I go to my tap dance lesson at a dance studio in a strip center next to an Edible Arrangements store and across from a new establishment, Breaking Brew Meadery. This is not your regular beer joint. It is the first mead taproom in Dallas and offers a variety of flavors including Blue By You (blueberry and lemongrass), Ginger Bear (soft ginger start with hints of citrus, finishing with semisweet brown sugar), Amaretto by Morning (starts with a nice dark cherry taste that rolls into a semisweet almond burst), and Mead-a-Colada (wonderful combination of pineapple and coconut). Mead is an ancient alcoholic beverage made with honey, so it is gluten-free. I have had plain mead at the Scarborough Renaissance Festival in Waxahachie, and it was OK. But, the fruit flavors are a lot better. The former home brewers of the Gordon family have done an excellent job of providing an inviting atmosphere with a variety of offerings. Let’s find out more about mead.
According to Wikipedia, mead is an alcoholic beverage created by fermenting honey with water, sometimes with various fruits, spices, grains or hops. The alcoholic content ranges from about 3.5% alcohol by volume or ABV to more than 18%. The defining characteristic of mead is that the majority of the beverage's fermentable sugar is derived from honey. It may be still, carbonated or naturally sparkling; dry, semi-sweet or sweet.
Mead was produced in ancient times throughout Europe, Africa and Asia and has played an important role in the mythology of some peoples. In Norse mythology, for example, the Mead of Poetry was crafted from the blood of the wise being Kvasir and turned the drinker into a poet or scholar.
The term honey wine is sometimes used as a synonym for mead, although wine is typically defined to be the product of fermented berries or certain other fruits, and some cultures have honey wines that are distinct from mead. The honey wine of Hungary, for example, is the fermentation of honey-sweetened pomace — the solid remains of grapes or other fruits after pressing for juice.
History
Pottery vessels dating from 7000 BCE discovered in northern China have shown chemical signatures consistent with the presence of honey, rice,and organic compounds associated with fermentation. In Europe, it is first described from residual samples found in ceramics of the Bell Beaker culture c. 2800–1800 BCE.
The earliest surviving description of mead is possibly the soma mentioned in the hymns of the Rigveda, one of the sacred books of the historical Vedic religion and later Hinduism dated around 1700–1100 BCE. During the Golden Age of ancient Greece, mead was said to be the preferred drink. Aristotle (384–322 BCE) discussed mead in his “Meterologica” and elsewhere, while Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE) called mead “militites” in his “Naturalis Historia” and differentiated wine sweetened with honey or "honey-wine" from mead. The Hispanic-Roman naturalist Columella gave a recipe for mead in “De re rustica,” about 60 CE:
Take rainwater kept for several years and mix a sextarius — 18.47 fl oz or 1.153 pints — of this water with a [Roman] pound of honey. For a weaker mead, mix a sextarius of water with nine ounces of honey. The whole is exposed to the sun for 40 days, and then left on a shelf near the fire. If you have no rainwater, then boil spring water.
There is a poem attributed to the Welsh bard Taliesin, who lived around 550 CE, called the “Kanu y med” or "Song of Mead." The legendary drinking, feasting and boasting of warriors in the mead hall is echoed in the mead hall Din Eidyn —modern-day Edinburgh — as depicted in the poem “Y Gododdin,” attributed to the poet Aneirin who would have been a contemporary of Taliesin. In the Old English epic poem “Beowulf,”, the Danish warriors drank mead. In both Insular Celtic and Germanic poetry, mead was the primary heroic or divine drink.
Mead was a popular drink in medieval Ireland. Beekeeping was brought around the 5th century, traditionally attributed to Modomnoc, and mead came with it. A banquet hall on the Hill of Tara was known as “Tech Mid Chuarda” or "house of the circling of mead"). Mead was often infused with hazelnuts. Many other legends of saints mention mead, as does that of the Children of Lir.
Later, taxation and regulations governing the ingredients of alcoholic beverages led to commercial mead becoming a more obscure beverage until recently. Some monasteries kept up the traditions of mead-making as a by-product of beekeeping, especially in areas where grapes could not be grown.
Fermentation process
Meads will often ferment well at the same temperatures in which wine is fermented, and the yeast used in mead making is often identical to that used in winemaking — particularly those used in the preparation of white wines. Many home mead makers choose to use wine yeasts to make their meads.
By measuring the specific gravity of the mead once before fermentation and throughout the fermentation process using a hydrometer or refractometer, mead makers can determine the proportion of alcohol by volume that will appear in the final product. This also serves to troubleshoot a "stuck" batch, one where the fermentation process has been halted prematurely by dormant or dried yeast. On the hydrometer, the lower the density of the fluid, the deeper the weighted float B sinks. The depth is read off scale A.
With many different styles of mead possible, there are many different processes employed, although many producers will use techniques recognizable from winemaking. One such example is to rack — the process of moving mead from one container to another using gravity rather than a pump, which can be disruptive to the beverage — the product into a second container, once fermentation slows down significantly. These are known as primary and secondary fermentation, respectively. Some larger commercial fermenters are designed to allow both primary and secondary fermentation to happen inside of the same vessel. Racking is done for two reasons: it lets the mead sit away from the remains of the yeast cells or lees that have died during the fermentation process. Second, this lets the mead have time to clear. The cloudiness could have been caused by either yeast or suspended protein molecules. There is also the possibility that the pectin from any fruit that is used could have set which gives the mead a cloudy look. The cloudiness can be cleared up by either "cold breaking," which is leaving the mead in a cold environment overnight or using a fining material, such as sparkolloid, bentonite, egg white or isinglass. If the mead-maker wishes to backsweeten the product — add supplementary sweetener — or prevent it from oxidizing, potassium metabisulfite and potassium sorbate are added. After the mead clears, it is bottled and distributed.
Primary fermentation usually takes 28 to 56 days, after which the must — freshly crushed fruit juice that contains the skins, seeds and stems of the fruit — is placed in a secondary fermentation vessel for 6 to 9 months of aging. Durations of primary and secondary fermentation producing satisfactory mead may vary considerably according to numerous factors, such as floral origin of the honey and its natural sugar and microorganism contents, must water percentage, pH, additives used and strain of yeast, among others. Although supplementation of the must with nonnitrogen-based salts or vitamins has been tested to improve mead qualities, no evidence suggests that adding micronutrients reduced fermentation time or improved quality. Cell immobilization methods, however, proved effective for enhancing mead quality.
Varieties
Mead can have a wide range of flavors depending on the source of the honey, additives — also known as "adjuncts" or "gruit" — including fruit and spices, the yeast employed during fermentation and the aging procedure. Some producers have erroneously marketed white wine sweetened and flavored with honey after fermentation as mead, sometimes spelling it "meade." This is closer in style to a hypocras, a drink made from wine mixed with sugar and spices, usually including cinnamon, and possibly heated. Blended varieties of mead may be known by the style represented; for instance, a mead made with cinnamon and apples may be referred to as either a cinnamon cyser or an apple metheglin.
A mead that also contains spices (such as cloves, cinnamon or nutmeg) or herbs (such as meadowsweet, hops or even lavender or chamomille) is called a metheglin.
A mead that contains fruit — such as raspberry, blackberry or strawberry — is called a melomel, which was also used as a means of food preservation, keeping summer produce for the winter. A mead that is fermented with grape juice is called a pyment.
Mulled mead is a popular drink at Christmas time, where mead is flavored with spices — and sometimes various fruits — and warmed, traditionally by having a hot poker plunged into it.
Some meads retain some measure of the sweetness of the original honey, and some may even be considered as dessert wines. Drier meads are also available, and some producers offer sparkling meads.
Historically, meads were fermented with wild yeasts and bacteria residing on the skins of the fruit or within the honey itself. Wild yeasts can produce inconsistent results. Yeast companies have isolated strains of yeast which produce consistently appealing products. Brewers, winemakers and mead makers commonly use them for fermentation, including yeast strains identified specifically for mead fermentation. These are strains that have been selected because of their characteristic of preserving delicate honey flavors and aromas.
Mead can also be distilled to a brandy or liqueur strength. A version called "honey jack" can be made by partly freezing a quantity of mead and straining the ice out of the liquid — a process known as freeze distillation — in the same way that applejack is made from cider.
Regional variants
In Finland, a sweet mead called sima is connected with the Finnish Vappu festival, although in modern practice, brown sugar is often used in place of honey. During secondary fermentation, added raisins augment the amount of sugar available to the yeast and indicate readiness for consumption, rising to the top of the bottle when sufficiently depleted. Sima is commonly served with both the pulp and rind of a lemon.
Ethiopian mead is called tej and is usually homemade. It is flavored with the powdered leaves and bark of gesho, a hoplike 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.
Mead known as iQhilika is traditionally prepared by the Xhosa people of South Africa.
Mead in Poland has been part of culinary tradition for over a thousand years.
In the United States, mead is enjoying a resurgence, starting with small home meaderies and now with a number of small commercial meaderies. As mead becomes more widely available, it is seeing increased attention and exposure from the news media.
Meadery
A meadery produces honey wines or meads. Particularly in Cornwall, a meadery can also refer to a type of restaurant that serves mead and food with a medieval ambience. A meadery would typically be in the style of a banquet hall, having wooden flooring, heavy wooden tables and lit by candlelight with white-painted granite walls.
Meaderies that produce honey wines or meads are becoming more abundant in the U.S. According to a study by the American Mead Maker Association, mead's producer community has exploded 130% since 2011, making it the fastest growing alcoholic beverage category in the U.S.
Mazer Cup
According to Megan Quinn’s March 14, 2015 article “Mazer Cup brings honey of a competition to Broomfield” in the Broomfield Enterprise, the Mazer Cup is the largest commercial and amateur mead competition in the world. It invites homebrewers and mead-making businesses from around the globe to bring their sweet honey-based beverages to be judged. In 2015, entries included mead makers from Switzerland, Malaysia, China, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Sweden, Poland, France, England and the United States.
“Mead is exotic, it’s different, it’s somewhat unusual, and that’s what drew me to it,” said Vicki Rowe, a Mazer Cup board member. She started making her own mead at her home in North Carolina after tasting it at a renaissance festival 20 years ago, then started an informational mead website, http://gotmead.com.
Rowe said the Mazer Cup, named for a wide drinking vessel sometimes used for mead, has seen a spike in entries over the past few years as people learn more about the ancient honey wine.
Though many enthusiasts started as craft beer brewers or beer appreciators, Rowe has seen more and more people learn the craft of making mead.
“We are in our infancy of the (mead) revolution, and we are making great strides,” she said.
In literature
According to Wikipedia, mead is featured in many Germanic myths and folktales such as “Beowulf,” as well as in other popular works that draw on these myths. The epic poem “Beowulf” features public mead halls front and center: The boisterous mead hall called Heorot is attacked by the monster Grendel, motivating Beowulf to battle. Notable examples featuring mead include books by Fred Minnick, Chrissie Manion Zaerpoor, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, George R. R. Martin, T. H. White, Neil Gaman and Rick Riordan. J.R.R. Tolkien got down with mead mania in Middle-earth, referencing a mead hall as the kingdom of Rohan’s gathering place and house of the king. Sumptuously decorated with a straw roof that appeared to shine like gold from a distance, the mead hall was a space of great importance and power. Mead is often featured in books using a historical Germanic setting and in writings about the Viking Age. Mead is mentioned many times in Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel, “American Gods;” it is referred to as the drink of the gods. In “The Inheritance Cycle” series by Christopher Paolini, the protagonist, Eragon, often drinks mead at feasts. It is also referenced in “The Kingkiller Chronicle” novel series by Patrick Rothfuss. The protagonist Kvothe is known to drink metheglin. The non-existent "Greysdale Mead" is also drunk, although it is merely water. Mead is mentioned many times in Michael Crichton’s “Eaters of the Dead,” published in 1976. Mead is mentioned in the movie “The 13th Warrior,” based on Michael Crichton's “Eaters of the Dead,” when it is offered to Ahmad ibn Fadlan — played by actor Antonio Banderas — after a battle, which he refuses because of Islamic law forbidding drinking anything from the fermenting of grapes or wheat. He is informed that the drink is made from honey and thus not forbidden by Islam.
Mead of Poetry
In Norse mythology, the Poetic Mead or Mead of Poetry, also known as Mead of Suttungr, is a mythical beverage that whoever "drinks becomes a skáld or scholar" to recite any information and solve any question. This myth was reported by Snorri Sturlson in Skáldskaparmál. The drink is a vivid metaphor for poetic inspiration, often associated with Odin the god of “possession” via berserker rage or poetic inspiration. A skáld is generally a term used for poets who composed at the courts of Scandinavian leaders during the Viking Age, 793–1066 AD, and continuing into the Middle Ages, 5th century – 15th century.
After the Æsir-Vanir War, the gods sealed the truce they had just concluded by spitting in a vat. To keep a symbol of this truce, they created from their spittle a man named Kvasir. He was so wise that there were no questions he could not answer. He traveled around the world to give knowledge to mankind. One day, he visited the dwarves Fjalar and Galar. They killed him and poured his blood into two vats and a pot called Boðn, Són and Óðrerir. They mixed his blood with honey, thus creating a mead which made anybody who drank it a "poet or scholar." The dwarves explained to the gods that Kvasir had suffocated in intelligence.
Fjalar and Galar invited a giant, Gilling, and his wife. They took him to sea and capsized their boat, and the giant drowned. The dwarves then came back home and broke the news to Gilling's wife, which plunged her deep in grief. Fjallar proposed showing her the place where her husband had drowned, but Galar got tired of her weeping, went before her and dropped a millstone on her head when she crossed the threshold.
When Gilling's son, Suttungr, learned what had happened, he went to the dwarves and led them to a reef which was covered with water at high tide. The dwarves implored him and offered him the mead in compensation for his father's death. Suttungr agreed. When he came back home, he stored the mead in a place called Hnitbjörg where his daughter, Gunnlöd, was in charge of guarding it.
Odin met nine slaves who were scything hay and offered to sharpen their scythes. His whetstone worked so well that they all wanted to buy it. Odin threw it up in the air, and the slaves struggled for it to death, cutting each other's throats.
Then he spent the night at Baugi's place. Baugi was Suttungr's brother. He complained that business did not go well since his slaves had killed each other, and he could not get anybody to stand in for them. Odin, who said his name was Bölverk, proposed to do their work in exchange for a draught of Suttungr's mead. Baugi agreed, saying that he would try to persuade his brother. During the summer, Bölverk did the work as agreed and, in the winter, asked Baugi for his owing. They both went to Suttungr's, who refused to give a single drop of the beverage.
Bölverk then suggested Baugi use a trick. He gave him the drill Rati and asked him to bore into the mountain Hnitbjörg. After Baugi tried to deceive him, a hole was actually dug, and Bölverk slipped into it, having taken the form of a snake. Baugi tried in vain to hit him with the drill.
He arrived by Gunnlöd, with whom he spent three nights. Thus, he could have three draughts of mead. But with each draught he emptied a whole container. He then transformed into an eagle and flew away. When Suttungr discovered the theft, he too took the shape of an eagle and flew off in hot pursuit. When the Æsir saw Odin coming, they set out vessels in readiness to hold the mead and when, in the nick of time, the god arrived, he spat his loot into them. But Suttungr was so close to him that, in his fear and haste, the god let fall some of the precious liquid from his anus. Anybody could drink of this paltry and sullied portion, which was known as the "rhymester's share," but the greater portion of the mead of poetry which had issued from his mouth Odin gave to the gods and to those truly gifted in poetry.
Drink of the gods
According to Amanda Marstellar’s Nov. 3, 2020 article “10 Things You Didn’t Know About Mead” at liquor.com, referred to as “nectar of the gods” by ancient Greeks, mead was believed to be dew sent from the heavens and collected by bees. Many European cultures considered bees to be the gods’ messengers, and mead was thus associated with immortality and other magical powers, such as divine strength and wit. For this reason, mead continued to factor heavily in Greek ceremonies even after its eventual decline in drinking popularity.
Mead as medicine
Today’s physicians are unlikely to write a prescription for mead, but certain kinds made with herbs or spices were used as medicine in early England. Infusing herbs into a sweet mead made them more palatable, and different varieties were thought to improve digestion, help with depression and alleviate good old-fashioned hypochondria. These types of spiced, herbal meads are called metheglin, derived from the Welsh word for medicine.
Different types of honey for mead
A single honeybee produces a meager twelfth of a teaspoon of honey per day. Because most meads require up to two gallons of the sweet stuff, each drop is precious. The honey used determines the overarching flavor of the mead and can vary according to a honeybee’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.
Preferred Drink of Royalty
Queen Elizabeth II has been known to throw back a goblet of mead and even maintains a favorite recipe made with rosemary, thyme, bay leaves and sweet briar. And according to some tales, Queen Makeda of Sheba gave King Solomon a gift of t’ej, a bittersweet Ethiopian mead flavored with buckthorn. T’ej can be traced to the fourth century and is still a popular drink in the East African region.
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