Batch 145: Mr. Hyde (East Coast Buckwheat Varietal Mead)

This is the East Coast buckwheat varietal to compare against the West Coast one I made in August. I spotted this honey at Quirky Homebrew in Northglenn, CO, soon after starting my West Coast batch.

I had read that East Coast and West Coast buckwheat honeys were very different, but nothing prepared me for just how different: Bennett's California buckwheat is dark and has a touch of molasses, just like a buckwheat honey should, but it's basically pleasant. More sensitive souls might not want it in their tea, but I'd give it a shot. This Pennsylvania honey is pitch black and reeks of barnyard, and yes, that's an attempt to find a polite term for "smells like the business end of a horse." It's by far the most intense, abrasive honey I've ever seen. I have some doubts that this brew will ever be palatable to most, and I fully expect it to need a year+ of aging before even I might like it.

With that said, this honey is lovely for cooking, and that may be its preferred use. I recently roasted some carrots with East Coast buckwheat honey and thyme, and it just contributed a complex molasses note.

Ingredients in this batch

• 2.75 lbs Dutch Gold buckwheat honey from Pennsylvania
• ½ tsp Carlson yeast nutrient
• ½ tsp Carlson yeast energizer
• ¼ batch Lalvin 1122 yeast, rehydrated