Shiver Me Livers: Honey On The Brain

Two gallons of the syrupy sweet, illicit bee sweat, magical goodness with one purpose only: FERMENTATION; from bumbley buzzing to stumbling buzzed, worth every epinephrine dollar and swollen childhood tear, the hive knows best, this journey began on the longest day of 2009...


We held the raspberry blossom honey, Irish moss (for clarity), and a pound of freshly grated ginger root at about 150 degrees F for a half hour to kill off alcoholic amoebic Charlies, but preserve the unique character of the best liquid nutrition ever, after mother's milk of course.






Papazian, the Jesus of homebrew, held our hand on this first ever mead journey, his guide was crucial. Also yeast nutrients to give our microscopic saviors a healthy kick in the metabolic ass, and a test tube of liquid yeasts

Erin adds the nutrients
to fill their yeasty bellies

after a long, hard winter

spent sleeping in the fridge
by the cheese (the yeast was
in the fridge, not Erin)

Our first born mead froth,
still pure in this embryonic
state, soon to be writhing
and churning with activity
filling the atmosphere with
CO2 and the carboy with
alcohol

And what craft would be complete without its own gang sign; for all my yeast thugs...keep up the good work

Note: mead take about 3 years to mature. A forty says we sample it before this damn fiscal year is over. I'll keep you posted.