For mead, I always use fresh honey, often the honey with higher water content, which I get a bit after months of rain in our area recently.
My husband takes all my fermented honey off me to make some mash and puts it into his still to make clean alcohol.
Some he gives to me for cleaning, some he makes into drinkable schnapps.
He turns it into science by measuring the sugars and what not before adding yeast.
I heard an amount of hive beetles in the hive can cause honey to ferment, even without slime out.
I?m inclined to agree, just watching it.