Meadicare

Beer and mead aficionados love to share their treasures. Schramm’s Mead likes that. But I’ve seen a few things happen with mead lately that have left me a little sad. It comes down to how people treat their mead (ours, and every else’s, for that matter). The world of beer trading is filled with people who groove heavily on instant gratification. That's understandable. Beer lends itself to that kind of attitude in general. It can be ready in a few weeks, and beer traders tend to ship beer across the country all year round. In the world of fine wine, however, that kind of behavior is discouraged. In fine wine commerce, there are two shipping seasons – or “windows” - each year, during the few-week-period each spring and fall when nighttime temps are above freezing, and daytime temps top out around 55 to maybe 65 degrees. Wine sellers who ship prefer to hold purchases until those conditions prevail, and wine buyers rejoice as their cellars are replenished with choice buys that they have been anticipating for months. This past winter was no average winter, but on more than a few occasions, we heard from folks who had received a bottle from a friend that the cork had pushed up, almost assuredly because the bottle had frozen in the back of a truck somewhere between Point A and Point B. Summer is no better. It is, in fact, worse. Leaving a mead in the back of a car over 75° F is not going to do it any favors, and leaving it in a car or trunk above 80° will damage it pretty quickly. Depending on the angle of the sun, if your windows are up and it’s sunny out, the temperature inside your car can be 30° higher than the ambient temperature in 20 minutes. That will do two things to your mead, beer or wine: it will cook it, causing all manner of off flavors, and it will cause it to expand, creating pressure on the cork or cap. At Schramm’s, we like to fill our bottles almost completely, so there is very little air in the bottle to create risk of oxidation should you elect to lay your mead down for one, two, or twenty years. We learned that trick from Burgundy estates that make blindingly expensive bottles that may be cellared for decades. We think it’s a nice touch, but it doesn’t leave much room for hot car (or semi or UPS delivery truck) error. So treat them with care, please. You may want to take a cooler full of ice with you if you’re going on mead collecting adventures during the summer. And please consider shipping during the “windows” when conditions are prime. We’ll thank you for it, your mead will thank you for it, and in the end, your mouth will thank you for it. Everyone’s a winner!