Dry Mint Mead

My dad's garden was coming to the end of the season when I was visiting. He had a ton of mint growing in there that he wasn't going to use. So, I grabbed about a handful of it to try to brew with. I thought a mead would be interesting to infuse with the flavor.

After thinking about it a bit, I decided to try a dry mead with this one (also, I hadn't made a dry mead yet - but had definitely made a sweet and semi-sweet)

The recipe is an adaptation of the dry mead recipe at Storm the Castle:

Dry Mead

• 3 lbs. of Honey
• 1 gallon of water
• 1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient
• 1 teaspoon of yeast energizer
• 1 packet of champagne yeast

I made a tea by simmering the water and dropping in the mint for about 5 minutes. I then used that with the rest of the ingredients for the mead.

After one racking, I bottled. The taste of the champagne yeast is dominant. This is a yeast that naturally delivers a significant flavor and dryness and that is dominant here. My wife said she can taste the mint, but I really kept focusing on the flavor that the yeast imparts.

In working with champagne yeast I've found that it's intense at first but it will back off with aging, letting other flavors come to the front. I'm optimistic that with a few months of aging this will turn into something subtle and good.