Sometimes I amaze even myself

The final subset of my grand meadmaking adventure has been in desperate need of bottling, but I didn't have enough bottles, and for various reasons it's taken me far too long to get to San Antonion Homebrew Supply for another case. I went Friday after work, only to be greeted with a sign on the door saying "Closed Friday." Well, crap. So I go back Saturday. The store's closed. Again. Someone had taken down the sign and moved it to a table inside earlier in the day, but for the hour I sat there hoping maybe they'd stepped out for dinner, not a soul moved. Yesterday they were open, finally (yes, I called before going) and so set to work bottling the final two-and-a-half gallons of mead that's been aging since January.

This is my holiday spiced metheglin, boasting cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and ginger (the raspberry melomel was bottled several months back). I also added additional honey along the way, with the intent of making it semi-dry (or semi-sweet, depending on your point of view). The sediments had filtered out fairly well, although there was some clouding as the bottling progressed, but all in all things progressed rapidly and without incident.

The proof, as they say, is in the pudding, so with some nervousness I sampled a wee nip. Wow. This is going to be some good stuff. There's still some of that harsh, medicinal mead-alcohol punch on the front end, although that is mellowing rapidly--the difference since January is apparent. The surprise was how much the spice flavors had blended and matured. There is a lovely aftertaste that lingers a long time after the fact, a pleasant surprise considering some of the less desireable aftertastes some alcohols have hit me with. I was so taken with it that I gave Lisa a sample, albeit with the caveat that the rough edges are still apparent on first sip. She approvingly likened it to pumpkin pie, although she said she wouldn't be inclined to drink any outside of the holiday season. Which is fine, as that's what it's been made for. By Thanksgiving it may well be ready to share with friends and family.

To celebrate, I opened a bottle of my traditional mead, bottled in June of last year. While I've come to the realization that as far as meads go, I like the melomel/metheglin and other flavor variants better than plain honey wine, I was pleased by the way this one's settled down. It's no longer got that rough front end punch that put me off back at bottling. Unfortunately, the back end is somewhat bland. If it wasn't for the strong alcohol content, I'm not sure it'd have much flavor at all. But it's definitely drinkable, like a very low-key white wine.

But the next time I make mead, it's going to have jalapeños in it. Lots of jalapeños.

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