Mead

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Mead

Mead
© Denzil Green

Honeywine

Mead is an alcoholic drink based on honey.

Honey is mixed with boiling water to form what is called a "must." Hops are added for flavouring, and sometimes, other flavourings such as fruit or spices. Some recipes will call for the water to be further boiled after the honey and flavourings are added.

Yeast can be added to aid the fermentation along (it generally is in modern times.) Yeasts used will be the same as those used to make wine. Most modern recipes advise letting the mixture cool to around 70 - 80 F (21 to 27 C) before adding yeast.

It is allowed to ferment before bottling.

Mead is slower to ferment than beer, which can be fermented in 2 or 3 weeks. Mead often takes months. Honey doesn't have the same kind of nutrients in it that grape or grain do for wine and beer, so fermentation is slow. Yeast nutrients are often added to the mix to help speed the yeast along.

Because Mead is so slow to ferment, it can often keep on fermenting even after it appears done. This often leads to further fermentation once bottled, and results in either sparkling Mead -- or exploding bottles. A better way to make sparkling Mead is to let the Mead finish completely fermenting in the vat, then prime each bottle with a bit of sugar to allow a small amount of fermentation in the bottle to happen.

If a bottle of Mead has foam at the top, fermentation is happening in the bottle. This is not a bad thing; you may end up with a sparkling version of Mead. Just be careful, though, of the pressure that may be released when you take the cork of. Treat it in opening as you would a bottle of sparkling wine. If you aren't going to use it when you get it home, store it in the fridge to slow fermentation down, and try to use as soon as possible.

In America, Mead is classed as a wine, because it is deemed closer to wine than beer. Unlike wine, though, which is classified based on what kind of grape it is made from, mead isn't classified on what type of honey it's made from. Not many makers seem to use a blend of honeys, though home enthusiasts swear that using blends of honey adds to the complexity and taste balance.

The sweetness of the resulting Mead depends on how much honey is used, and how vigorous the yeast present is at converting it to alcohol.

Mead flavours

  • Braggot (aka bracket, brackett;) mead flavoured with malt;
  • Capsicumel: mead made with honey and chile pepper;
  • Cyser: mead made with honey and either apple juice or apple cider;
  • Melomel: mead made with honey and any fruit other than grapes or apples. It can also include spices;
  • Metheglin: mead flavoured with herbs and spices (such as cloves or cinnamon);
  • Morat: mead made with honey and mulberries;
  • Omphacomel: mead mixed with verjus;
  • Oxymel: mead flavoured with wine vinegar;
  • Pyment: mead made with honey and grape juice. Sometimes the word is also used to mean wine sweetened with honey;
  • Rhodomel: mead flavoured with rose petals or the rose petal oil called "attar";
  • Tej: an Ethiopian-style mead that ends up like a white wine;
  • Traditional: mead made just with honey; no additional flavourings added;
  • Ypocras (aka Hippocras): a pyment-style mead flavoured with spices.

Fans recommend using stronger tasting honeys for sweet meads or for Metheglin Meads (the ones flavoured with spices), and milder honeys for dry meads or Melomel Meads.

The above flavours can be made in any of the following strengths:

Mead strengths
  • Standard: Ratio usually 1 part honey to 5 parts water. 8 to 13% alcohol;
  • Hydromel: mead made with a lower honey / higher water ratio. Generally assumed to be less than 10% alcohol, but this is not necessarily the case;
  • Sack: very high honey ratio. Thick, sweeter beverage tasting like honey. Alcohol content 12 to 18 percent.


History

Mead

Mead
Denzil Green

As the population of Europe increased, land got claimed for living space and farming. As a result, the number of bees decreased. At the same time, owing to population growth, the market demand for honey went up. This resulted in honey becoming a luxury item.

Mead started to fall in popularity amongst common people, because cheaper drink could be produced with grapes (wine) or hops and grain (beer.) As well, grapes, hops and grain could be produced in far greater quantities than honey could.

Mead continued to be popular, though, in parts of northern Europe where great quantities of grapes or hops couldn't be reliably grown.

Beekeepers not only made their income from honey, but also from its by-product, beeswax, which could be used for candles. As a mixture of honey and wax remain after the pure honey and pure beeswax is collected, some recipes evolved to make Mead from this mixture.

Language Notes
"Chouchen" is the word used in Brittany, France for "mead."

Someone who makes mead is a "medher." Medher is pronounced "mether."

Also called:
Chouchen (French); Met (German); Hydromel (Roman) Top...