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there are lots of great recipes for Mead. Great as is, or you can distill a type of brandy from it. Honey has gotten so expensive lately. Many beekeepers have lost their bees due to colony collapse disorder and have gone out of business.

And no, 5 and 6 1/2 gal. runs are not commercial sizes, but gives a person better control over the quality of their products end result. But small can work for learning. I like to make enough that I can use fruits like cherries, strawberries apples, walnuts etc. for different schnapps, or use some essences for a huge host of different whiskeys rums, liquers etc. ie a well stocked bar to suit the mood or occasion."

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The mead is the fermented wine? that is sold like beer or cider. If fermented, it is more like a brandy. There are some commercial ones on the market, most made in Europe i think."

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That was done a lot with hard cider. When I was a kid, I loved the cider when it got really fizzy and drank too much of it a couple of times. Made the world spin around. I now use that freeze distilling in the winter. I will set my finished ferment out in the freezing cold. This will settle the yeast and allow it to clear quicker. But I also take a slotted spoon and skim off the slushy ice as it forms to concentrate the batch. My winter stripping run without heat. It still has all the bad congeners in it"

I have done a fair bit of mead consuming, if done right it should go down like water and leave you lickin your lips for a few minutes. A decent starting place would be Barenjager honey liquor. I myself am a mead purist, honey water Nd yeast is all you should need man.