I think it would be something like a lambic. I might try with some pineapple sage this summer
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Hmmm… Updates please! The unavoidable local variations would be really interesting.
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& @womanhood_deferred There’s a woodworking YouTuber in Utah who made sourdough with juniper berry yeast. If I was going to make a wild yeast mead, that’s what I’d use. It’s really easy to grab some when I’m in central Oregon. Juniper is everywhere.
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Mead update:
The Honeycrisp cyser I have in secondary is at 1.020 which puts it at about 15%. I added a heavily toasted oak spiral and I’ll give that a couple weeks before bottling.
The champagne pyment is at 1.009 which puts it at about 19%. It’s nicely dry and even has a semi-sweet champagne flavor.
The blueberry-basil mead is at 1.018 which puts it about 18% ABV. It has a tartness that balances the sweetness and the basil is subtle up front and in the finish.
The green tea & Asian pear is at 1.006 or just a hair under 15%. The addition of strong green tea last week really revitalized the flavor and gave it some necessary tannins.
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That’s pretty exciting 
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I’m already out of the Mango & Moringa Tea mead I recently made.
I’m going to be starting a new hydromel in another week or two. It will likely be a Cranberry, Raspberry, and Hibiscus mead (I’m unsure about the hibuscus). I plan on using either French saison yeast or Belgian II saison.
I am also going to attempt a higher ABV version of my Blueberry, Coffee, Maple, Cinnamon, and Coco Nib mead. I’m attempting to keep the same flavor balance as the low abv version. As far as primary goes, would increasing the amount of blueberry by the same ratio I increase the Honey keep that balance? I’m not worried about secondary additions as I can add those to taste.
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Are you adding blueberry fruit or blueberry juice?
If you’re using fruit, I’d add it in primary. If you’re using juice, I’d go half in primary and half in secondary. Or fruit in primary and juice in secondary. That was the trick for my latest batch of blueberry basil.
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I made a blueberry puree that I added in primary when I made the low ABV version. Starting gravity was somewhere between 1.040 and 1.050. I’m going to be attempting to make it with a higher SG. I’d like to keep the same flavor balance as the low ABV version. I’m unsure whether I should just add more honey to raise the gravity or if I should also increase the amount of blueberry.
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Higher alcohol changes the flavor, once you get past about 10% (to my tastebuds) the alcohol becomes it’s own addotional flavor. Now, the complicating factor is that the alcohol is much better at extracting some of the flavor compounds, so can make the fruity esters more prominent. Basically, it changes as the various compounds change their ratios. I have not found it to be predictable.
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Related to this, I know it’s not mead making but a video I watched recently-ish about rum and whiskey features someone from Andalusia’s distilling production side, and he gives a general discussion about some compounds in alcohol production and what flavors they bring to the table
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I agree, though it might work to add blueberry in primary and again in secondary in order to approximate the lower ABV flavor. Certainly, when I’ve only added blueberry in primary, it’s muted and changed as you say from the original blueberry flavor.
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Today is the Pink Boots brew day.
@womanhood_deferred if I recall you’re a professional brewer? Is your place taking part?
There’s noplace local to me taking part. Frankly Milwaukee is closer than anywhere on Illinois.
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Champagne pyment bottled at 19%ABV. It’s a little rough yet but it has that champagne crispness. I hope a little time in the bottle will help round it and smooth it out. Oh, final gravity was [s[9%[/s] so not exactly a brut, but more of a semi-dry.
ETA: I messed that up. Final gravity was 1.009, not 9%
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I just realized I forgot to respond to this; sorry for that. I don’t think they did. I was away from there for a significant amount of time due to an unrelated injury. I was finally able to help out again a couple weeks ago, but it’s not my regular job anymore.
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Where do you source your yeast? The homebrew store in North Austin closed. Hubs bought some from Amazon.
The news taste like gym socks 
probably partly because he got really busy and left the detritus inside for a while before racking. But he also thinks the yeast was a contributor, as he’s forgotten to rack before and the mead was only a tiny bit odd.
Edit: looks like the store closed but they still do online orders. Might try there
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Unfortunately, I usually get mine from Amazon. Our local store doesn’t carry the kind I typically use (Lalvin 71B) and buying it directly from Lallemand Brewing requires a minimum 100 packet order…
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I wonder if you could sweet talk a local Austin brewery into selling you some yeast. You could call or email 
or maybe they could point towards what’s a good alternative local place to get yeast since the homebrew store closed.
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You can get yeast online from this company (same company, different stores for beer and wine):
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I finally bought myself a CO2 tank and regulator. I got tired of the limitations of bottle carbonating.
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