codewraith's blog: "my drunken code-fu is tight"

I used to make mead. Srsly! It's a fun little hobby, easy once you get the hang of it, and is great for gift giving and artistry. Store-bought mead is very, very sketchy. Probably not for you Brit's though.

Here's an "ad hoc" recipe for mead-like goodness in a pinch.

- 2 quart cooking pan, stainless steel preferably
- 1 stove
- 3 lbs. honey (I guess that's about 1.5 kg of honey)
- 2 to 3 cups of scotch or whiskey

Roughly, 1 part whiskey to 3 parts honey. Obviously I like a little more scotch than that...

Pour in the scotch and honey. Put on a low heat, above 185 degrees F (85 degrees C) but below boiling. Wait about 20 minutes and stir it occasionally.

The heating is something you MUST pay attention to. This is primarily for two reasons:

1) If you boil honey for too long you'll change the "flavor" of it. Honey is a delicate flavor. It can get a slightly burnt taste to it even though it remains liquid.

2) As I found out today, do NOT boil honey and scotch. Just don't do it. Especially do not cover it. It WILL catch fire. I shit you NOT. Hence the "napalm." Hot, sticky, and on fire. I imagine you could Rorschach someone with that.

I didn't burn down my kitchen, everything's cool, I got to the fire seconds after it started, turned off the heat, and patted down the seeping flames with a potholder. Lucky.

I was careless and impatient. I was also sober, mind you. I'll make lasagna when drunk. Now I know never to make this alcoholicy goodness when I've already been drinking.

So, for kicks?

You could use a flavored honey. Flavored because the bees collect pollen from a particular plant. Orange blossom honey, expensive but very good, would be a wonderful addition.

Or, cheat like I did, and slice up a good orange. Pop holes in the juicy parts to release the flavor.

Or, add some lemon juice and you'd probably have a good little hot toddy. Great for quelling your coughing fits. I'd say replace a cup of scotch with a cup of lemon juice

Or, eat some soup before drinking it. I don't know why, this is purely anecdotal, but I always seemed to get drunk faster and harder after having a bowl of soup.