Ben's Birthday Mead

Hello everyone! Ben, here. I have taken over the blogpost this month.

I was looking at a calendar and realized that I will turn 60 next year on December 7th. I decided I wanted to do something to celebrate with my closest friends and, well, my closest friends just happen to be Mead Club members! I decided I wanted to make something special to share with you.

As many of you may know, I love all types of drinks. I have been heard to say that my favorite drink is whatever is in a glass in front of me! I do love a good aggressive red wine. I also like an assertive IPA. One of my favorite drinks this time of year is a full-flavored Imperial milk stout style. These tend to have lots of coffee and dark chocolate flavors from the type of malts they use. They can also be very creamy. And, if you didn't already guess, they can be a little boozy too (typically 10 to 12% ABV). So, I decided to make a mead in this style. As I started to put together the recipe, I realized this was going to take a long time to make. To get some of these flavors, I would need to age this mead.

So, I decided to start this brew this year on my birthday, When I told Diane from Honeygirl Meadery about this, she was very excited about it, so she is coming down to Pittsboro to help. We decided we'd live stream creating it on Facebook and Instagram, so we'd have a record of it.

I'm only making 15 gallons, so we won't be bottling it. I've posted my recipe for it here; in case you were curious. Join me next year to celebrate my 60th and enjoy a glass with me. Hold the date, December 7, 2023 is when we will launch this mead and it will be available by the glass until we run out.

Cheers to Ben’s 60th Birthday!