Mead Wine.
THERE are different kinds of this wine; but those generally made are two, namely, sack-mead, and cowslip mead. Sack-mead is made thus: To every gallon of water put four pounds of honey, and boil it three quarters of an hour, taking care properly to skim it. To each gallon add half an ounce of hops, then boil it half an hour, and let it stand till the next day. Then put it into your cask, and to thirteen gallons of the liquor add a quart of brandy or sack. Let it be tightly closed till the fermentation is over, and then stop it up very close.
If you make as fills a large cask, you must not bottle it off till it has stood a year.
To make cowslip-mead proceed thus: Put thirty pounds of honey into fifteen gallons of water, and boil it till one gallon is wasted; skim it, take it off the fire, and have ready sixteen lemons cut in half. Take a gallon of the liquor, and put it to the lemons. Pour the rest of the liquor into a tub, with seven pecks of cowslips, and let them stand all night; then put in the liquor with the lemons, eight spoonsful of new yeast, and a handful of sweet-brier; stir all well together, and let it work three or four days. Then strain it, pour it into your cask, let it stand six months, and then bottle it off for use.
« It has been the peculiar study of the writer of this work to render it the most perfect, and consequently the most useful composition of the kind hitherto formed: To effect this, he has endeavoured to enlarge and improve his own knowledge from that of others in the various subjects contained in the Work; and, from his extensive connections, has happily met with many favourable opportunities of gratifying his wishes « One instance among the rest is in the article now before us, which was obtained from a lady in the country, who has always been particularly attached to mead wine, and whose manner of making it we shall give in her own words, as sent by post in the month of January last.
« To one hundred and twenty gallons of pure water, « the softer the better, I put fifteen gallons of clarified « honey. When the honey is well mixed with the water, « I fill my copper, the same as I use for brewing, which « only holds sixty gallons, and boil it till it is reduced « about a fourth part. I then draw it off, and boil the « remainder of the liquor in the same manner. When « this last is about a fourth part wasted, I fill up the cop« per with some of that which was first boiled, and con« tinue boiling it and filling it up, till the copper contains « the whole of the liquor, by which time it will of course « be half evaporated. I must observe, that in boiling, « I never take off the scum, but, on the contrary, have « it well mixed with the liquor whilst boiling by means of « a jet. When this is done, I draw it off into under« backs, by a cock at the bottom of the copper, in which « I let it remain till it is only as warm as new milk.— « At this time I tun it up, and suffer it to ferment in the « vessel, where it will form a thick head. As soon as it « is done working, I stop it down very close, in order to « keep the air from it as much as possible. I keep this, « as well as my mead, in a cellar or vault I have for that « purpose, being very deep and cool, and the door shut « to close, as to keep out, in a manner, all the outward « air; so that the liquor is always in the same tempera« ture, being not at all affected by the change of weather. « To this I attribute, in a great measure, the goodness « of my mead.—Another proportion I have of making « mead, is to allow eighty pounds of purified honey to « one hundred and twenty gallons of soft water, which « I manage in the making, in all respects, like the « before-mentioned, and it proves very pleasant, good « light drinking, and is, by many, preferred to the « other, which is much richer, and has a fuller flavour; « but at the same time it is more inebriating, and apt to « make the head ach, if drank in too large quantities.— « I imagine therefore, upon the whole, the last to be « the proportion that makes the wholesomest liquor for « common drink, the other being rather, when properly « preferred, a rich cordial, something like fine old « Malaga, which, when in perfection, is justly esteemed « the best of the Spanish wines. I choose, in general, « to have the liquor pure and genuine, though many « like it best when it has an aromatic flavour, and for « this purpose they mix elder, rosemary, and marjoram « flowers with it; and also use cinnamon, cloves, gin« ger, and cardamums, in various proportions, ac« cording to their taste: But I do not approve of this « last practice at all, as green herbs are apt to make « mead drink flat; and too many cloves, besides being « very predominant in the taste, make it of too high a « colour. I never bottle my mead before it is half a « year old, and when I do, I take care to have it well « corked.