I've been wanting to make more meads with herbs and flowers, but my botanical knowledge doesn't really support trying to collect these in the wild. Therefore, we took a very out-of-character, yet fun trip to Herbs and Arts, a big hippie store on Colfax. Batches 122 through 124 were the first outcome of said trip: one calendula, one chrysanthemum, and one calendula/chrysanthemum (because I bought way too much of each for a single batch). This was also my first set of brews with Red Star Cote des Blancs yeast. The fermentable in this one is an Ozark mountain honey which may have been from Missouri. This batch is part of a series named after Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.

Ingredients in this batch

  • 2.75 lbs Ozark mountain (wildflower?) honey
  • Approx. 0.5 oz chrysanthemum petals
  • ⅓ pack Red Star Cote des Blancs yeast, rehydrated
  • ⅛ tsp yeast nutrient
  • Denver tap water to 1 gallon

Process

Identical process and ingredients as Batch 122, except for the flowers. I made a tea with the chrysanthemum, let it cool a bit, then mixed it into the honey. Starting gravity was 1.096. Fermentation took off super quickly and aggressively. I left the petals in the mead as it fermented to extract more flavor; hopefully this won't bite me, but I figure can always dilute with plain solera mead if needed.

I bottled this batch and its brethren on 8/26. It's kind of sort of too floral to love, which makes it just right for me. Final gravity came out at 1.001, which puts ABV around 11%.