This week I look at the “Noble Fruits”, a term coined by Ken Schramm to describe the fruits that work best in mead making. Many of the same characteristics that make these fruits desirable for mead, also apply to beers made with fruit.
For the last 8 years, I have been focused on making high gravity fruit meads, called melomels. These meads use very high starting gravities, along with a large percentage of fruit or fruit juice to create an explosion of sweetness and fruit flavor in your mouth. These are not light session meads, but typically 15% ABV meads more akin to a dessert wine. I wrote a short intro on mead making here as well as integrating mead into BeerSmith software with version 3 (video here). I also wrote a very detailed article on modern mead for BYO which you can find here.
The King of this particular style is arguably world famous mead maker Ken Schramm of Schramm’s Mead near Detroit. Ken has been on the BeerSmith podcast a number of times including Episode 326, Episode #289, Episode #262, and Episode #143. Ken’s focus for the last several years has been growing specific varieties of fruit at his orchard to determine which specific varieties of fruit work best in mead. I also consulted Ken regarding this article as he developed the “noble fruit” concept.
The Noble Fruit Character
At the last Homebrewcon in 2023, I attended a presentation that Ken gave that included his list of “Noble Fruits”. Noble fruits are simply the fruits that work best in the high gravity fruit meads Ken is famous for. Because both Ken and I feel it is best to ferment the fruits along with the honey during the main fermentation, these fruits need to have flavor character that will survive a high gravity fermentation.
The basic concept behind a high gravity melomel is to use a very high starting gravity along with selected yeasts that have a limited alcohol tolerance. In essence, we put too much honey in the mead so that the yeast really can’t ferment it all out which leaves a high finishing gravity with residual sweetness. That sweetness complements the flavor from the big dose of fruit and provides balance as well as a complete fruity finish even though the simple sugars in the fruit were fermented away. Keep in mind for many of these meads I am using nearly equal volumes of honey and fruit, and starting gravities often in the 1.140 to 1.160 range!
The key characteristics a fruit must have to be fermented in this way is what a wine maker would call “structure”. That structure comes in the form of acidity and tannins in the fruit that will remain even after the sugar in the fruit has fermented away. So we need fruits that are high in acidity and tannins to counterbalance the residual sweetness left from the honey to provide a balanced flavor. The final gravity is in fact targeted to provide the correct balance depending on how acidic and tannic the fruit is.
Ken added that the characteristics which combine to create an ideal fruit for meadmaking include:
- Firm, concentrated, multi-faceted, delicious flavor
- Pronounced acidity
- The ability to ferment reliably with fidelity to varietal character
- Pleasant and balanced tannin
The Noble Fruits
I wrote Ken Schramm asking for his current list of Noble Fruits for mead making and here’s the ones he provided. Many of these I have used in my own meads:
- Red Raspberries: Add a bright red color as well as strong raspberry flavor that complements the mead well. I used fresh raspberries for one of my earliest meads and it came out great, though it seems to take just a bit longer to reach peak flavor than some other fruits. I’ve also used them in combination with other fruits like black currants and tart cherries.
- Blackberries: Another staple mead fruit, I’ve used as much as 16.5 lbs in a 5 gallon batch with amazing results. Have good acidity and tannins that really make this fruit come thorough well in the finished mead, and it seems to reach peak flavor just a bit faster than raspberries.
- Hybrid Brambles: This includes fruits like Loganberries, Tayberries, Boysenberries, Japanese Wine Berries. These are hybrid cross fruits that share many of the same characteristics as raspberries or blackberries. I made a Loganberry mead from Vintner’s Loganberry wine base and it turned out to be one of my favorites. Loganberry is a cross between Raspberry and Blackberry.
- Tart Cherries, Amarelle and Morello Varieties: Surprisingly sweet cherries lack the structure needed to survive a robust fermentation, but tart cherries which are often used in baking have the acidity and tannins required to make a great mead. I’ve used tart cherry in a standalone mead, and it is also a great combination fruit to use with other noble fruits.
- Red, Black, Golden, White and Champagne Currants: Currants, particularly black currants, have some of the highest levels of acidity and tannins of any fruit. Each has its own unique flavor though black currants are my personal favorite. You do need to be careful as they can overwhelm a mead if not balanced properly, and also you need to manage the fermentation and pH levels or risk a stuck fermentation. Arguably the best mead I’ve ever made is my black currant mead, though it was also difficult to ferment.
- Gooseberries: Another berry with bursting flavor. I’ve not personally used these, but Ken Shramm has had success with this fruit.
- Tropical Fruits: Ken mentioned that some specific tropical fruits like passion fruit and pineapple as well as certain citrus fruits may also be good candidates for mead making, but he has not had time to fully explore these fruits.
As I mentioned in the introduction, the acidic and tannic character of these fruits also make them ideal choices when used in beer. Fermentation removes the sweetness, but these fruits have the structure that allows a lot of their base flavor to survive. The goal with a beer is still to leave some residual sweetness either via careful malt selection and fermentation or through backweetening. This sweetness counterbalances the acidity and tannins from the fruit leaving a balanced overall flavor profile. With beers I typically use lower dosage levels of fruit, however, since its very difficult to achieve the residual sweetness levels you can with mead.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s article on Noble Fruits and mead making. Thanks for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. If you want to take the guesswork out of brewing, please try my BeerSmith recipe software from BeerSmith.com. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter or my podcast (also on itunes and youtube) for more great tips on homebrewing.
