Sweet, Still, Sack
With three brands of mead released at this point, people have been asking about the differences. I will go into greater detail in future blogs regarding the production of mead and various styles. For now, I will focus on a few of the important attributes of mead: Sweetness, Carbonation and Strength.
Mead is often thought to be a (sometimes very) sweet beverage, due to the fact that it is produced from honey. The level of sweetness, however, is similar across fermented beverages. Meads (like wines, ciders and beer) can be sweet, semi-sweet and dry. This is not a reflection of the strength of the mead, but the amount of residual sugar in the mead. During fermentation yeast breaks down sugars to create alcohol, CO2, etc. If the yeast is left to its own resources in a suitable environment, it can break down all the sugars, leaving the mead dry. This reaction can be affected by time, temperature, type of yeast and other factors. The addition of fruits in mead (a topic we will explore later) can provide a perceived sweetness to the mead, yet still remain dry. Arresting the fermentation early will leave unfermented sugars in the finished product. Also, the mead can be back sweetened during production. Back sweetening is the addition of extra sugar (often more honey in this case) after fermentation has finish and the yeast removed. The amount of sugar, residual or added, will dictate the level of sweetness.
The level of carbonation can be related to that of wine. A still mead has no carbonation; it is flat, without bubbles, nothing to tickle your nose. A petillant (simply stated as carbonated or lightly carbonated) has a note worthy amount of carbonation. Think tonic water or slightly less than the carbonation level of typical sodas. Sparking meads have a Champagne-like carbonation level. Sparkling meads should not be gushing, but they will have a “carbonated water” feel in your mouth. Still meads occur when the yeast has finished fermentation without allowing any pressure to be placed on the tank. Carbonation can be achieved through bunging, or sealing, the fermenter prior to the end of fermentation, creating pressure in the tank. This allows the yeast to continue creating alcohol and CO2, while the pressure forces the CO2 into the mead and carbonates it. Also, the practice of force-carbonation is where CO2 is pushed into the mead in a pressurized tank. Carbonation requires a specified temperature, pressure, and time to raise the CO2 to its desired level.
The strength of the mead depends on the amount of sugar that is fermented. As stated earlier, yeast breaks down sugar to create alcohol, etc. More honey equals more sugar; more sugar equals more alcohol. The addition of sugars before or during fermentation will increase the strength as well. Hydromel (or session) meads, like session beers, are lower in alcohol than standard meads, less than 7% ABV in mead. Standard meads range from 7% to 14% ABV, this is somewhat consistent with typical wines that have a low to moderate alcohol content. Sack meads are generally made with more honey at the start of fermentation (more honey = more alcohol) and have an alcohol content of more than 14% ABV.
Any mead can be described with characteristics of all three attributes. Our Rubus Idaeus is a semi-sweet, carbonated, session mead; our Dry Elven is a dry, still, standard mead. We have a sparkling mead with strawberries in future plans, and one day look forward to releasing our Valhalla, which is a Sweet, Still, Sack!
Check out the style guidelines as put forth by the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) for more information: https://legacy.bjcp.org/docs/2015_Guidelines_Mead.pdf