The Mead House

Black October seems to have struck the Mead House too! One week delayed, Jeff and Chris spend a little time talking serving temps including a small impromptu experiment with unexpected results which prompts much discussion on a topic both had somewhat taken for granted. The Mead House Podcast is sponsored by Bacchus & Barleycorn! Use our …

Continue reading "Episode 341 – Serving Temps"

A couple months back, Chris challenged Jeff to make a key lime pie flavored mead. This episode, Jeff delivers a mid-fining sample for Chris to taste. Chris gives a brief challenge on the bomb pop mead, an interesting potential new direction for that mead, and then Jeff throws another wrinkle in calling these  challenges finished. …

Continue reading "Episode 340 – Key Lime Pie Mead & the Highs and Lows of Fermentation Temps"

The guys take another tour through Jeff’s box of herbs and spices and brew up some teas evaluating options for gruit, metheglyn, and fruit and spice mead additions. Plus, Chris includes an anecdote from a friend on using pecans in a mead and speculation on nuts in mead proceeds further. The Mead House Podcast is …

Continue reading "Episode 339 – Tea 3 Back to our Roots"

Jeff leads Chris down the trail of a concept he’s seen thrown around quite a bit recently, waterless meads, or perhaps more accurately described as no water added meads. But that’s a bit of a mouthful. Jeff takes Chris through a few different approaches, some of which he considers cheating, and a few different things …

Continue reading "Episode 338 – Waterless Meads"

Plenty of podcasts, websites and videos exist with recipes and advice for making a good first batch of mead. This week, the guys take some time to give some advice for beginning mead makers that are moving from the first batch towards a second, third, and developing their own interests and styles as mead makers …

Continue reading "Episode 337 – The Next Batch"

Jeff starts off the episode discussing a few personal milestones and then moves into talking about an exciting new product for stabilizing he’d like to see available to homebrewers called Nagardo. Then the guys get into reviewing various starter equipment kits for mead making, comparing cost and the equipment found within, what you get and …

Continue reading "Episode 336 – Starter Mead Equipment Kits"

Jeff and Chris return to the topic of mead cocktails with some made specifically for the summer season. Jeff throws out a cocktail he’s created from playing with citrus in the kitchen while Chris takes a mead forward approach to five classic cocktails, and the results would speak for themselves, but you’re going to have …

Continue reading "Episode 335 – Summer Mead Cocktails"

The guys throw some ideas around for incorporating smokey flavors into a mead, different processes, ingredients and other approaches to get the smoke flavor into a mead, along with a bit of discussion as to what flavors would taste good with it. Then, Chris throws down a new challenge for our listeners! The Mead House …

Continue reading "Episode 334 – Smokey Mead"

Much to his chagrin, Jeff recounts a situation where he was tricked into sharing an AI generated video with an AI generated script on fake honey to his cohost Chris, which spurs on a conversation about fake honey, tests for fake honey which are themselves kinda fake, along with a side discussion on supposedly hallucinogenic …

Continue reading "Episode 333 – Everything is Fake Now"

With so much talk about session meads they have planned for the summer, the guys go through some best practices to keep in mind for getting those light delightful little low-ABV meads from fermented to tasting great in a bottle. They also take a few minutes to talk about the challenges and approaches to using …

Continue reading "Episode 332 – Finishing Session Meads & Citrus"

The guys take a bit to talk about the ins and outs of aging mead. They talk bulk versus bottle aging, Jeff shares a tip for sampling bottle aged meads that allows for less product loss, Chris shares one of his horror story meads that still taught him a strong lesson, and as you’ve naturally …

Continue reading "Episode 331 – Aging"

In this episode, the guys challenge each other to create a summer time mead. They present each other with a concept and have to define their flavors, sources of the flavors, intended ABV for their projects giving plenty of insight into the start of the recipe building process. Stay tuned for the end result in …

Continue reading "Episode 330 – Summer Mead Recipe Development Challenge"

Is it the last fading remnants of spring in the air, or is that just a pollen cloud heralding another allergy attack? This week the guys sit down to chat about meads made with flowers – what kinds to use, how to get the flavors out, as well as some speculation as to which would …

Continue reading "Episode 329 – Floral Meads"

The guys try a braggot Jeff made using some limited availability ingredients and then get to chatting about what they want to accomplish with their summer. From fruity stuff to session meads and meads made with kviek, before too long time gets away from both of them as the ideas start flying. The Mead House …

Continue reading "Episode 328 – Summer Plans"

After last week’s boozy episode trying easily available commercial meads, the guys decide to flip the script. They sample commercially available meads from smaller producers in various parts of the country for the sake of comparison to more widely available commercial brands. Mead makers include Sky River Meadery, Ozark Viking Meadery, Prairie Rose Meadery and …

Continue reading "Episode 327 – Craft Commercial Meads"

If you walk into a large local liquor store anywhere in the country, you MIGHT find mead there. If you do find it, you’re likely to find one of a few brands that have wide distribution. The guys realize that they haven’t tasted any of them in a VERY long time. To remedy that, they …

Continue reading "Episode 326 – Widely Available Commercial Meads"

The guys take a look at recipes from the Elder Scrolls Cookbook for quick meads, evaluating those recipes, then do some digging on older and less mainstream parts of the internet to find weird mead. What they find are unusual ingredients, archaic practices, and plenty to keep them amusing themselves. The Mead House Podcast is …

Continue reading "Episode 325 – Weird Meads"

The guys get a little silly this week – leaning into the presentation side of mead making to think up cool, interesting or silly ways to present your meads inspired by the massive quantity of fantasy books, movies, television shows, tabletop and video games. The Mead House Podcast is sponsored by Bacchus & Barleycorn! Use our …

Continue reading "Episode 324 – Fantasy Fun"

After their last foray into experimenting with herbs to make tea investigating a gruit, the guys return for the second part of the experiment using a variety of roots, as well as a nut and some bark. Will any of them yield a good addition to a gruit braggot in the planning stages? Or will …

Continue reading "Episode 323 – Tea2: The Root of the Problem"

Jeff and Chris return to the topic of making a gruit-braggot, a braggot without hops that Chris can enjoy due to his allergy to hops. In an effort to research some of the herbs which could be appropriate for such a brew, they make teas with five different herbs which could contribute to said brew, …

Continue reading "Episode 322 – Gruit-Tea"

For all the new listeners to the podcast, Jeff and Chris take some time to cover all their best practices for mead making, how and why their practices differ from other recipes you might find out on the web and how those practices lead to what all of us want, better mead. The Mead House …

Continue reading "Episode 321 – Best Practices"

In their seemingly endless quest for new and novel ways to make mead, the guys dip their toes into the flavor palate of Ethiopia. Tej, a mead made with gesho root, is an obvious stop on the tour, but they also explore an herbal tea made with koseret, as well as an indigenous style of …

Continue reading "Episode 320 – Exploring Ethiopian Beverages"

With the weather heating up, the guys spend a fair bit of time throwing ideas for summer meads around, helping each other develop their plans and coming up with some tasty ideas. Plus, Jeff lets Chris try a couple more honeys and the guys taste an interesting mead from Drinking Horn meadery. The Mead House …

Continue reading "Episode 319 – Summer Meads"

Catching up after an action packed travel schedule, Jeff and Chris spend a little time chatting over some of the popular trends they’ve seen in mead making, from the ubiquitous meadowfoam honey to some trends in the past and speculating as to what new trends are coming forward. The Mead House Podcast is sponsored by Bacchus …

Continue reading "Episode 318 – Trends in Mead Making"

The guys take some time to do a recap of this year’s Valkyrie’s Horn mead competition while driving home from Minneapolis as the experience is still fresh in their minds. Tune in for the impressions, annecdotes, memorable parts of the experience and far too many new ideas the fellas have come up with over the …

Continue reading "Episode 317 – Mead House on the Road"

Jeff challenges Chris to design a pyment using some wine concentrate which may be past its sell-by date, using ingredients he has around the house. The guys think about additional fruit, spices, different options for yeast and honey, and the end result shows a lot of promise. The Mead House Podcast is sponsored by Bacchus & …

Continue reading "Episode 316 – The Pyment Challenge"

The guys spend a fair bit of time thinking through how to put together a good pyment, a mead/wine hybrid, and all the considerations that need to go into that. Then they take a few minutes talking about some of their favorite YouTube content creators by listener request. Valkyrie’s Horn Mead Competition: https://home.valkyrieshorn.com/ The Mead …

Continue reading "Episode 315 – Thinking about Pyments and YouTube Content"

Jeff takes some time to talk Chris through a mead recipe he’s taken through several iterations – a sangria style mead he makes for his wife Sheila.  Using a base of blackberry wine and merlot kits and some eclectic ingredients for backsweetening, they end up with a consistent crowd pleaser that gets repeated again and …

Continue reading "Episode 314 – Sangria Mead"

The guys take some time speculating about the burn – not just capsumels using hot peppers, but what other ingredients could be used in mead to get the heat sensation and how to approach adding those ingredients, including hot peppers, ginger, black pepper, and even a few other odd possibilites! Valkyrie’s Horn Mead Competition: https://home.valkyrieshorn.com/ …

Continue reading "Episode 313 – Bringing the Heat"

The guys are working towards a trifecta! In this third episode of “let’s eat interesting stuff we found and see if it can make a mead” Chris brings in a series of 11 different fruits to sample and evaluate their feasibility in making a new interesting mead with. Some produce strong options, some produce disappointment, …

Continue reading "Episode 312 – Exotic Fruit Tasting"