Spruce Mead

I brewed some spruce mead on Beltane (May 1). I used the same Basic Mead Recipe but before I started I gathered some new spring growth of spruce boughs from my yard. I decocted the boughs in the spring water for several hours, cooled it overnight, and strained it. I then used this tea to brew the mead as above. One modification: spruce contains ascorbic acid (vitamin C, settlers and natives used it to fight scurvy) so I only used 2 lemons rather than 6.

This batch was racked a few days ago, and is already surprisingly tasty. A good, clean, sweet mead, with an unusual afterflavor of spruce. Nice, and should only get better with age!

Here’s the label: