"Thrilla from Vanilla" (Muhammed Ali memorial mead?) 7 Gallons:
Forrest Cook, Jon Corbet (Microburst Brewery)
recipe copyright (C) 1993 Forrest Cook and Jonathan Corbet

9 Lbs of mesquite honey from Tempe, AZ
2 Tbsp gypsum to harden up the water a bit.
1 4 ounce bottle of Madagascar vanilla extract added after the must cooled.
The yeast was Lalvin Canadian champagne yeast.
3/4 cup corn sugar added at bottling time for carbonation.

The unfermented beverage tasted great, it bubbled away for over a month.
I don't know how many vanilla beans are in one bottle, but I've heard that
the raw beans are rather potent.  After 6 months it tasted like it could use
about twice as much vanilla.  After a year it was beginning to mellow out
but still needs more aging.  After two years the flavor was excellent and
the stock was dwindling.  This mead was inspired by a vanilla mead that was
poured at a beer and steer party many years ago.  We have, in turn, inspired
others to brew vanilla meads, all have been excellent.