Mead is the oldest alcohol on Earth. Scientists have found Chinese pottery from 9,000 years ago with evidence of mead fermentation that predates both beer and wine by thousands of years. To put that into perspective, humans were just reaching the end of the Stone Age!
What Is Mead?
So, what exactly is mead? Simply put, mead is a fermented beverage made primarily from honey. The three basic ingredients of mead are honey, yeast, and water. It exists in its own distinct category. You may hear it referred to as honey wine, but this is incorrect as wine is made from fermented fruit while mead is made from fermented honey.
The type of honey used greatly affects the flavor depending on a honey bee’s particular diet of nectar and pollen. Traditional mead often uses a mild honey such as orange blossom, clover or acacia, but wildflower, blackberry and buckwheat honeys produce great results with sturdier, spiced meads.
Types of Mead
Mead is quite diverse with sweet, dry, still or sparkling all describing varieties of mead. But it doesn’t stop there! There’s medicinal mead called metheglin, another is called melomel and it’s a mead that contains juice or fruit like blackberries and raspberries. Then there’s cyser, an apple-based mead; acerglyn, made with maple syrup; braggot, a mead/beer blend brewed with hops or barley; rhodomel, a very old style laced with roses—and loads more.
Mead gave us the term “Honeymoon.” Back in the Medieval time period the tradition was for newlywed couples to drink honey mead for a full moon cycle after their wedding. It was supposed to be an aphrodisiac that would lead to lots of children. The father-in-law would often include a month of mead as part of the dowry.
Currently, craft mead is on the rise with over 250 meaderies in the U.S. and mead being prominently featured in the popular show Game of Thrones. With so many meads available today, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. That’s why we’ve put together five delicious and accessible meads for you to try. After a couple of sips, mead might just be your next go-to beverage!
Texas Mead Works Blackberry Melomel
Hailing from Seguin, TX, this blackberry mead is made with Texas Mead Works proprietary blend of honey and blackberries. You’ll find a pleasing blackberry taste with notes of currant and pomegranate and a fine honey finish. 11% ABV
Black’s Fairy Meadery Mango Lime Mead
Located in West Columbia, Texas, Black’s Fairy Meadery is relatively new but their meads are already turning heads. Their Mango Lime Mead is tropical and citrusy with sweet mango balanced by the refreshing lime citrus. 16% ABV
Meridian Hive Discovery Draft Mead
Meridian Hive is a meadery in Austin, TX that focuses on two styles of mead, draft mead and still mead. Their original draft mead is a delicious and refreshing, lightly carbonated mead crafted with the highest quality orange blossom honey. Discovery is a perfect balance of subtle sweetness with a hint of citrus and a crisp finish. 6.5% ABV
Moonlight Meadery Fling
Located in Londonderry, NH, Moonlight Meadery has crafted a mead ménage à trois between orange blossom honey, rhubarb, and strawberries. Tease your senses with this balanced yet complex array of flavors. This semi-sweet and tart Strawberry Rhubarb Mead goes great with a wide variety of dishes, such as a goat cheese salad. 13.3% ABV
Enchanted Manor Bochet Burnt-Honey Mead
The Enchanted Manor Meadery is in Plantersville, TX. Their Bochet mead gets its unique flavor and amber coloration by slow-cooking the honey for 48 hours prior to fermentation. The process of slowly burning the honey gives the Bochet a full, caramel-like flavor with undertones of berry. It finishes bittersweet with notes of dark chocolate and coffee.
So whether you’re throwing a medieval party or just looking to try some new-age twists on mead, hop on in to Spec’s and cheer to savings!
