International Mead Fest
Rhianni and I went to the International Mead Fest Friday night. There were some cool people, some decent meads, some good meads, and some horrible meads. I’ve been brewing beer and wine for four years now. I’m by no means an expert on the topic, but I do know what I’m doing. However, I’ve never tried making mead, so I was a total newb in the area. People were talking about the different types of mead, and asking me things like, “Do you prefer Cyser or Braggot?” Fortunately, there were lots of public (e.g.: non-mead specialists) people there, so I was able to get away with asking questions without looking too stupid.
I came home with some good literature, and some good ideas about what I like and what I don’t like. I also discovered that there are around 40 different types of honey! Holy cow! I really didn’t know that honey could be that varied. The prices on honey range from $120 to $540 for a 5 gallon bucket of it. From what I learned, 5 gallons is enough to make 2-3 batches of mead. The $120 price isn’t too bad, but I’m not sure I’ll ever be serious enough to fork over $540 for the good stuff. I did taste some of the good stuff, and it was really good!
After the party, we headed up to one of the main people’s hotel rooms to hang out. I felt a little like a fish out of water. I’m a beer brewer (and while I’ll probably try to make mead, I’m going to remain a beer guy,) and I was in a room full of mead people. I tried to avoid the topics of brewing beer in case there was some sort of cultural gap (or hatred?) between the two groups. I didn’t have to worry about it much. We spent a good three hours sipping mead, and trying a wide variety of stuff. Like at the public showing, there were some good ones, some great ones, and some bad ones. There was one in particular that was especially horrible. Rhianni, after sipping some of it, managed to get out, “It tastes like pain!” When that particular mead came around, I already had something in my tiny little sipping glass, so I missed out on it. Later, thought, Rhianni insisted that I try it, so I did. My first sip reminded me of bitter NyQuil. I thought I tasted some orange, and maybe some alum, and then maybe some honey, and then maybe something rotten. I wasn’t sure. Rhianni was right. It’s liquid pain. I’m not one to throw out alcoholic beverages, so I decided to finish the small amount of mead that I had left. I downed it as quickly as I could, and man… It sucked. I’m pretty sure that if I had made this, and I tasted it, there is no way I would bring it to an International Mead Fest, take it to a hotel room where the best in the world are hanging out, and share it. I doubt I would even keep it around for fear that someone would find out that I made something that horrible.
Rhianni and I headed back home around 1 in the morning. I seriously needed some caffeine, so we hit the nearest 7-11. As we were getting out of the car, Rhianni said, “Look. It’s a drunk cop.” I looked up, and this guy in uniform was stumbling out of the 7-11, and heading right for me. I immediately thought it would trouble. I looked closer at the guy and his badge had something like, “Northern Security Company” on it. Not a cop. He got pretty close to me, and I wasn’t going to make the first move, but I was ready for trouble. Turns out the guy was harmless, but the whole time he was yelling, “Violence! Violence! Violence!” He managed to mumble out a story about how he tried to stop a guy from stealing a TV, and got hit on the head with the “bud” of a gun. I’m pretty sure he meant “butt”, but I wasn’t about to correct him. After his short story, I told him to take care of himself, and he wandered off to his car yelling, “Violence! Violence! Violence!” Rhianni and I had a good time yelling, “Violence!” at each other on the trip home.
I had a good time, and I’m very happy that I went to the mead fest. While there I signed up for the American Homebrewing Association. I got a free book, and a free magazine out of the deal. That right there almost covered the price of the annual membership. I think it was a good buy. The book that I got was “Radical Brewing” and I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of stuff I can come up with out of the book.
