hist-brewing: heather honey?

[Kirsty Pollock]

I'll have to ask my friend who works at a winery (that specialises in mead)
about prices of bulk honey. Aren't there some sort of import restrictions on
food or is that just plants? $75 is about £50 which I'll agree is pretty
damned expensive.

One thing about heather honey is that it makes a great mead, but it does
take a LONG time to mature - at least 3 years, according to aforementioned
friend.

Kirsty

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-hist-brewing at rt.com [mailto:owner-hist-brewing at rt.com]On
> Behalf Of NeophyteSG at aol.com
> Sent: 25 May 2000 19:14
> To: hist-brewing at pbm.com
> Subject: Re: hist-brewing: heather honey?
> 
> 
> In a message dated 5/24/00 7:50:20 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
> kirsty.pollock at mpuk.com writes:
> 
> > wow! You can buy it just about anywhere over here. I never 
> knew you couldn't
> >  get it in the US - I take it heather doesn't grow there??
> >  
> >  KP
> >  
> 
> Heather grows here but not in the vast, wild abundance that 
> it does in 
> Europe.  I imagine that heather honey is for you much like 
> clover is for us 
> <sigh>.  As someone interested in European period ales and 
> meads, I envy your 
> easy access to it.  Someone mentioned Castlemark Honey as a 
> source, but last 
> time I checked the price for a US gallon of heather honey was 
> around $75US 
> not including shipping.  That's about twice the cost of most 
> others and a bit 
> spendy for a 3-4# honey/gallon mead.  
> 
> Still ... I'm about to start a heather series (ale, mead, 
> braggot and wine) 
> to explore the characteristics imparted by it in brewing.  I 
> confess a great 
> deal of romanticism in my brewing.  For me, each period brew 
> is like a time 
> machine ... "so that's what [fill in the brew and date] 
> tasted like."  
> Sometimes it's tasty, others not so tasty (by my 
> preferences), but at least, 
> for those brief moments that I sip, it gives me a sense of 
> "being there."  
> Part of the nuance for me is getting as close as I can with 
> the ingredients.  
> In truth, I might not *truly* be able to discern the 
> difference in taste 
> between fresh herbs and dried, heather honey or clover, 
> heather or heather 
> honey from the US, the UK or Scotland itself, etc.  But *I know*.
> 
> I believe the heather I've purchased is from the US but I'm 
> not sure.  I may 
> have to suck it up and go the Castlemark route for this 
> series but Ouch!  I 
> don't know where Castlemark gets it, but at least it's 
> *heather* honey (one 
> step closer).  If they import it that may be the reason for 
> the price.  I 
> don't know what $75US exchanges to where you are but I'd be 
> curious what it 
> would cost to purchase about a gallon (3.78L, 4L, UK gallon, 
> whatever's 
> convenient) there and ship it overseas ... for me, Portland, OR.
> 
> Warm Regards,
> Shawn
> 
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