Strawberry Lemon Mead

This started as a whimsical attempt to combine the quick fermenting Ancient Orange Mead with the fruit juice fantasies of our Grape Mead recipe. Little did I know that after a year of aging this once strange brew would blossom into something truly great! If you have the patience to wait, this extremely simple and deadly-delicious recipe is for you!

Targets Style
1 gallon Semi-sweet Mead
ABV ~12-14%

Ingredients
64 oz Trader Joe's Strawberry Lemonade or similar preservative-free juice
2 lbs clover honey
1 oz buckwheat honey
1 tbs Fleischmann's yeast
or, you can up this recipes game by using some dry Lalvin D47 yeast

Procedure
Mix the honey with warm water, filling one third of the jug. Shake the hell out of it, seriously, for like five minutes. Pour in the juice then fill the jug, leaving three inches of airspace for bubbles and krausen. After the water has reached about room temperature, add the yeast and swirl. Stopper it up with an airlock and let it ferment between 60-65F for eight weeks.

Leave the mixture, untouched, for 60 days, siphon off to bottles and age for 6 months to one year!

This is what I think of when they talk of sweet fruit wines of the Arbor and Summer Isles in A Game of Thrones; it is smooth, lightly sweetened with tart lemons and ripe strawberries all draped in a thin honey veil. Truly, a magical drink.

To the realm!-