MEADBEERWINE

In tribute to my favourite supervillain of all time I set out to brew a mighty batch of booze. MEADBEERWINE is the terrifying frankenbrau that resulted: one half mead, one half beer, and one half wine.

In order to achieve a five gallon batch of this stuff I obtained enough honey to produce a half-batch of mead, enough malt extract for a half-batch of beer, and enough grape juice for a half-batch of wine. I had no idea how the stuff would taste, so I used milder ingredients (white wine, pilsner beer extract) to keep the flavour mellow. I was also worried this would turn out disgustingly sweet, so on Mandy’s recommendation I added in a gallon of cranberry juice.

MEADBEERWINE (recipe for 18.9L batch):

• 9.45L Macedo Winemaking Palomino grape juice (available at Macedo Wine Grape Juice, 30 Ossington Ave, Toronto, Canada)
• 3 Kg Meadowview Canada #1 Golden honey
• 1.7 Kg can Morgan’s Canadian Pilsnermalt extract
• 3.78L President’s Choice Cranberry juice
• Distilled water to fill the batch
• Danstar Nottingham yeast

Starting gravity: 1.105

I had no idea how violently this would ferment so I did the primary in a wine bucket — in fact I fermented it in the same bucket provided by Macedo. The 5 US Gal. bucket was completely full however, so I started the process by siphoning half the grape juice out into another carboy.

In hindsight I wish I hadn’t chosen Palomino grapes. I didn’t do my homework and didn’t realize these were generally used for low-grade wine and sherry… wish I’d spent a few extra bucks on Cab Sauvignon or Chardonnay grapes. It’s a lesson learned but at least wine won’t be the dominant flavour in this.

Next I brought a couple litres of water to a boil on the stovetop. Once it started bubbling I turned off the heat, then poured in the bucket of honey. You can probably get away without boiling the water but this helps dissolve the honey into the mix a little better. No need to continue boiling once the honey has been added.

Next I added the beer extract. This was pretty easy, just open the can and dump it in. In my kettle I brought a couple more litres to a boil, and I used this to gather leftover honey and beer extract at the bottom of the containers. Once I’d soaked up most of the residual I poured this into the stovetop mix.

From this point on it was all pretty easy. I dumped the stovetop mix into the bucket which contained the 2.5 US Gal of white wine. Added the gallon of cranberry juice. There was still room in the bucket so I poured a some water in too. Once the stuff had cooled sufficiently I pitched the yeast. I used Danstar Nottingham yeast which I’m using increasingly in wines and meads… it has high alcohol tolerance and a nice crisp flavour which works great in winey beverages.

I was expecting an explosive fermentation but it ended up being rather tame — I also fermented the other half of the grape juice in a separate carboy and this burned slowly too. Apparently the Palomino grape juice is a slow starter. Nonetheless it moved consistently and within two weeks a large amount of sediment was visible at the bottom, so I transfered it to a carboy. The specific gravity was now about 1.020. The must tasted like part mead, part beer and part wine. I’ll bottle it in another month or so.

I have no idea what to expect from the final product. Do you drink it chilled or at room temperature? Do you sip it from wine glasses or swig it by the pint? Final ABV should be somewhere around 14-15% so this is definitely a beverage to celebrate glorious victory on the battlefields. I’ll post updates once it’s finished!