Adventures in Meadmaking 2014

So I had planned to go out today. I was going to meet a friend for coffee this morning and then go grocery shopping. The weather had other plans, however, and since I'm not too keen on wrecking my car or myself, turns out that I am home-bound today. I love my home, so this isn't an issue. So after perusing on the interwebs and managing to raid my freezer and pantry to come up with something yummy to make my husband for dinner (who is working today in this horrible weather and forgot his lunch), I thought, Self, what can we do today that would be productive but enjoyable?

Well, Self, I answered, there is that gallon of strawberry mead that needs bottling... So I lugged my gallon carboy and enameled soup pot upstairs, pulled out my corker, empty + clean bottles, corks, and siphoning pump and tube, and I bottled my strawberry mead.

I'm trying to remember when I started this batch, and I want to say it was in late May or June 2013, when the strawberries were really abundant around here. I really need to start writing this shit down. Anyhow, if my memory serves, there's about 3 lbs of strawberries along with 3 lbs of local red bamboo honey in this mead. The color is absolutely beautiful. It was very red when I first put it on to ferment, and now it is a deep amber color. I would post a picture, but the camera on my phone is not working after the latest software update, and I need to charge my actual camera because the battery is low. Sorry to disappoint. You can smell and taste the strawberry. I'm very happy about that. The mead is still young, though, and needs to age for a bit longer. What I mean when I say that is that it has the sharpness of a young wine. As it ages that particular flavor mellows and it smooths out. I think it's going to be very good come summertime.

Anyway, I made this mead in honor of Freya, and the yeast fermented so violently (likely from the high amount of sugar between the fruit and the honey) initially that it blew the cork and the airlock clear across the room. Twice. There was fermented strawberry mash everywhere. I'm still finding it in little patches in places on the basement floor under the stairs (which is where I keep my fermenting mead batches as well as the finished bottled stuff).

And so comes the difficult question of what to brew next? Here's some possibilities:

Blood Orange Mead
Lemon Ginger Mead
Chai Mead
Blueberry Lavender Mead (that's a springtime/summertime batch, methinks)

Thoughts? Votes? Comment below!