Originally By Tony Ackland
Using Honey to make SpiritsWal writes ...
Mock Honey. Not to be outdone by bees, we can also process granular sucrose to make a home-made 'honey'. Here is a mock-honey recipe (a form of invert sugar syrup), based on the above, using 4 units of granulated sugar to 1 unit of water:
You could infuse dried flowers (camomile, roses, citrus flowers) to provide a floral aroma. If you are making a heavily spiced mead, and you want to save money, the recipe is appropriate.
For low technology brewing techniques using honey, as still practised in East Africa, see "Honey Beer" http://www.fao.org/docrep/w0076e/w0076e08.htm
For brewing using honey as practised in Medieval times, see "A Guide to Mead" http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/articles/guide_to_mead.html.
"Spirit of Honey", distilled from a honey mash, consisting of 1 part honey to 5 parts water is mentioned in "Delightes for Ladies" by Sir Hugh Plat, 1609
Vikings made mead and sometimes added honey to malt when making ale. In Tudor times a mixture of honey and ale fermented together and spiced with pepper was called 'braggot'. Prior to hops the herbs (gruit) used to flavor ale included bog myrtle, rosemary, yarrow, alecost.
For making mead or a honey mash see "Mead" http://consumer.lallemand.com/danstar-lalvin/InFerment/Mead.html Honey is basically an invert sugar lacking in nutrients and the advice on nutrients is useful. The addition of acid is not recommended. Also "The Basics of Mead Fermentation" http://consumer.lallemand.com/danstar-lalvin/InFerment/Mead_Basics.html Another good site is "An Analysis of Mead Making and the Role of its Primary Constituents" http://www.solorb.com/mead/danspaper.html Also "Mead" http://www.fao.org/docrep/w0076e/w0076e07.htm
Found 3 German honey liqueurs that use Mexican Yucatan honey - "Barenjager","Barenfang", BarenMet" - http://www.schwarze-schlichte.de/produkte/honiglikoer_met.htm The Polish firm "Polmos" makes a honey liqueur called "Krupnik" and "Medos" http://www.honeyvodka.com/ingredients.html
Honey is used to sweeten and flavor whisky liqueurs "Drambuie", "Glayva", "Irish Mist". "Stag's Breath" is a sweet mead fortified with whisky to liqueur strength. In Portugal "Brandymel" is a brandy flavored with honey. For those who want to make their own honey liqueurs, here are several recipes:
1 bottle of vodka (750ml)
2/3 cup of water
1 and 1/2 cups honey
1/4 vanilla bean
3 cinnamon sticks
1 strip of orange or lemon peel
2 whole cloves
Combine honey with water, spices in a large saucepan. Bring to boil, cover and simmer for 5 mins. Add vodka, remove from heat. Serve hot or cold.
Poland and Lithuania were part of a Commonwealth, which explains the similarity of the names - Krupnik, Krupnikas.
1 litre alcohol
4 cups of water
900g (2lbs) honey
2 tsp caraway seed
10 whole allspice
4 sticks cinnamon
2 sticks vanilla
2 pieces ginger
2 pieces galangal
10 cardamon seeds
3 strips lemon peel
3 strips orange peel
1 pinch saffron
Boil spices until water reduced to 2 cups. Strain. Pour spiced liquid into honey and stir. Add alcohol. Allow to cool.
Spices for Polish Mead (5 gals or 20 L)
hops - 2ozs (50g)
1 tsp ginger
1/2 stick cinnamon
1/2 stick vanilla
pinch of nutmeg
Honey MashOne of our Utah mates recommends this. Ferment for 75 days and distill. Said to taste great and the mash comes to about 18% alcohol.
Mead BrandyJacks recipe for Mead Brandy ...
It's good as a clear spirit, but I prefer to water it to 40 to 45% and age it on a quarter teaspoon of charred American oak until it gets a Glenmorangie (10 year) gold color. This takes maybe a month in the bottle. Age it at this lower strength as vanillins tend to interfere with the honey aroma of the spirit, and the bitter - sweet taste of this wood tends to balance well with the honey - the sugars in the wood that are extracted at this low strength also tend to smoothen out the spirit.