Black Lagoon Hydromel

One of the earliest meads I made that turned out good.  The name comes from the colour--after seeing it, we joked it looked like swamp water.  It also got dubbed the colour changing mead, for reasons which will be obvious.
I have also made a honey based (naturally fermented) soda off of this recipe, which was lovely as well.

Black Lagoon Hydromel

12 dried juniper berries

10 fresh bay leaves (cracked)

3 (small) sprigs of fresh rosemary

1.25-1.5 pounds honey

I made a tisane with herbs by boiling for about 10 minutes then letting it steep for about an hour and a quarter.  At the beginning it was a nice, pale green, after steeping it was a beautiful cranberry red, and when I added the honey it turned grey—which is a shame, I would have rather that it stayed red.

Water to 1 gallon.

Pitched ½ tsp Nottingham brewers yeast.

6-25-12;  OG is 1.039

6-27-12; SG is 1.042—what the heck?  Taste is good however, and the colour is now tan.

7-3-12; SG is 1.028.  Taste is good, very light in flavour, and the colour is almost a pale straw.

7-7-12; SG is 1.022.

7-15-12; SG is 1.008 (ABV should be about 4.3%) and has been racked into the secondary.  Flavour is light, interesting and rather different.  It should be interesting to see peoples individual reactions when they try it.  Added 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.

7-28-12; Bottled.  Taste is refreshing and slightly tart.       

© John Frey, 2015. The Author of this work retains full copyright for this material.  The recipes, photographs and other contents therein may not be used for any commercial purposes.