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Author Topic: My First Judged Mead - A Berry Melomel  (Read 2035 times)

Offline Lylebobyle

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My First Judged Mead - A Berry Melomel
« on: September 30, 2014, 05:39:15 pm »
Well, I entered my very first Mead competition with .....yes....my very first Mead; a Mixed Berry Melomel in the Texas Mead Fest.

I had even back-sweetened, but was still rather tart and very dry. It was overall rated at "Good", getting a 28 out of 50, but stated the berry notes overwhelmed the honey. They also gave it a 5 out of 6 for clarity, 7 out of 10 for Bouquet/Aroma, 12 of 24 on Flavor, stating - "Flavor of strawberry astringency, slight metallic. Dry fruit after taste, light alcohol."

Overall Impression was 4 out of 10 - "Nose is raspberry flavor and strawberry, dry and astringent with upper fruit sweetness. Light alcohol"

I am wondering if this was "astringent" because it was such a young Mead, just bottled in June........Hopefully it will smooth out over time with more of the honey sweetness coming through.
« Last Edit: October 01, 2014, 06:54:46 am by Lylebobyle »

Offline udubdawg

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Re: My First Judged Mead - A Berry Melomel
« Reply #1 on: October 01, 2014, 07:42:19 am »
Overall Impression was 4 out of 10 - "Nose is raspberry flavor and strawberry, dry and astringent with upper fruit sweetness. Light alcohol"

sounds like Overall Impression was a re-hash of what they had already said... 
Did they give anything that was an actual, you know, overall impression?  Talk about balance?  Acidity?  Did they say any of the characters were unpleasant?  Note how it might be improved?

Sounds like you have a bit of a honey/fruit balance issue, but that is common.  Also, note that dry meads do not necessarily have a lot of honey character, so it can be especially difficult to get good honey/fruit balance with these.  Astringency...well, they apparently didn't really say whether it was unpleasant.  Strawberries are not the most tannic fruit.  Metallic is not good, but let's tackle that later. 

when dealing with similar balance issues on something fairly dry, I will pour myself some of the melomel and slowly start blending in some sweet Traditional Mead in the glass, something with a nice wildflower or orange blossom aroma.  It usually doesn't take much.  I can't speak of the tannin level you've got and whether it is appropriate...
« Last Edit: October 01, 2014, 08:18:30 am by udubdawg »

Offline 58limited

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Re: My First Judged Mead - A Berry Melomel
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2014, 02:50:00 pm »
Did you leave the skins and seeds from the berries in the fermenter for awhile, or did you just use juice? Both skins and seeds can contribute to an astringent bite, the seeds much more so than the skins. I entered a young berry melomel ( Started in February and bottled in August) in the Meadfest and it did quite well. I left the crushed berries, seeds and all, in the fermenter for four days then strained them out. I was told by a couple of the judges that straining the seeds sooner would have reduced the astringency in mine. I backsweetened with both honey and berry juice and the result was a sweet melomel.

Keep in mind that judging is subjective, everyone's tastes are different. For example: Me and my brother in law both entered a similar berry melomel in the Texas Meadfest. I used Tupelo honey, he used wildflower honey. His was drier than mine. We both used the same yeast and techniques (I know - I taught him how to make mead and helped him with his melomel.). His outscored mine in the first round of judging but mine outscored his in the second round.

As for the "...berry notes overwhelmed the honey" comment, many commercial meads I've tried could be described this way. Several of my entries have taken the "no honey character" hit - strong spice or fruit is going to cover subtle honey notes, period. I don't know how to counter this than other than reducing the spice or fruit which, to me, is not always acceptable. Winning a contest is nice, but make meads that YOU like.
« Last Edit: October 05, 2014, 03:02:20 pm by 58limited »

Offline Lylebobyle

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Re: My First Judged Mead - A Berry Melomel
« Reply #3 on: October 11, 2014, 05:41:00 am »
Thanks, y'all for the feedback. I did leave te seeds and skins on in the secondary. I racked the mead onto the fruit. Myself, I am happy that it did as well as it did for my very first entry. I had read in some other posts that it was desirable for the fruit to ne forefront in a Melomel, but not overbearing. I think it does a good job at that. The honey can be smelled and tatsed, but the fruit is there. I like it....and I'm sampling every month to see if it improves with time.

Offline udubdawg

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Re: My First Judged Mead - A Berry Melomel
« Reply #4 on: October 11, 2014, 08:09:46 am »
I like it....

well then, it's a success...



Offline 58limited

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Re: My First Judged Mead - A Berry Melomel
« Reply #5 on: October 11, 2014, 05:32:34 pm »
I like it....

well then, it's a success...

Agreed. That is the most important thing. and I bet it gets better with age.