Dale - tasting

Pulled open a bottle of Dale (pomegrenate/vanilla) and oh, this is interesting. The first wash is acidic, and then it immediately mellows down into sweet and vanilla. a little weird, but not bad at all

Bottlings - Noon & Kearney

Noon - fig mead

Bottled at SG 1020 and ~16% vol
On the dry side of sweet, fruity, nice balance

5 big bottles and 3 small ones

Kearney - Bengal Spice & Cacao

SG 1032 and ~16% vol
The spice is there, the cacao is distant. It might age more forward, but it's pretty nice already.

4 big bottles and 2 small ones

Wasteland Mead Contest!

Bottles I brought with me this year were Lane (Ginger-apple-hibiscus) and Chai (Bengal Spice).  Both very popular with the judges and the crowd. I won the judges choice award for.. I think it was Chai.

The categories this year were Traditional, Melomel and Unique / other. The latter being by far the busiest, and there were almost no traditional entries. I might try for that next year? One of the judges encouraged me. It kind of depends on if they're looking for typical meads ('the meadiest mead' like in the first year) or if they're open to 'that's a cool thing you did with just water, honey and yeast'.

If the second, I should really make another with thyme or sage honey - both those turned out great before. Or give rosemary honey a try. I can't quite remember why I didn't try that initially. 

For ref: Undine - thyme / Veritas - Sage / Wuluwaid - Eucalyptus