This “Winter Mead” is a spiced mead fruited with apples and cranberries – a melomel / metheglin, first brewed in the Fall of 2000.

Ingredients for 3 gallons:

--6 to 9 lbs. honey (personal preference is about 7)
--6 whole cloves
--6 whole allspice (crushed)
--3 two-inch cinnamon sticks
--1 gallon of cranberry juice
--1 gallon of apple juice (NOT cider)
--1 pack dry Red Star Pasteur Premier Cuvee’ Yeast

Warm the honey by placing the container in a pot of hot water for about 30 minutes. This liquefies it enough to get it out of the container without losing a lot. The fruit juices should be at room temperature. Pour the fruit juices into a clean and sterile 3-gallon carboy. Crush the allspice, but leave the cloves whole. Drop them and the cinnamon sticks into the carboy. When the honey is sufficiently liquidy, pour it into the carboy and shake/stire vigorously to make sure it blends with the fruit juices. You will have about 2-1/2 gallons of liquid. Pitch the yeast (you can use a starter if you like) and seal it with an airlock.

After about two weeks, the foam layer will subside. Open the carboy and top it up either with sterile water or a solution made by boiling ¼-cup of honey in 2 quarts of water. Leave about a hand-span of airspace at the top of the fermenter. Reseal it with the airlock. You will notice a small resurgence of activity followed by a slower bubbling.

After four more weeks, siphon the mead into another clean and sterile fermenter. Let sit until the yeast settles out. Bottle when clear (or relatively clear.) You may want to rack it again before bottling if there is a lot of sediment.

HL Eloine ni Mhaoileoin, CSH, CLM, CT, CGCS is a 16^th century Irish woman with a penchant for crafts – particularly leather working. Robin Waller is General Manager of Home Brew Supply, LLC in Saint Joseph, MO.