Winter Spice Metheglin
A spiced mead for cold evenings: cinnamon, vanilla, and a whisper of clove over orange blossom honey.
Winter Spice Metheglin is a sweet metheglin made with orange blossom honey and Lalvin D47 yeast, fermented from an original gravity of 1.110 to 1.020 for about 11.8% ABV. It is drinkable in 9–12 months.
- Original gravity
- 1.110
- Final gravity
- 1.020
- ABV
- 11.8%
- Drinkable in
- 9–12 months
Ingredients
Amounts are for a 1-gallon batch.
| 3 lb | Orange blossom honey |
| to volume | WaterTo 1 gallon total. |
| 2.5 g | Lalvin D47 yeast |
| 3 g | Fermaid-OStaggered over four additions. |
| 1 | Cinnamon stickCeylon if you have it; it is gentler than cassia. |
| 0.5 | Vanilla beanSplit lengthwise. |
| 2 | Whole clovesTwo is plenty. Clove takes over fast. |
Method
Ferment a traditionalMix, pitch, and feed as for a traditional mead. Spices go in later, where you can control them.
Rack onto spiceAfter primary, rack into secondary and add the spices in a sanitized bag.
Taste dailyStart tasting after 3 days. Pull the bag the moment it tastes slightly under-spiced; it keeps integrating.
Stabilize and sweetenStabilize, then backsweeten with honey to about 1.020. Age at least 6 more months.
Brewer's note. Spice extraction varies with freshness. Taste-driven timing beats any fixed number of days.
Recipe by White Shed Meadery, Chehalis, Washington. ABV is estimated from gravity: (OG − FG) × 131.25. Scale every ingredient in proportion for larger batches.