My mead.

[Cartierusm]

HAAA, you so funny, 1 year..aww come on. My entire wine cellar is almost full and it's all Bordeaux that I won't be able to touch for 20-30 freakin' years. Aging my mead is a piece of cake. I have some of my original batches from 20 years ago, I bet it's like an orgasm in a bottle.

[Tea]

Well I don't know that it needs to be 20-30 years but if you can get it to last that long, it should taste great.
I have noticed that 3-5 years seems to be the norm though.

Brian have you ever tried the JOA recipe (Joe's Ancient Orange).  It is an excellent recipe for a beginner, well anyone really, and takes around 3 mths from pitching, to a very drinkable sweet melomel of around 12-13% depending on you yeast.  If you follow the recipe it is almost fool proof and a great way to keep your hands off the other meads that you are wanting to age.

This pic is of my 15ltr demijohn that has an apple, date and honey and treacle cyser that is supposed to be aging.  As you can see, at 4mths it is very drinkable, so I am in the process of making another 30lt batch that I hope to age for at least 1 year, and see what the difference is, as the changes in the mead in four months is amazing.

[Cartierusm]

Tea for the 20-30 years I was talking about Bordeaux.

Mead can be aged even longer, there are some companies that have 50 year old mead for sale, they've been in business for centuries.

Ancient Orange, I know someone who's a Got Mead Subscriber.

[Tea]

You're not kidding, and it was one of the best finds for a long while.  Apart from this forum BTW.

So have you ever tried the JAO?

[Cartierusm]

No, I haven't but people love it. I've been making it so long I'm sure I've made something similar. We have to trade mead, maybe in the new year, I really can't afford to spend anything right now.

[Tea]

I don't know Cartier, I feel like chickening out on this one.  If you're used to waiting 20 years to taste your mead, mine are going to be woefully inadquate compared to that?   

[Cartierusm]

I don't wait 20 years...LOL, read the post I was talking about wine. I wait at least 1 year, though, it's almost necessary.

[Tea]

These are some of the mango's that we picked on our trip up the valley.  About 25 of the really big ones are going to find their way into a mango and guava melomel that I hope to start in the next few days, as long as I can get my hands on some raw honey.

[Boulderbrewer]

Tea,

Nice haul on the mangos, I think my wife would trade her husband for fresh pick mangos.

[Tea]

Well I sometimes think I might do that also, if I could get my hands on some fresh black, blue, and raspberries, etc.  They are not to be found here (apart from the frozen variety) and if they do appear, they are around $8 for 3-4oz.
Still waiting for my honey to start the next couple of meads.

[Cartierusm]

I have some blackberry mead sitting in a carboy aging. It's been aging for about 1 1/2 years and its all fruit from my property.

[Tea]

Hi Carter blackberrys are as scarce as hens teeth here, so apart from the frozen variety, it is out of the question for me.  But I dream...

Well I finally got around to starting my mango mead. 

18lb varietal honey
18lb bowen mangos
6ltr guava juice
3 vanilla pods
Rain water to 30ltr
10gr QA23 yeast
nutrient

So far this one is fermenting well and is looking promising.  It is the most wonderful sunshine colour and the flavour at the moment is quite pleasant.  not what I was expecting but still interesting.  Will be interesting to see how this one ages.

[wharris]

I have some blackberry mead sitting in a carboy aging. It's been aging for about 1 1/2 years and its all fruit from my property.

That has to be very satisying.

[Cartierusm]

Tea, that's going to be one sweet Mead. Do you prefer them sweet or dry. I'm sure you know but for others here who don't. Just becasue mead is made from honey it doesn't have to be sweet. I make mead that is as dry as white zin. Grapes start out sweet but most wines are in the dry range.

[Tea]

Well I don't know if it is going to be sweet Carter.  The OSG was only 1.095 which I thought was fairly low, and was wondering if the sugars from the mango's was going to bring that up as they released.  Also the yeast I used will ferment out to around the 16% mark.  At the moment SG is falling around 12 points a day, so yesterday it was 1.050 so this morning is am expecting it to be around the 1.038 mark and it is only beginning day 4 of fermentation.  I am beginning to think this one might well be semi dry, if not dry.
Personally I do prefer a sweeter wine, so I will reserve the decision to back sweeten later if I think it needs it.