Kissing Whiskey By The Fire

March 2024

1st Member Bottle

🔥🔥FINAL GRAVITY SOCIETY🔥🔥 

Mead Details:

This mead is a “Bochet”. That means we caramelized the honey before we pitch the yeast. 

We caramelized a blend of Buckwheat honey, and 2 types of local Wildflower honey. From Dexter and Flatrock. 

After we caramelized the honey, we then added it all to a freshly dumped bourbon barrel to begin the fermentation process. 

This is the first time we’ve experimented with an Oak barrel fermentation. Typically we ferment in stainless steel or food grade plastic barrels.   

The barrel we sourced was a 10yr Tippins Market Store Pick Four Roses Bourbon barrel. 

The mead was in the barrel for just over a year. After 13 months, we pulled the mead out and placed it in another freshly dumped bourbon barrel from Detroit City Distillery. 

It was in that barrel for 2 months until I pulled this special mead out.  

I pulled just enough to fill the 1st member bottles and the reast will stay sleeping for another project you can look forward to in 2025. 

The yeast we used, D47

Tasting notes from Karl,

Kissing Whiskey by the Fire

Ahhh the first bottle for our Members, what a treat. Let’s start by saying that this barrel-aged bochet /pours/ smooth, which gives me high hopes already!

Just taking in this mead before a taste alone is premium. Full whiskey barrel expression with that woody/boozy profile of a whiskey lover’s dreams, with a deep and rich note of our lovely caramelized honey. The buckwheat, which normally boasts an earthy straw profile, is especially prevalent in the nose. 

Now, let me tell you, as a whiskey lover myself, that this first impression from my first sip is checking all the boxes. I wanted to assume from a caramelized buckwheat/wildflower traditional aged for a year in a barrel it would boast a rich sweetness and whiskey edge. This mead doesn’t merely boast. No, I can’t taste any humility in this mead whatsoever! 

The Kiss rolls across your tongue with a wave of smooth whiskey heat with a decadent blend of rich honey sweetness. Just the hint of a whiskey’s heat tries to make itself known, but the dark sweet honey notes of caramel, toasty hay grass, and even a touch of leather rein it in. With the wildflower adding a floral sweetness, it’s well toasted over by the aforementioned buckwheat notes. Blending the richer, farmyard flavors with an overwhelmingly well-blended whiskey wood profile just works. Best of both worlds and certainly exactly as advertised.