evaluate mead

Light food and drink are included in the class materials fee of $10. Seating is limited. Email Micah at mdubinko@yahoo.com to reserve a spot today.

Mead Judge Certification Program

mdubinko — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 05:56:28 +0000

Where do I sign up? Link. -m

MoreFlavor mead update

mdubinko — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 04:00:46 +0000

Some of you were at my Aug 2 Meade Classe at MoreFlavor in Los Altos. Here’s the latest: I racked it to a very full 3 gallon fermenter today. The gravity measured at 1.004, a drop of 142 (!) points, which puts it at just a hair under 19% ABV. It’s potent stuff. Good fruit character and some whisky-like heat. It will calm down substantially over the next 5-10 years. :-) -m

1st annual Muse Cup

mdubinko — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:33:26 +0000

A new mead-only competition in Colorado. Submissions for this year’s competition accepted Sep 8 through 18. -m

Mead Tasting

mdubinko — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 05:52:18 +0000

A great mead tasting event at Rabbit’s Foot tonight. There are a few new commercial meads since my last visit, an excellent raspberry mead and a saison-style braggot. And lots of homebrew mead flowing freely as well.

Say, if anyone in the South Bay is interested in a study group for Mead Judge Certification (likely in the form of weekly meetings at Rabbit’s Foot), let me know. -m

Another Gold

mdubinko — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 03:16:12 +0000

My traditional mead, the one that took years to make took the gold in the 24B (Traditional, semi-sweet) category at the mead-only Arizona Mead Cup. (results) This one goes back before the Great Hard Drive Crash, where (combined with a freak that-directory-didn’t-get-backed-up-bug) my early meadmaking records were lost. But there are a few hints left online.

Here it is, in Jan 2006, almost through fermentation. How nice and clear it looks. It was started in November of 2005 with some of the clearest orange blossom honey I’ve ever seen, from Pam the honey lady at the Mountain View Farmer’s Market. I literally lost an entire night of sleep over this batch, when I incorrectly added some runoff from oak chips.

Seriously, this was about my 4th batch of mead ever. I also bottled it way too soon. It carbonated up in the bottles, and had an unbalanced sweetness to it (called “insipid” in the tasting lingo). I had to un-bottle it, put it back in a fermenter, and add a carefully-measured dose of wine tannin, giving it just that bit of bite that balances the sweetness. It also darkened the color noticeably, which I wasn’t too happy about. Can’t argue with results, though.

The only other problem: There are only 6 bottles of this left in the world. -m

Mead Classe the thirde

mdubinko — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 01:15:51 +0000

My next Meade Classe will be on Saturday, August 2nd, which happens to be Mead Day. Come learn…and taste. Full details:

Mead brewing and appreciation class

Mead, honey wine, “the nectar of the gods”. Whatever you call it MoreFlavor Los Altos is sponsoring a class to help you learn more about this wonderful fermented beverage and equip you to brew your own.

Saturday, August 2, 2008 2:00 – 4:00 pm
MoreFlavor
991 N. San Antonio Road
Los Altos, CA 94022

Taught by an award-winning meadmaker: Learn about

Different types of meads
Brewing techniques
How boiling affects mead
The three most important factors in mead brewing
How to taste and evaluate mead

Food and drink are included in the class materials fee of $10. Seating is limited. Email me at mdubinko@yahoo.com to reserve a spot today. -m