The mention of the word mead brings to mind images of fierce Nordic warriors at a feast hall consuming mutton. In reality, mead is an ancient beverage, but a good quality mead is more like a fine white wine – a refined beverage. The mixture of water, honey, and yeast, mead is a beverage that takes patience to brew. The full fermentation cycle of a mead usually runs at about a year. Bottling a mead sooner will usually endanger the bottle with explosion unless it is pasteurized. On top of that, proper aging brings out even more of the subtle characteristics of the mead, making mead a prime candidate for collecting and aging.
When purchasing mead in the store, you should be careful to note the ingredients in the alleged “mead”. Some companies produce white wine with just some honey added and call this “honey wine” or even “meade” – this is not mead, it is merely honey-sweetened wine. Now, don’t get me wrong – there are many types of mead, including that made with grapes – but unless the honey has been fermented, it is not mead. A simple addition of honey as a sweetener does not count. Many people may still refer to a real mead as a honey wine as a descriptive term, however.
Many of the offshoots of mead are quite delectable, and no guide to mead would be complete without their mention. There is cyser, which is a delectable combination of mead and hard cider. This drink is especially enhanced by the addition of a bottle-conditioned piece of candied ginger on the bottom. A little more savory than the worm in the tequila bottle, no? Although, in this case, the cyser would also be a metheglin. Metheglin is any kind of mead that has herbs or spices added, such as a mead flavored with clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon – which could be called a wassail metheglin I suppose. This might be nice served hot! The proper nomenclature for a cyser with such spices could be apple metheglin or simply spiced cyser.
One of the earliest ales was actually a mead. Made first with honey and hops, later malt was added as an adjunct and eventually replaced the honey all together. This kind of mead, or early ale is referred to as Braggot. Another mead combination is that of honey and grapes, creating a kind of honey-wine mixture that is called Pyment, and either white or red grapes are used, depending on taste. Some of the fine meads I have tasted are very similar to a fine wine, so I do not doubt that this combination is tasty.
There are many more possibilities, of course, but in any case where mead is mixed with fruit, the resultant drink may be referred to as Melomel. This encompasses cyser, Pyment, and Morat (mead with mulberries). The reason why so many meads have adjunct fruits is that yeast finds it difficult to take root in a true mead. In addition to fruits and even grains and malt, some meads are made with the further addition of flower petals (could be considered a metheglin) such as roses, morning glory, and honeysuckle.
It is always possible for you to flavor your mead after buying it. You can simply spice your mead for a mulled mead experience, add some candied ginger as recommended above, or even put a slice of apple or strawberries right in the bottle! Allowing a month or so for these flavor to seep into your mead will greatly enhance the drink and personalize it, making for a fine gift idea or just to share with friends. Mead is an exotic beverage as it is, but with your own special touch, it is sure to be a flavor to remember.
