On 2009-05-20, blake murphy > wrote:
> On Wed, 20 May 2009 06:47:41 -0700 (PDT), Cindy Hamilton wrote:
>
>> On May 19, 5:47*pm, George Shirley > wrote:
>>> What's the worse beer you've ever run through your kidneys?
>>
>> Homebrew. I used to belong to the Society for Creative Anachronism,
>> and I've tasted enough vile homebrew to drown a Clydesdale.
>>
>> Cindy Hamilton
>
> but is home-made mead any better?

Oh Hell yes!!

My brewing mentor also does mead, some of it 5 yrs old. Having tried a
commercial mead a couple decades back, I thought the stuff was pretty much
crap. Then, I tasted my mentor's homebrewed meads and his black/raspberry
melomels (fruit added mead). To die for! Like home brewed beer, and as we
all know, just like food, the key is the ingredients. You buy those "kits"
with the packets of crap and you're gonna get crap. Use the best honey,
grains, yeast, water, etc, and you get great beer/mead.

I know that homebrewing was a pretty dismal proposition 30-40 yrs ago, but
now it's serious stuff. The whole renaissance in US beers is due to the
grass roots microbrewery industry which grew, almost to a brand, from home
brewing. I've been to more than one microbrewery that has the same 5 gal
homebrewing system, which anyone can buy, to develop a new beer offering
before they ramp up to brew it commercially.

If you can bake a better quiche than Nancy's ....I sure as Hell can!.... you
can brew a better beer than Bud.

nb