Looking for a very red mead

As the title says, I'm basically looking for the reddest, most color-saturated mead I can find while still maintaining clarity. I'm pretty open to flavors. If someone can point me in the right direction I would be much obliged

Bonus points if you can provide a pic or two.

Been poking around on this forum and you guys all seem knowledgeable and awesome, and a community I'd quite like to be a part of (even if I'm just reading your posts).

Many thanks in advance.

Broswe some of the cherry melomels. Or maybe some cranberry? Im sure that'd work and taste VERY good.

Definitely cherry melomel. Mmmmmm. Or there's also blood orange, raspberry and strawberry. Maybe you could do a blend. Cherry would be the nicest red color IMO though.

My raspberry is a deep, pink-red. Very dark unless back lit, and my cherry chipotle looks like ink (or blood) until you shine a light through it. These are the best pics I can get right now, and they don't come close to really representing the color.
The one gallon is cherry and the 5 gallon is raspberry.

Depends on what the OP means by "red".....

Red as in colour ? Like a Royal Mail post box ?

One that looks pretty when light is shone through it ?

Or red like a nice meaty burgundy or bordeaux ?

If the later, then fresh grape, elderberry, blackberry, black raspberry, blueberry etc would be the way to go.......

Hibiscus would get you red also, no experience of my own though. One thing to watch out for is some pigments are pH dependent and will turn more pink than red or purple depending on the source. I know in an acidic solution the anthicyanin in purple corn turns pink.

The hibiscus I have is kind of purple ish. The prickly pear is intense fushia, the strawberry has faded to a pale red-orange color.

By far my reddest are the raspberry and cherry.

This is a cherry berry that I'm getting ready to bottle. It is mostly strawberry with some cherry. Really just depends on how red you want it. Not the greatest pic but the color on the left of the picture is closest to what it looks like in person.

Dragon fruit from the pics I have seen has a neon beetroot colour.

If you really want it to be red, the most red you can get and stay red you need to make an elderberry mead, none of the others in this thread come close to elderberry red, dried ones work well also. I cant give you a picture of one of mine because they are so red it changes the refraction of the sunlight coming through it and shifts everything out of the cameras range, its so very red. WVMJ

If you're using a fruit source for color, you will lose some color if you add the fruit in primary...add after the primary fermentation for best color contribution...

Black raspberry will give you the darkest red. Sorry no pic until I open another bottle.

WVMJ said:

If you really want it to be red, the most red you can get and stay red you need to make an elderberry mead, none of the others in this thread come close to elderberry red, dried ones work well also. I cant give you a picture of one of mine because they are so red it changes the refraction of the sunlight coming through it and shifts everything out of the cameras range, its so very red. WVMJ

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That sounds absolutely legendary... Is there a place that you buy your berries, or do you grow your own?

Look for Prickly Cactus Pears in Latin markets.

The red flesh type dyes your skin red. Flavors of raspberry, watermelon, and tomato. Needs some acidity for full potential. Don't be worried about watering it down either; the flavor and color should still remain.

The only other thing I can think of that is redder is Annatto seeds, but I wouldn't recommend using them for mead.

Yes it is, you add elderberries to all the others listed in this thread to help give them more red color. My basement floor where we do all of our elderberry work looks like a bloody crime scene complete with splatters on the walls and ceilings (we are very active winemakers). We grow our own and even dry some of our own. You can also buy the dried ones. Check out our webpage in the sig below. WVMJ

Meadiator said:

That sounds absolutely legendary... Is there a place that you buy your berries, or do you grow your own?

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WVMJ said:

Yes it is, you add elderberries to all the others listed in this thread to help give them more red color. My basement floor where we do all of our elderberry work looks like a bloody crime scene complete with splatters on the walls and ceilings (we are very active winemakers). We grow our own and even dry some of our own. You can also buy the dried ones. Check out our webpage in the sig below. WVMJ

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Jack has some marvellous elderberry bushes for what I'd suspect is brilliant fruit, but you will get a batch as dark as an elderberry wine just with black wine grapes and then ferment on the fruit. Some pectolase will help not only with the pectins but with colour/flavour extraction or there's a few other enzymes for that specifically.

Either way those two would do the job well.

Some of the other suggestions sound excellent too. But you would end up with differing flavours......

Leave it to the OP to have a think and them decide what's likely the way forward. ...

WVMJ said:

Yes it is, you add elderberries to all the others listed in this thread to help give them more red color. My basement floor where we do all of our elderberry work looks like a bloody crime scene complete with splatters on the walls and ceilings (we are very active winemakers). We grow our own and even dry some of our own. You can also buy the dried ones. Check out our webpage in the sig below. WVMJ

Click to expand...

I thought I read somewhere that uncooked elderberries are poisonous? It's that true? Do you cook them, or does fermentation change things?