Schramm's Mead

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Honest thoughts on Black Heart Batch 1?

A few of us in here (who I won't tag to preserve their anonymity) all agree that it has a weird metallic / iron / almost blood like character that is pretty off putting. We've had it fresh as well as a bottle opened up over Labor Day Weekend, and the same thing has been apparent. Any ideas what is causing that and / if more time will diminish it?

Favorite non Schramms commercial mead?
 
Gonzoillini said:
Honest thoughts on Black Heart Batch 1?

A few of us in here (who I won't tag to preserve their anonymity) all agree that it has a weird metallic / iron / almost blood like character that is pretty off putting. We've had it fresh as well as a bottle opened up over Labor Day Weekend, and the same thing has been apparent. Any ideas what is causing that and / if more time will diminish it?

Favorite non Schramms commercial mead?
Click to expand...
Fun's over. Now we're getting into it!
 
Gonzoillini said:
Honest thoughts on Black Heart Batch 1?

A few of us in here (who I won't tag to preserve their anonymity) all agree that it has a weird metallic / iron / almost blood like character that is pretty off putting. We've had it fresh as well as a bottle opened up over Labor Day Weekend, and the same thing has been apparent. Any ideas what is causing that and / if more time will diminish it?

Favorite non Schramms commercial mead?
Click to expand...

Our first blackheart batch was fermented on whole fruit for about a month, and black raspberries have way too many seeds for that. We've noticed it as well (especially when it was young), that there is a sharp tannic acidity to the mead, most likely from the seed content. Is this what you're picking up on? It could present itself with an almost astringent mouthfeel as well, and based on some comparisons we've done with batch 2, it is something that will age out. Now, with batch two we've changed the time on fruit, so batch two was drinkable fresh. We recommend aging batch 1, to give it time for that tannic acidity to soften (and it will). At least, that's what I hope your taste buds are perceiving. I've never heard the blood flavor descriptor before. Have you had batch 2?
 
Michigan said:
Fun's over. Now we're getting into it!
Click to expand...

One flawed mead in a few years of production is unreal, and that's coming from a guy who spends $$$ on societies for The Bruery, and used to spend it on Lost Abbeys society.
Naegerbomb said:
Our first blackheart batch was fermented on whole fruit for about a month, and black raspberries have way too many seeds for that. We've noticed it as well (especially when it was young), that there is a sharp tannic acidity to the mead, most likely from the seed content. Is this what you're picking up on? It could present itself with an almost astringent mouthfeel as well, and based on some comparisons we've done with batch 2, it is something that will age out. Now, with batch two we've changed the time on fruit, so batch two was drinkable fresh. We recommend aging batch 1, to give it time for that tannic acidity to soften (and it will). At least, that's what I hope your taste buds are perceiving. I've never heard the blood flavor descriptor before. Have you had batch 2?
Click to expand...

Yep had batch 2 at the same tasting with batch 1, and while I wouldn't describe the flavor as something I'd normally associate with tannic astringency, that could certainly be the explanation for what we were tasting. As for the blood comparison, its the off flavor I get from excessive iron / mineral adjustment in homebrew judging.

Also Batch 2 was fantastic, along with the 750 small batch ginger, and the HoD Batch 2 Schramms, and the Statement Reserve....

Can't wait to get back up there again to spend more time with MarkIntihar and drink mead.
 
I would say B2 Blackheart was better, so you may be on to something, and aging did seem to help B1, based on comparison. I am thinking it is just something that should be enjoyed later. I guess tannic is what I associate with oak and skins and this was almost rotten, but everything else has been spot on, so I think i will wait another year or two to open my other bottle amd see what happens.
 
I too enjoyed B2 Black Heart far and away over B1. While I don't mind aging things to see how they develop, I do prefer to try those beverages fresh to have a gauge of change. Fresh B1 wasn't for me, not sure age will change that, but I look forward to the possibility of having my opinion changed.
 
Johnnie Nepal said:
I too enjoyed B2 Black Heart far and away over B1. While I don't mind aging things to see how they develop, I do prefer to try those beverages fresh to have a gauge of change. Fresh B1 wasn't for me, not sure age will change that, but I look forward to the possibility of having my opinion changed.
Click to expand...

Well the good news is that for every batch moving forward, our time on fruit will be the same as batch 2, or similar, to avoid these over extraction issues. Thanks for the opportunity to change your mind! We really appreciate the support everyone has given us, and the forgiveness for our hiccups as we settle into out process and our (admittedly larger than we're used to) equipment. Cheers! -James
 
So I can
Naegerbomb said:
Some small batch experiments are in progress. Probably never anything reaching an entire barrel for some time, until we get a few years under our belts. In the meantime, we'll try staves inside our stainless barrels, and honeycomb barrel alternative.
Click to expand...
start plotting to get you to FoBAB? If I am never going to collect on my free dessert I should at least get to have BA Schmead at FoBAB birthday weekend.
 
Is it pronounced "Shramms" or "Skramms". I always thought the former, but recently heard someone say the latter and I would feel very foolish if I was pronouncing it wrong this whole time.

Also, what is the fruit/adjunct that is currently in development or that you are dreaming about that is the most exciting for you right now?

Also, do you ever plan on doing a straight mead? Is there a particular reason you haven't yet? (or perhaps I am just ignorant and one has been made but not bottled)
 
Schrute or Skrute?
dwight-shrute-screams-animated-gif.gif
 
quirkzoo said:
Is it pronounced "Shramms" or "Skramms". I always thought the former, but recently heard someone say the latter and I would feel very foolish if I was pronouncing it wrong this whole time.

Also, what is the fruit/adjunct that is currently in development or that you are dreaming about that is the most exciting for you right now?

Also, do you ever plan on doing a straight mead? Is there a particular reason you haven't yet? (or perhaps I am just ignorant and one has been made but not bottled)
Click to expand...

Ken and family pronounce it the first way: German "sch" sound. It is pronounced Schramm's, as in hams (or yams). Some Germans and sommeliers pronounce the second half of Schramm's like Mom's (or Tom's). I use Siri a lot on my phone, and she pronounces it incorrectly: Schramm's like 'skramms', as in scram, get out of here, go away. The first two are considered correct, but Ken et al pronounce it the first way: german 'sch' sound, rhyming with jams.

Honestly, what we are dreaming about most right now is being able to make more of what we already make: mead made from balaton cherries and red raspberries from Michigan, blackberry, and ginger. We're trying to take better advantage of the vertical space in our meadery, using bigger and better tanks to be able to get our mead to more people. On a small batch level, I'm really excited about some of our small-batch ginger meads. It is such a unique product, and people are starting to see what they've been missing from meads/wines/beers that are filtered and treated with chemical preservatives. We're experimenting with fresh ginger from different countries and cultivars, and we'll be releasing these small batches to our Mazer Club members as they come out. I'd like to do a turmeric mead personally, but I'm not sure how that will taste fermented (I experimented with a bit of Michigan wildflower honey on turmeric slices the other day, it was pretty interesting).

A straight/traditional mead is something that we've always wanted to do. The "problem" is that we only want to create world-class products, and we're still looking for a honey that can stand on its own and produce that involuntary 'wow' that we hear when people drink our other meads, particularly our melomels. Traditional meads simply aren't as complex as fruit meads, grape wines, and other beverages (like coffee), so what we're looking for is a honey (probably a varietal) that we can source at a reasonable cost (Tasmanian Leatherwood honey is out, for the time being) that creates a mead (not every great-tasting honey makes great-tasting mead) that has the vertical and horizontal complexity on the palate that we want our meads to have. Our experiments are ongoing in this area in small batches at the meadery.
 
Naegerbomb said:
Ken and family pronounce it the first way: German "sch" sound. It is pronounced Schramm's, as in hams (or yams). Some Germans and sommeliers pronounce the second half of Schramm's like Mom's (or Tom's). I use Siri a lot on my phone, and she pronounces it incorrectly: Schramm's like 'skramms', as in scram, get out of here, go away. The first two are considered correct, but Ken et al pronounce it the first way: german 'sch' sound, rhyming with jams.

Honestly, what we are dreaming about most right now is being able to make more of what we already make: mead made from balaton cherries and red raspberries from Michigan, blackberry, and ginger. We're trying to take better advantage of the vertical space in our meadery, using bigger and better tanks to be able to get our mead to more people. On a small batch level, I'm really excited about some of our small-batch ginger meads. It is such a unique product, and people are starting to see what they've been missing from meads/wines/beers that are filtered and treated with chemical preservatives. We're experimenting with fresh ginger from different countries and cultivars, and we'll be releasing these small batches to our Mazer Club members as they come out. I'd like to do a turmeric mead personally, but I'm not sure how that will taste fermented (I experimented with a bit of Michigan wildflower honey on turmeric slices the other day, it was pretty interesting).

A straight/traditional mead is something that we've always wanted to do. The "problem" is that we only want to create world-class products, and we're still looking for a honey that can stand on its own and produce that involuntary 'wow' that we hear when people drink our other meads, particularly our melomels. Traditional meads simply aren't as complex as fruit meads, grape wines, and other beverages (like coffee), so what we're looking for is a honey (probably a varietal) that we can source at a reasonable cost (Tasmanian Leatherwood honey is out, for the time being) that creates a mead (not every great-tasting honey makes great-tasting mead) that has the vertical and horizontal complexity on the palate that we want our meads to have. Our experiments are ongoing in this area in small batches at the meadery.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks.

Re: turmeric. Crooked Stave's Wild Wild Brett Yellow used honey, turmeric and mango and it was very unique and quite good, interested to see where you all take this.
 
This may have been asked before or you've probably answered this question MANY times

1. Is the global honey shortage / extinction of bees completely overexagerated?
2. If it's not exaggerated and is a real thing, how do you expect to keep making mead for generations to come? Will the price of honey and therefore mead continue to rise as honey supplies deplete?
 
Adam Jackson said:
This may have been asked before or you've probably answered this question MANY times

1. Is the global honey shortage / extinction of bees completely overexagerated?
2. If it's not exaggerated and is a real thing, how do you expect to keep making mead for generations to come? Will the price of honey and therefore mead continue to rise as honey supplies deplete?
Click to expand...

pk9EpQt.jpg
 
Adam Jackson said:
This may have been asked before or you've probably answered this question MANY times

1. Is the global honey shortage / extinction of bees completely overexagerated?
2. If it's not exaggerated and is a real thing, how do you expect to keep making mead for generations to come? Will the price of honey and therefore mead continue to rise as honey supplies deplete?
Click to expand...

1. No, it isn't completely exaggerated. It is a serious issue that will affect everyone who enjoys eating food (and secondarily, drinking mead).

2. As a society, we need to place a greater value on pollinators. If you can find it, I highly recommend the documentary film "More Than Honey". It does a great job of not being alarmist, but showing the negative consequences that will occur here in the U.S. and worldwide if we continue on our current course of action. We haven't used pesticides like the neonicotinoids (highly toxic, highly persistent, pervasively used) since dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), and we know now what the effects of its use were (eggshell thinning of songbirds, birds of prey, etc., and genotoxic/carcinogenic to humans). Honey and mead are just a side project for these bees, and for us. The more important issue is the health of our ecosystems, our crop pollination, and our own health and wellbeing. Personally, I'm scared shitless that in some dystopian future all of our crops will have to be pollinated by hand, like many crops in ecologically devastated areas in China, e.g. almonds. It is really frightening to think about never seeing a monarch butterfly again, or never seeing honeybees visit your garden. Watch that documentary, really. The cinematography is really excellent. There are a lot of documentaries on colony collapse disorder (CCD) that are way too alarmist, but this one shows the problem without having to even use words, and is focused on the entire range of issues affecting honeybee health worldwide.
 
Adam Jackson said:
well it is a legitimate question. I've seen a few documentaries that would honestly scare me away from building a business around a crop that is supposedly going away, right?
Click to expand...

Totally legitimate. Most documentaries on CCD are designed to be alarmist, because honestly the problem is slowly building (like the boiling frog metaphor) and people just don't give a **** sometimes unless the sky is falling. This issue is very serious and deserves a lot of attention. At Schramm's Mead, we only source our honey from those with 'True Source' certification or from beekeepers that we know personally. This way, we can be sure that our honey is coming from the U.S., and contribute to an organization that "actively support U.S. beekeepers, including supporting research to help beekeepers maintain the health and high quality of U.S. honey production and to fight colony collapse disorder."
 
I've never heard of True Source. So I guess in some ways, I'm glad that my freaking out isn't for nothing and secondly, it's nice to see at Schramm's that the buying of honey is with consciousness toward the current climate of bees. Thanks for the informational response. I like mead a lot so obviously anything that would one day keep me from getting buzzed is going to be a big deal!
 
Naegerbomb said:
We're experimenting with fresh ginger from different countries and cultivars, and we'll be releasing these small batches to our Mazer Club members as they come out.
Click to expand...

how will this work? i was under the impression that mazer club members get first crack at releases, but didn't realize there would be exclusive releases just for mazer members? as someone not local, i have not picked up a membership since all the perks really require you to be local. is there a way as a non local mazer member to take advantage of these small batch releases if you can't be there in person to buy or pick them up?
 
cosmicevan said:
how will this work? i was under the impression that mazer club members get first crack at releases, but didn't realize there would be exclusive releases just for mazer members? as someone not local, i have not picked up a membership since all the perks really require you to be local. is there a way as a non local mazer member to take advantage of these small batch releases if you can't be there in person to buy or pick them up?
Click to expand...

You can appoint a trustee. While reservations for mead can be conducted via email, your trustee has to make the purchase on your behalf. This means you need to send your trustee the money via check, money order, paypal, etc.

Source: private messages with Naegerbomb
 
Beerontwowheels said:
You can appoint a trustee. While reservations for mead can be conducted via email, your trustee has to make the purchase on your behalf. This means you need to send your trustee the money via check, money order, paypal, etc.

Source: private messages with Naegerbomb
Click to expand...

will your trustee get the discount that you would get if you were in person?
 
Naegerbomb said:
Ken and family pronounce it the first way: German "sch" sound. It is pronounced Schramm's, as in hams (or yams). Some Germans and sommeliers pronounce the second half of Schramm's like Mom's (or Tom's). I use Siri a lot on my phone, and she pronounces it incorrectly: Schramm's like 'skramms', as in scram, get out of here, go away. The first two are considered correct, but Ken et al pronounce it the first way: german 'sch' sound, rhyming with jams.

Honestly, what we are dreaming about most right now is being able to make more of what we already make: mead made from balaton cherries and red raspberries from Michigan, blackberry, and ginger. We're trying to take better advantage of the vertical space in our meadery, using bigger and better tanks to be able to get our mead to more people. On a small batch level, I'm really excited about some of our small-batch ginger meads. It is such a unique product, and people are starting to see what they've been missing from meads/wines/beers that are filtered and treated with chemical preservatives. We're experimenting with fresh ginger from different countries and cultivars, and we'll be releasing these small batches to our Mazer Club members as they come out. I'd like to do a turmeric mead personally, but I'm not sure how that will taste fermented (I experimented with a bit of Michigan wildflower honey on turmeric slices the other day, it was pretty interesting).

A straight/traditional mead is something that we've always wanted to do. The "problem" is that we only want to create world-class products, and we're still looking for a honey that can stand on its own and produce that involuntary 'wow' that we hear when people drink our other meads, particularly our melomels. Traditional meads simply aren't as complex as fruit meads, grape wines, and other beverages (like coffee), so what we're looking for is a honey (probably a varietal) that we can source at a reasonable cost (Tasmanian Leatherwood honey is out, for the time being) that creates a mead (not every great-tasting honey makes great-tasting mead) that has the vertical and horizontal complexity on the palate that we want our meads to have. Our experiments are ongoing in this area in small batches at the meadery.
Click to expand...
First, you can correct Siri. Second, a friend of mine once bought some mislabeled turmeric for a ginger beer he was making. It dyed everything plastic yellow and could be paired only with Indian food. Be prepared for that.
 
trickytunadicky said:
First, you can correct Siri. Second, a friend of mine once bought some mislabeled turmeric for a ginger beer he was making. It dyed everything plastic yellow and could be paired only with Indian food. Be prepared for that.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had the orange hands for a day or two. Gloves and turmeric-only Vino Vessel, check.
 
cosmicevan said:
how will this work? i was under the impression that mazer club members get first crack at releases, but didn't realize there would be exclusive releases just for mazer members? as someone not local, i have not picked up a membership since all the perks really require you to be local. is there a way as a non local mazer member to take advantage of these small batch releases if you can't be there in person to buy or pick them up?
Click to expand...

Quite a few of our Mazer Club members are from out of town. I don't have the breakdown, but it's a lot. Many appoint a regular trading partner, friend, or family member as their trustee/proxy and then arrange to pay them back (or in advance) somehow, via check, paypal, blood sacrifice, etc.

When anything new comes out, you'll get an email from Alyson about a month before John Q. Public hears about it, giving you the opportunity to reserve a certain number of bottles, and then we set those bottles aside for a month or so, giving you or your proxy plenty of time to come in and pick them up and pay at that time. The reservation/ proxy system really works quite well - people seem to be really happy with it in practice.
 
steimie / trickytunadicky : More than 30 heirloom and modern varieties from Ken's property. The recipe couldn't be simpler: fresh pressed cider from over 30 heirloom cider apple varieties, expertly grown, picked, and pressed, to which was added only honey (no water, no yeast, no preservatives, and never filtered). It's a spontaneous fermentation, and I think this year's blend makes one of the best meads we've ever made.
 

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