Mead today, bock tomorrow

We moved into our little fruit tree surrounded home about 9 months ago, just as the peaches were really growing. We heard that they usually went to the birds pretty quick every August. Happily, they got yellow and delicious, and the birds got few. Brooke and her mom and mema chopped a lot of peaches. I jumped in a bit too; it was fun and gross getting covered in peach juice. They're really tasty - we still have some in our freezer.

On the first day of September, I got up early to buy honey at the farmer's market. I bought a gallon of peach blossom honey harvested (or got, or stolen from angry bees, whatever) near Longmont, and the farmer (bee rancher?) asked "Making mead or eating all that?"

I spent that late morning making my first batch of mead, the kitchen humid with sweet honey water. I'm enjoying it for the first time tonight. I've drunk a small bottle from time to time, but it's only now near ready (and poised to get better with age).

The peaches are coming through in a wonderful way - I'm glad we got to them before the birds did.

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Shiner Bock helps make Texas great. I have a lot of warm feelings for any craft brewery that can bring the surrounding area a great brew that's a lot different from the other beers you can buy (in Texas, at least) at your corner gas station. Dark, crisp, caramel, easy drinking, widely consumed and loved. In Colorado, it's easy to take good, diverse beers for granted. In Texas, Shiner stands out amongst a sea of Miller and Bud, which is not to lessen its appeal. It just has less competition in the "good beer" market. The drink is a source of pride in the state for good reason.

I'll try and get close with a batch tomorrow. Shiner's worthy of a personal attempt. I'm sure it'll be a lot different, though. It always is!
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FOR BREWING NERDS: The mead had about 10 lbs of honey, including a little choke cherry as well from my brother-in-law. Of course the peaches, and a yeast that made the folks at the beer store pause. "This could be really interesting." It was sharp at first but is working out well. I should let this sit a while longer.

The bock has 2-row pale, munich, amber and a pinch of black patent, plus flaked corn. I got a standard lager yeast and centennial and liberty hops. We'll see.