Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1360, 13 January 2008 Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2008 14:24:25 -0700 (MST) From: mead-request@talisman.com Mead Lover's Digest #1360 13 January 2008 Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor Contents: Re Braggot (MeadGuild@aol.com) RE: vitamins in alcoholic beverages ("Alan Meeker") storage (dan@geer.org) MeadFest postponed? (RAshley731@aol.com) Mead gone wild... (Michael Fairbrother) Meadllennium 2008 reminder ("OCurrans") NOTE: Digest appears when there is enough material to send one. Send ONLY articles for the digest to mead@talisman.com. Use mead-request@talisman.com for [un]subscribe/admin requests. Digest archives and FAQ are available at www.talisman.com/mead A searchable archive is at http://www.gotmead.com/mldarchives.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re Braggot From: MeadGuild@aol.com Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 00:58:41 EST Michael Faul _mfaul@rabbitsfootmeadery.com_ (mailto:mfaul@rabbitsfootmeadery.com) wrote: > Blending a beer/ale/mead creates something completely > different. In fact according to the TTB, at least commercially, > you cannot legally blend a beer and a mead as the tax > classification would be polluted and there would be no way > to tax it based on the resulting volume. Years ago in a speech I gave at a tax conference, I noted that life is like running a moonshine still - you can do whatever you want until the revenue agents show up at your door. Unfortunately, commercial brewers are well-acquainted with those revenue agents and have to comply with every nuance of the applicable tax laws. So, in the end, it is the TTB and your friendly State agencies who decide what is and what is not a Braggot for commercial purposes. But if there was a large enough market for a blended beverage of beer and Mead, the infamous 'they' would either make a separate tax classification for it or tax it at the higher rate. Dick - -- Richard D. Adams, CPA (retired) Moderator: misc.taxes.moderated ------------------------------ Subject: RE: vitamins in alcoholic beverages From: "Alan Meeker" Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 08:33:22 -0500 Concerning the limits imposed by the government on vitamin additions to alcoholic beverages, my guess is that this is to prevent the finished product from being characterized as "vitamin-fortified" or "vitamin-enriched" (i.e. perceived as health-promoting). - -Alan Meeker ------------------------------ Subject: storage From: dan@geer.org Date: Tue, 08 Jan 2008 09:00:22 -0500 Everyone everywhere says to store wine bottles on their side so the corks stay wet. At the same time, in visiting wineries and grocery stores and liquor stores and so forth, I have never seen anything stored on its side once it is in a cardboard box / case. As I soak my corks for a couple of hours before using them (in Idaphor), so it isn't like they need to be introduced to "wet." In other words, who needs racks when boxes -- boxes can be stacked, too - -- are what the guys who make their living at this use? Yes, if you are storing for 10 years then I get the picture, but not otherwise. - --dan, fresh from bottling 30 cases ------------------------------ Subject: MeadFest postponed? From: RAshley731@aol.com Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 10:52:55 EST Thought I'd ask here first: any word as to whether or not the International Mead Festival has found a new site? (Before I use that time off for a little Maui jaunt)? In Service, Roberta "In principio creavit Deus terrum et caelum. In principio creavit Deus hominum, in celebratio imago, et creavit Deus lupo, in perpetuii cantieri praesus." Semidomesticus ------------------------------ Subject: Mead gone wild... From: Michael Fairbrother Date: Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:32:47 -0500 Anyone doing any barrel meads, or meads with wild yeast? ------------------------------ Subject: Meadllennium 2008 reminder From: "OCurrans" Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2008 17:57:27 -0500 Last call for Meadllennium 2008 entries. Entries need to be here by 19 January. The medals have arrived and the hand-engraved prizes are here (they look GREAT!) Don't forget - WE AWARD MORE MEAD MEDALS THAN ANYONE!!! Check our web page for details and entry forms. www.cfhb.org/mead ------------------------------ End of Mead Lover's Digest #1360 *******************************