Encyclopedia
Mead is a fermented
alcoholic beverage made of
honey,
water, and
yeast. Meadhing 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 or
herbs 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 . Slavic
miod/med, which means "honey", derives from the same Proto-Indo-European root.
A mead that contains fruit 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 flavored with spices and warmed, traditionally by having a hot poker plunged into it.
History of mead
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." .
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 , meaning "drinkable honey". Mead was a favoured drink among the Polish-Lithuanian
szlachta was the noble [i] class [i] in Poland [i] and the ...
. 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
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 , is still an essential seasonal brew connected with the
Finnish Vappu 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 is a heroic epic poem [i]. ...
, and in early Welsh poetry such as
Y Gododdin.
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.
Varieties of mead
Mead can have a wide range of flavors, depending on the source of the honey, additives called "adjuncts" or "gruit" , 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 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 and
bacteria 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 have 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 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"
Hydromel - Hydromel literally means "water-honey" in Greek. It is also the
French name for mead. . 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
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.
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.
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
SherryShort 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
cider : 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.
Tej - Tej is an Ethiopian mead, fermented with wild yeasts , 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.
Medovina - Macedonian for mead. Unfortunately, very few people still brew this for their own consumption. It is not available commercially.
Medovukha - Eastern Slavic variant, very alcoholic. In principle, a vodka with distilled honey addition.
Póltorak - 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
Gverc or
Medovina - Croatian mead prepared in Samobor and many other places. Word “gverc” or “gvirc” is from
German "Gewürze" and it refers to different spices added to mead.
References
- 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.
External links
- A short history & homebrewing recipes.
- , A huge site with over 1200 pages of mead-related info, along with a lively, but friendly Forum.
- , A Canadian-based mead brewing club, resource, and Ezine.
- Web site location for the venerable Mead Lovers Digest. Archives, FAQ, and information for subscribing to the digest are here.
- Good site covering areas of general interest, also tasting notes and a searchable archive of the Mead Lovers Digest.
- Apiary Honighäuschen at the Drachenfels with mead recipes
