Has anyone made their own before? I have decent bottle of Lowland malt, some of my own wildflower mead and some wonderful comb honey to include.....is it worth doing?
The ultimate stags breath?
- Thread starter British Red
- Start date
No - I hate Stags Halitosis ... the combination of Honey (excellent stuff in itself) and Whisky (superb stuff always) destroys both!
Just my opinion ya know...
Just my opinion ya know...
I have; but you need to go light on the honey. Basically it's a way of using up the left over crushed comb that still has honey dregs in it. It's better too with some spice or herbage added. Juniper, sweet gale, meadowsweet....something along those lines.
I'm very fond of honey, but it can be a waste of good whisky, iimmc.
Interested to hear how you get on with it
cheers,
M
I'm very fond of honey, but it can be a waste of good whisky, iimmc.
Interested to hear how you get on with it
cheers,
M
Interesting - I was going to blend mead with whisky with a small piece of comb.
My (new) Hudl keyboard was playing up
My (new) Hudl keyboard was playing up
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Well, y'know ? you could try wee tasting bottles of trials and see what you thought of them ?
I have sweet gale growing in my back garden, so I know it's clean and not grown on, or sprayed with, anything toxic. Happy to send some down. Heather I can get when it's in bloom, it's starting just now and this rain after all that sun will bring it on a treat. Fresh heather like that actually tastes really sweet....the old ladies used to say that their skirts got sticky with the honeydew from it as they walked through it.
Juniper I have, but mine doesn't seem to want to produce berries. Meadowsweet has mostly passed blooming, but I happen to have a well packed jar or two put by.
I think you could have fun trying, and keeping a note of proportions so that if you did get some worth repeating it could be sized up.
Let me know if any of the plants would be of use ?
I admit my bias for the ginger jar....it goes quite well does ginger syrup with whisky in a hot toddy
M
I have sweet gale growing in my back garden, so I know it's clean and not grown on, or sprayed with, anything toxic. Happy to send some down. Heather I can get when it's in bloom, it's starting just now and this rain after all that sun will bring it on a treat. Fresh heather like that actually tastes really sweet....the old ladies used to say that their skirts got sticky with the honeydew from it as they walked through it.
Juniper I have, but mine doesn't seem to want to produce berries. Meadowsweet has mostly passed blooming, but I happen to have a well packed jar or two put by.
I think you could have fun trying, and keeping a note of proportions so that if you did get some worth repeating it could be sized up.
Let me know if any of the plants would be of use ?
I admit my bias for the ginger jar....it goes quite well does ginger syrup with whisky in a hot toddy
M
Though I don't really have a sweet tooth I quite like a wee snifter as a treat and for something different. Have also had Stags Breath ice cream which was awful nice. Think it'll be honey dependent as some types just don't seem to work in certain things. I'd say give it a go, if you don't take to it Christmas is coming and you could give it as prezzies. Like M's ideas about different botanicals in it though. The heather or meadowsweet being tops, not sure about the juniper (though I like a berry or two bruised into a glass of whiskey I'm not sold of the idea of it with honey personally.
Trying to avoid making "Hot Toddy" jokes :
I like to play - some are awful (Bullace Beer)..some sublime (Suicider)....I have high hopes for the Cranachan Whisky so want to play whisky games
I have a load of great plants to play with - but thanks!
I like to play - some are awful (Bullace Beer)..some sublime (Suicider)....I have high hopes for the Cranachan Whisky so want to play whisky games
I have a load of great plants to play with - but thanks!
Well I've given it a shot - reading the older recipes, it should be quality mead blended with Speyside whisky.
Depending on the mead recipe, this could be VERY dry.
So I have gone for two parts dry sack mead (my own light coloured wildflower dry sack) to one part Lowland single malt (Auchentoshan). This comes out to the proper "fortified wine" strength of about 20%.
According to BB this is like "a dry whisky with a hint of honey smell".
I then placed a good chunk of set honey comb in a 1lb honey jar and filled it with the mead / whisky blend
Stags Breath Whisk Liquer by British Red, on Flickr
I'll leave that to mature for a few months and try again around Yule. I suspect it will be drier and more subtle than commercial "Stags Breath" - but it tastes good so far
Depending on the mead recipe, this could be VERY dry.
So I have gone for two parts dry sack mead (my own light coloured wildflower dry sack) to one part Lowland single malt (Auchentoshan). This comes out to the proper "fortified wine" strength of about 20%.
According to BB this is like "a dry whisky with a hint of honey smell".
I then placed a good chunk of set honey comb in a 1lb honey jar and filled it with the mead / whisky blend
Stags Breath Whisk Liquer by British Red, on FlickrI'll leave that to mature for a few months and try again around Yule. I suspect it will be drier and more subtle than commercial "Stags Breath" - but it tastes good so far
Well now - the ultimate stags breath is......outstanding
Pictures later, but its not sweet (the mead I make is dry, light and floral) and the chunks of honeycomb have just taken off the whisky "burn".
I'll add some pictures later if anyone wants to see, but I've strained off the honeycomb wax (everything else from the comb dissolved), then filtered it.
Very pleased and, since our bees are now gone, I'm unlikely to make it again. But its very pleasant indeed.
Pictures later, but its not sweet (the mead I make is dry, light and floral) and the chunks of honeycomb have just taken off the whisky "burn".
I'll add some pictures later if anyone wants to see, but I've strained off the honeycomb wax (everything else from the comb dissolved), then filtered it.
Very pleased and, since our bees are now gone, I'm unlikely to make it again. But its very pleasant indeed.
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That was quick
Sounds like a winner with the dry sack and the honey.
What happened to your bees ?
M
Sounds like a winner with the dry sack and the honey.
What happened to your bees ?
M
One of them stung BB and she blew up like a balloon. The swelling was so hot that her skin blistered. It appears to have been one of those allergies that develops over time. Too dangerous to keep them sadly (my decision not hers), but they have all been re-homed with other beekeepers in the area
Wise man.
I detest clegs for the same reason. It's kind of an 'uh oh' moment when your heart starts fluttering like a trapped bird in your chest.
Shame about the bees, but not something to be compromised on I think. I've never been stung with one, thankfully, and only once by a wasp.
Is BB still fine with honey ?
M
I detest clegs for the same reason. It's kind of an 'uh oh' moment when your heart starts fluttering like a trapped bird in your chest.
Shame about the bees, but not something to be compromised on I think. I've never been stung with one, thankfully, and only once by a wasp.
Is BB still fine with honey ?
M
Please pardon the thread drift here, but I do envy folk living in Scotland. Whisky, (no "e"), by the barrel, heather covering the hillsides, and bees to fetch in the nectar for honey. I keep bees here some years. I must buy new swarms, but they can't survive the winters. Even if I didn't rob them, they cannot stand the cold, can't fly in winter to cleanse themselves, and if they could, they can't make enough honey in the summer to last throughout our long winters. So the plan here has always been: buy new swarms, put them on old comb, rob them in September when the flowers have gone, and let them die. I can't always do it, just rob them and let them die. They will die anyway of course, but they such a noble creatures, it's difficult steal everything from them, and know I've hurried things along.
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Oh yes - its not an anaphylactic reaction either - just a very nasty skin reaction to the venom. Not worth the risk though
We do get beautiful heather honey here Haggis, but on the whole, British honey is very good, especially where the beekeepers take the hives to moorlands or downs, or the fruit growing areas.
Whisky does come by the barrel but by the time the excise men have had their charges added it's blooming expensive to buy
If the bees don't overwinter (could they not be moved into straw filled barns ?
I know folks here used to hap up the skeps sometimes; especially in wet cold and icy Winters. I suppose barns or the like come with rodent problems though
Anyway, I'm rambling; what does the fertilizing of the flowers in your bit of the world then ?
I don't think I could rob them either knowing they're going to die because they're in the wrong place.
BB's reaction's still bad enough to warrant moving the bees on to someone else who doesn't have any issues. Good to hear honey's still a very good thing
cheers,
M
Whisky does come by the barrel but by the time the excise men have had their charges added it's blooming expensive to buy
If the bees don't overwinter (could they not be moved into straw filled barns ?
I know folks here used to hap up the skeps sometimes; especially in wet cold and icy Winters. I suppose barns or the like come with rodent problems though Anyway, I'm rambling; what does the fertilizing of the flowers in your bit of the world then ?
I don't think I could rob them either knowing they're going to die because they're in the wrong place.
BB's reaction's still bad enough to warrant moving the bees on to someone else who doesn't have any issues. Good to hear honey's still a very good thing
cheers,
M
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