Mead
Mead is a
fermented alcoholic beverage made of
honey,
water, and
yeast. It is generally pronounced "meed" (
IPA: ). Meadhing (pronounced meth' ing,
IPA: ) is the practice of brewing honey. Mead is also known as "honey wine," although this is inaccurate. Mead is a separate and distinct family of alcoholic beverages, completely apart from
beer,
wine,
liqueur, and
distilled beverages.
A mead that also contains
spices (like
cloves,
cinnamon or
nutmeg) or
herbs (such as
oregano or even
lavender or
chamomile) is called
metheglin. This word is derived from the
Welsh word
meddyglyn, meaning "medicinal liquor", as healing herbs were often stored as metheglin so they would be available over the winter (as well as making them much easier to swallow). Slavic
miod/med, which means "honey", derives from the same
Proto-Indo-European root.
A mead that contains fruit (such as
strawberry,
blackcurrant or even
rose hips) is called
melomel and was also used as a way to "store" summer produce for the winter.
Mulled mead is a popular winter holiday drink, where mead is flavoured with spices and warmed, traditionally by having a hot poker plunged into it.
The history of mead may go back more than 8,000 years. The oldest known meads were created on the Island of
Crete ; fermented honey was seen as an
entheogen.
Wine had not yet been created . Mead was the drink of the
Age of Gold, and the word for drunk in classical Greek remained "honey-intoxicated." (Kerenyi 1976 pp 35ff).
|
Polish mead produced in Lublin |
Mead was once very popular in
Northern Europe, often produced by monks in
monasteries in areas where grapes could not be grown. It faded in popularity, however, once wine imports became economical. Especially partial to it were the
Slavs. In
Polish it is called
miód pitny (pronounced ), meaning "drinkable honey". Mead was a favoured drink among the
Polish-Lithuanian szlachta (nobility). During the
Crusades,
Polish Prince
Leszek I the White explained to the
Pope that Polish knights could not participate in the Crusades because there was no mead in
Palestine.
In
Norse mythology, mead was the favourite drink of the
Norse gods and heroes, e.g. in
Valhalla, and the mead of the giant (
Jotun)
Suttung, made from the blood of
Kvasir, was the source of wisdom and poetry. The nectar and
ambrosia of the
Greek gods are often thought of as draughts of fermented honey.
In
Russia, mead remained popular as
medovukha and
sbiten long after its popularity declined in the West.
Sbiten is often mentioned in the works by 19th-century Russian writers, including
Gogol,
Dostoevsky, and
Tolstoy. Some beer producers attempt to revive sbiten' as a mass-produced drink in Russia.
In
Finland, a sweet mead called
Sima (cognate with
zymurgy), is still an essential seasonal brew connected with the
Finnish Vappu (May Day) festival. It is usually spiced by adding both the pulp and rind of a
lemon. During secondary fermentation
raisins are added to control the amount of sugars and to act as an indicator of readiness for consumption — they will rise to the top of the bottle when the drink is ready.
Ethiopian mead is called
tej and is usually home-made. It is flavored with the powdered leaves and bark of
gesho, a
hops-like bittering agent which is a species of
buckthorn. A sweeter, less-alcoholic version called
berz, aged for a shorter time, is also made. The traditional vessel for drinking tej is a rounded vase-shaped container called a
berele.
Evidence exists that mead was also made in
India,
Southeast Asia,
China,
Japan, and
Central Africa.
Mead is also mentioned in many old north
Anglo-Saxon stories, including in the
epic poem Beowulf.
The word "
honeymoon" in
English is supposedly traceable to the practice of a bride's father
dowering her with enough mead for a month-long celebration in honor of the
marriage. Mead is still manufactured in Britain, France, and various other locations, though the traditional status of most such manufacture is dubious. One of the most famous producers is the Holy Island of
Lindisfarne in
North East England, where mead has been produced since
Anglo-Saxon times.
Mead can have a wide range of flavors, depending on the source of the honey, additives called "adjuncts" or "gruit" (including fruit and spices), yeast employed during fermentation, and aging procedure. Mead can be difficult to find commercially, though some producers have been successful marketing it. Consumers must bear in mind that some producers have marketed white wine with added honey as mead, often spelling it "meade." Blended varieties of mead can be known by either style represented. For instance, a mead made with cinnamon and apples can be referred to as a cinnamon cyser or as an apple metheglin.
Some meads retain some measure of the sweetness of the original honey, and some can even be considered as dessert wines. Drier meads are also available, and some producers offer sparkling meads, which (like
champagne) can make for a delightful celebratory toast. There are a number of faux-meads, which are actually cheap wines with large amounts of honey added, to produce a cloyingly sweet liqueur. It has been said that "a mead that tastes of honey is as good as a wine that still tastes of grape".
Historically, meads would have been fermented by wild
yeasts residing on the skins of the fruit or within the honey itself. Wild yeasts generally provide inconsistent results, and in modern times various brewing interests isolated the strains now in use. Certain strains have gradually become associated with certain styles of mead. Mostly, these are strains that are also used in beer or wine production. Several commercial labs, such as White Labs, WYeast, Vierka, and others have gone so far as to develop strains specifically for mead.
Mead can also be distilled to a brandy or liqueur strength.
Krupnik is a sweet Polish liqueur made through just such a process.
Different types of mead include, but are not limited to:
Braggot - Braggot (also called bracket or brackett) marks the invention of Ale. Originally brewed with honey and hops, later with honey and malt - with or without hops added.
Black mead - A name sometimes given to the blend of honey and
black currants.
Cyser - Cyser is a blend of honey and apple juice fermented together. See also
cider.
Great mead - Any mead that is intended to be aged several years, like
vintage wine. The designation is meant to distinguish this type of mead from "short mead" (see below.)
Hydromel - Hydromel literally means "water-honey" in Greek. It is also the
French name for mead. (Compare with the
Spanish hidromiel and
aquamiel,
Italian idromele and
Portuguese hidromel). It is also used as a name for a very light or low-alcohol mead.
Melomel - Melomel is made from honey and any fruit. Depending on the fruit-base used, certain melomels may also be known by more specific names (see cyser, pyment, morat for examples)
Metheglin - Metheglin starts with traditional mead but has herbs and spices added. Some of the most common metheglins are ginger, tea, orange peel, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, or vanilla. Its name indicates that many metheglins were originally employed as folk medicines. (Though the
Welsh word for honey is
medd, the word "metheglin" actually derives from
meddeglyn, a compound word comprised of
meddyg, "healing" +
llyn, "liquor".)
Morat - Morat blends honey and
mulberries.
Omphacomel - A medieval mead recipe that blends honey with
verjuice; could therefore be considered a variety of pyment.
Oxymel - Another historical mead recipe, blending honey with
wine vinegar.
Perry - Perry-mead blends honey with milled, ripe pears. (See entry for the modern drink
Babycham.)
Pyment - Pyment blends honey and red or white grapes. Pyment made with white grape juice is sometimes called "white mead."
Rhodomel - Rhodomel is made from honey,
rose hips, petals, or
rose attar, and water.
Sack mead - This refers to mead that is made with more copious amounts of honey than usual. The finished product retains an extremely high
specific gravity and elevated levels of sweetness. It derives its name from the
fortified dessert wine Sherry (which is sometimes sweetened after fermentation, and in England once bore the nickname of "sack".)
Short mead - Also called "quick mead". A type of mead recipe that is meant to age quickly, for immediate consumption. Because of the techniques used in its creation, short mead shares some qualities found in
hard cider (or even
light ale): primarily that it is
effervescent, and often has a cidery taste.
Show mead - A term which has come to mean "plain" mead; that which has honey and water as a base, with no fruits, spices or extra flavorings. (Since honey alone does not provide enough nourishment for the yeast to carry on its life-cycle, a mead that is devoid of fruit, etc. will require a special
yeast nutrient and other enzymes to produce an acceptable finished product.)
Tej - Tej is an Ethiopian mead, fermented with wild yeasts (and
bacteria), and with the addition of
gesho. Recipes vary from family to family, with some recipes leaning towards
braggot with the inclusion of grains.
Mulsum - Mulsum is not a true mead, but is unfermented honey blended with a high-alcohol wine.
Medovukha - Eastern Slavic variant, very alcoholic. In principle, a vodka with distilled honey addition.
Półtorak - A Polish mead, made using two units of honey for each unit of water
Dwójniak - A Polish mead, made using equal amounts of water and honey
Trójniak - A Polish mead, made using two units of water for each unit of honey
Czwórniak - A Polish mead, made using three units of water for each unit of honey
* Schramm, Ken;
The Compleat Meadmaker; Brewers Publications; ISBN 0-937381-82-9; paperback, 2003
*
Kerenyi, Karl;
Dionysus: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life; Princeton University Press; ISBN 0-691098-63-8; unknown binding, 1976
*
Digby, Kenelm;
The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digbie Kt Opened 1669; Prospect Books; eds. Jane Stevenson and Peter Davidson; ISBN 0-907325-76-9; paperback, 1997
*
Gayre, Robert and
Papazian, Charlie;
Brewing Mead: Wassail! In Mazers of Mead; Brewers Publications; ISBN 0-937381-00-4; paperback, 1986.
*
MeadWorks.ca , A Canadian-based mead brewing club, resource, and Ezine.
*
Gotmead.com , A huge site with over 1200 pages of mead-related info, along with a lively, but friendly Forum.
*
A Friend In Mead General Interest
*
East Cowdry Bootleggers A short history & homebrewing recipes.
*[
1] Web site location for the venerable Mead Lovers Digest. Archives, FAQ, and information for subscribing to the digest are here.
*[
2] Good site covering areas of general interest, also tasting notes and a searchable archive of the Mead Lovers Digest.
*[
3] Apiary Honighäuschen at the Drachenfels with mead recipes
*
RealBeer.com's Mead pages
