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Saratoga Wine

Saratoga Wine is a classic English mead, flavoured and bittered with herbs and fennel roots, that is also known as English Sack. Though not much brewed these days, it has a long history, going back to the Middle ages. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of Saratoga Wine.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

80 minutes

Total Time:

100 minutes

Additional Time:

(+1 year fermenting and maturing)

Makes:

12 bottles

Rating:

Tags : Herb RecipesVegetable RecipesBritish RecipesEnglish Recipes

This recipe is derived from: Old-time Recipes for Home Made Wines, Cordials and Liqueurs by Helen S Wright, The Page Company, Boston, 1909 and represents a variant on the calssic English sack of the 1730s.

Original Recipe

TO MAKE SARATOGA WINE OR ENGLISH SACK

To every quart of water put a sprig of rue, and to every gallon a handful of fennel roots; boil these half an hour, then strain it out, and to every gallon of this liquor put three pounds of honey. Boil it two hours, and skim it well. When it is cold, pour it off, and turn it into the vessel, or such cask as is fit for it. Keep it a year in the vessel, and then bottle it. It is a very good sack.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

200g fennel roots
4 large sprigs of rue
4.5kg honey (needs to be reasonable but doesn't have to be too good)
Yeast (Epernay II is good but champagne yeast would also work)

Method:

As with most of the other mead recipes presented on this site, this recipe has been gauged to make 5l of mead. Only a basic listing of ingredients is given, and for a brewing method please see this page for a step-by-step guide. Also see this page for a list of the equipment you'll need.

First prepare the rue and fennel roots by boiling them in 2l of water for half an hour. Bring the water up to 5l in a large stock pot by topping-up with fresh unchlorinated water, bring to the boil and add the honey a little at a time until it dissolves. Take the must off the heat, and allow to cool. At this point you can return to following the instructions given in the basic mead brewing page to make your mead. Again, this is not a 'short' mead, and you can follow the recipe given for my 'standard' basic mead exactly. As a wine-like mead, once bottled, this preparation needs to be left to mature in the bottle for at least a year.