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Confessions of an award-winning mazer

Clear Meadowfoam: Here is a one gallon batch of meadowfoam blossom honey I made in public at the Lytton Roasting Company on 21 Jan. (Photo from March 9, 2008).

Meadowfoam mead doesn't like to clear out by itself, but the day before the photo I added some sparkalloid boiled in a bit of water. Normally this process will take 3 or 4 weeks, but this little guy really wanted to clear out, and only needed a little push. At this rate, I could possibly even bottle next weekend... Doesn't it look good? -m

P.S. Do you like my high-tech light shrouds on the carboys in the background?

Tags: mead, meadowform, lytton, sparkalloid, fining, clear,

Monday March 10, 2008 - 12:13am (PDT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments
I am Recognized (officially): My BJCP test results finally arrived, along with a wallet card, certificate, and this nifty pin. -m

Tags: bjcp, recognized, evaluation, pin, certificate, card

Thursday March 6, 2008 - 12:10am (PST) Permanent Link | 1 Comment
Is Mead Poised for a Comeback?: Lots of folks are sending me this article. A good read, if not earth-shaking. Worth a read! -m

Tags: mead, slate, media, coverage, terroir, article

Thursday February 28, 2008 - 11:18am (PST) Permanent Link | 1 Comment
Mambo II -- in the carboy a year: I happened to be flipping through my log book and noticed that my 2nd batch of "Mambo in your Mouth" was started Feb 24, 2007. It's been in the carboy for a full year. Time to get this one in bottles!

If you recall, this one has more fruit, more honey, more everything. It's noticeably deeper in color, sweeter, and richer. This one is going to be good, and I have an extremely full 5 gallon carboy of it. :-)

-m

Tags: mambo, fruit, aging, carboy, year, honey, mead

Sunday February 24, 2008 - 10:23pm (PST) Permanent Link | 0 Comments
2 huge thumbs-up to Sam Adams (Boston Beer Co): As you might have heard, right now the world is suffering a severe hops shortage. This is hurting the medium-sized guys--brewpubs and microbreweries--the most. The huge corps have locked-in contracts and are in good shape. The homebrewers get stuck paying an extra $5 for hops, but averaged out over a 5 gallon batch it's not a huge deal.

Now Boston Beer Company, one of the aforementioned hugecorps, is selling off at cost 20,000 pounds of high-quality hops to suffering brewpubs and microbreweries. With two varieties available, the cost is either $569.36 or $542.96 for a huge 88 pound bag of hop pellets. (A typical beer recipe will use maybe 1 ounce of hops per gallon). What a great bunch of guys.

The last thing I need to say is this--if you are feeling the effects of the hop shortage, either as a beer producer or consumer, wouldn't it be a great time to try out a mead or two? -m

Tags: beer, hops, samadams, bostonbeer, shortage, mead

Sunday February 17, 2008 - 11:19pm (PST) Permanent Link | 0 Comments