Raising a toast to Easter – Menna’s mead is a REAL treat for the LittlePod team!
04th Apr 2023
It has been a long time in the making, but our mead has been bottled at last. Brewed just in time for Easter, it’ll be the perfect treat!
Did you know..?
We used vanilla for obvious reasons, but mead can be made using a huge range of herbs and spices!
The best things come to those who wait, or so the saying goes. Here at LittlePod HQ, the team has been VERY patient for the last 11 months or so. Having waited for the best part of a year, our reward is almost here. The Easter season upon us, the timing couldn’t have been better.
It was in May 2022 that Menna came here to make mead, combining home-produced honey, fresh from her hives, and REAL vanilla from LittlePod to cook up a special brew with Janet in our kitchen.
Menna’s top tip at the time? “Be patient and let the magic happen – it’s well worth the wait.” Her words were wise and our wait is over at long last. Fermentation finished, we’re pleased to report that our brew has just been bottled. If Easter is a time for treats, we have just the thing to toast the occasion.
If truth be told, we’ve earned ourselves a tipple, not just for our patience as the magic occurred in a warm, dark corner at LittlePod HQ, but also for the time, care and effort involved in completing what proved to be a fascinating process.
Having welcomed Menna back to LittlePod, we got down to work, embarking on a process known as racking, in which the mead, having been left to infuse and ferment, is siphoned into bottles. Opening the lids of the fermentation buckets released an incredible aroma that the team gathered around to enjoy. It’s important, of course, to have a little taste at this point…
Needless to say, EVERYONE was keen to get involved in this stage of the operation! Having opened both batches to check that our mead was sweet enough and that no adjustments were needed, we got the thumbs up and the go ahead to begin bottling.
Having added a vanilla pod to each bottle, allowing our favourite flavour to further infuse our brew, it was time to start siphoning, filling each bottle with great care before applying the finishing touches. Our top tips here: make sure that the brewing casks are higher than the bottles, allowing the mead to be drawn through; and don’t worry if your mead looks a little cloudy, this is just a result of the sediment being disturbed and your mead will settle down and be nice and clear within a day or two.
The final two steps are quite simple: 1) Be sure to tell EVERYBODY that your mead has been made using REAL vanilla from LittlePod; and 2) Drink, savour and enjoy!
From the team here at LittlePod, we send thanks to Menna for helping us to make our mead, and to LittlePodders everywhere we send best wishes for the Easter weekend. The best things come to those who wait and having worked so hard, we’re all due a short break. Take a little time, have a little treat! Vanilla hugs to all x