Have been meaning to do some sort of homebrewing for a number of years now with my latest fixation being mead. Anyway it seems a little bit easier than beer and wine and as Mead Made Complicated rightly note: “nobody knows mead: if you have friends taste wine you made, comments could be like: “it tastes like Bordeaux, just not as good”. If people do not like the mead you made, it is possible to pretend that they just do not like mead in general.” So this might be a good idea for a summer project.

Gotmead.com have an extensive NewBee Guide to Making Mead and the site has heaps of resources and a large active community who post heaps of recipes like Kiwi Mead, Orange Ginger Mead, Earl Grey Metheglin, Strawberry Spiced Mead, Black Raspberry Horilka and a Quick Mead that takes about a month in total.

There’s a heap of recipes at Honeywine.com that look delectable. The (US) National Honey Board has a downloadable guide to making mead (pdf) along with some other interesting stuff like Hard Honey Cider (pdf).

Unsurprisingly, the type of of honey makes a huge difference to final taste.

The type of honey used will determine the flavor of the Mead. Experience has proven that Clover is so delicate a flavor it could be called Generic Mead. Blueberry, Cranberry, Orange, and Raspberry taste like the fruits. Thyme makes unique ale-like mead. Wildflower produces an alcoholic perfume, not for everybody’s taste, yet probably most like the ecstatic stupor experienced by the small creatures who make it all possible, the BEES! [Making Mead]

It all sounds so wonderful! Here are some more articles:
Mead-Making Procedures, A to Z
Making Mead At Home
Mead Making
More about making mead (Blessed Bee Apiary)
WineMaker Magazine - Mead: Nectar of the Gods

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