Mead (/miːd/), also called hydromel (particularly when low in alcohol content), is an
alcoholic beverage made by
fermentinghoney mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as
fruits,
spices,
grains, or
hops.[1][2][3] The alcoholic content ranges from about 3.5%
ABV[4] to more than 20%. The defining characteristic of mead is that the majority of the beverage's fermentable sugar is derived from honey.[5] It may be still, carbonated, or naturally sparkling; dry, semi-sweet, or sweet.[6]
Mead that also contains
spices is called metheglin (/mɪˈθɛɡlɪn/), and mead that contains fruit is called melomel. The term honey wine is sometimes used as a synonym for mead,[7][8] although wine is typically defined to be the product of fermented
grapes or certain other fruits,[9] 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 of grapes or other fruits.[10]
Mead was produced in ancient times throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia,[11][12][13][14] and has played an important role in the mythology of some peoples. In
Norse mythology, for example, the
Mead of Poetry, crafted from the blood of
Kvasir (a wise being born from the mingled spittle of the
Aesir and
Vanir deities) would turn anyone who drank it into a poet or scholar.
History
Mead is a drink widely considered to have been discovered prior to the advent of both
agriculture and
ceramic pottery in the
Neolithic,[15] due to the prevalence of
naturally occurring fermentation and the distribution of
eusocial honey-producing insects worldwide;[16] as a result, it is hard to pinpoint the exact historical origin of mead given the possibility of
multiple discovery or potential knowledge transfer between early humans prior to recorded history.[17][18][19] In Europe, mead is first described from residual samples found in ceramics of the
Bell Beaker Culture (c. 2800–1800 BCE).[20] With the eventual rise of ceramic pottery and increasing use of
fermentation in food processing to preserve surplus agricultural crops,[21] evidence of mead begins to show up in the archaeological record more clearly, with pottery vessels from
northern China dating from at least 7000 BCE discovered containing chemical signatures consistent with the presence of honey, rice, and organic compounds associated with fermentation.[20][22][23]
Take rainwater kept for several years, and mix a
sextarius[32] of this water with a [Roman]
pound[33] of honey. For a weaker mead, mix a sextarius of water with nine
ounces[34] 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 rain water, then boil spring water.[35]
Ancient Greek writer
Pytheas described a grain and honey drink similar to mead that he encountered while travelling in
Thule.[36] According to
James Henry Ramsay this was an earlier version of Welsh metheglin.[37] When 12-year-old Prince
Charles II visited Wales in 1642 Welsh metheglin was served at the feast as a symbol of Welsh presence in the emerging British identity in the years between the
Union of the Crowns in 1603 and the creation of the
Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707.[38][39]
There is a poem attributed to the Welsh
bardTaliesin, who lived around 550 CE, called the Kanu y med or "Song of Mead" (Cân y medd).[40] 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, see
Mead of poetry.
Mead (
Old Irishmid) was a popular drink in medieval
Ireland.[41] 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 ("house of the circling of mead"). Mead was often infused with
hazelnuts.[42] Many other legends of saints mention mead, as does that of the
Children of Lir.[43]
Later, taxation and regulations governing the ingredients of alcoholic beverages led to commercial mead becoming a more obscure beverage until recently.[44] Some
monasteries kept up the traditions of mead-making as a by-product of
beekeeping, especially in areas where
grapes could not be grown.
Meads will often ferment well at the same temperatures at which wine is fermented, and the yeast used in mead making is often identical to that used in
wine making (particularly those used in the preparation of white wines). Many home mead makers choose to use wine yeasts to make their meads.[48]
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.[49][50]
With many different styles of mead possible, there are many different processes employed, although many producers will use techniques recognizable from wine-making. One such example is to
rack the product into a second container, once fermentation slows down significantly. These are known as a primary and a secondary fermentation, respectively. Some larger commercial fermenters are designed to allow both primary and secondary fermentation to happen inside the same vessel. Racking is done for two reasons: it lets the mead sit away from the remains of the yeast cells (
lees) that have died during the fermentation process. Second, this lets the mead have time to clear. Cloudiness can be caused by either yeast[51] or suspended protein molecules.[50] There is also the possibility that the pectin from any fruit that is used could have set which gives the mead a cloudy look.[50] 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.[50] 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 is placed in a secondary fermentation vessel for 6 to 9 months of
aging.[52][53] 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.[53][54] Although supplementation of the must with non-nitrogen based salts, or vitamins has been tested to improve mead qualities, no evidence suggests that adding micronutrients reduced fermentation time or improved quality.[52]Cell immobilization methods, however, proved effective for enhancing mead quality.[53]
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.[20] Some producers have erroneously marketed white wine sweetened and flavored with honey after fermentation as mead, sometimes spelling it "meade."[20][55] Some producers ferment a blend of honey and other sugars, such as white refined sugar, again, mislabeling the product as mead. This is closer in style to a
hypocras. 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 metheglin or an apple cyser.
A mead that contains fruit (such as
raspberry,
blackberry or
strawberry) is called a melomel,[58] 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.[58]
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.[59]
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 (as noted in the recipe quoted above) 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 that 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.[citation needed]
Mead can also be distilled to a
brandy or
liqueur strength, in which case it is sometimes referred to as a
whiskey.[60] 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.[citation needed]
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[citation needed]). 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.[citation needed] Sima is commonly served with both the pulp and rind of a
lemon.
An
Ethiopian mead variant tej (ጠጅ, [ˈtʼədʒ]) is usually home-made and flavored with the powdered leaves and bark of gesho, a
hop-likebittering agent which is a species of
buckthorn. A sweeter, less-alcoholic version (honey-water) called berz, aged for a shorter time, is also made.
In the United States, mead is enjoying a resurgence, starting with small home
meaderies and now with a number of small commercial
meaderies.[64] As mead becomes more widely available, it is seeing increased attention and exposure from the news media.[65][66] This resurgence can also been seen around the world in the UK and Australia particularly with session (lower alcohol styles)[67] sometimes called hydromel[68] and Mead-Beer Hybrids also known as Braggots.[69]
Bilbemel: A mead made with blueberries, blueberry juice, or sometimes used for a varietal mead that uses blueberry blossom honey.
Black mead: A name was sometimes given to the blend of honey and
blackcurrants.
Blue mead: A type of mead where fungal spores are added during the first fermentation, lending a blue tint to the final product.
Bochet: A mead where the honey is caramelized or burned separately before adding the water. Yields toffee, caramel, chocolate, and toasted marshmallow flavors.
Bochetomel: A bochet-style mead that also contains fruit such as elderberries, black raspberries and blackberries.
Braggot: Also called bragot, bracket(t) and bragget. Welsh origin (bragawd). A mead made from malt in addition to honey. Hops are an optional ingredient.[8] Contrary to the modern definition, historic braggot was most often a back sweetened spiced ale.[71]
Cyser: A blend of honey and
apple juice fermented together; see also
cider.
Czwórniak (
TSG): A Polish mead, made using three units of water for each unit of honey.
Dandaghare: A mead from
Nepal, that combines honey with
Himalayan herbs and spices. It has been produced since 1972 in the city of
Pokhara.
Dwójniak (
TSG): A Polish mead, made using equal amounts of water and honey.
Gverc or medovina:
Croatian mead prepared in
Samobor and many other places. The word "gverc" or "gvirc' is from the
German "Gewürze" and refers to various spices added to mead.
Hydromel: Name derived from the
Greekhydromeli, i.e. literally "water-honey" (see also melikraton and hydromelon). It is also the
French name for mead. (See also and compare with the
Italianidromele and
Spanishhidromiel and aguamiel, the
Catalanhidromel and aiguamel,
Galicianaugamel, and
Portuguesehidromel). It is also used as a name for light or low-alcohol mead.
Metheglin: Metheglin is traditional mead with herbs or spices added. Some of the most common metheglins are
ginger,
tea,
orange peel,
nutmeg,
coriander, cinnamon, cloves or
vanilla. Its name indicates that many metheglins were originally employed as
folk medicines. The
Welsh word for mead is medd, and the word "metheglin" derives from meddyglyn, a compound of meddyg, "healing" + llyn, "liquor".
Midus:
Lithuanian for mead, made of natural bee honey and berry juice. Infused with carnation blossoms, acorns, poplar buds, juniper berries, and other herbs. Generally, between 8% and 17% alcohol,[76] it is also distilled to produce mead nectar or mead balsam, with some of the varieties having as much as 75% of alcohol.[77]
Mõdu: An Estonian traditional fermented drink with a taste of honey and an alcohol content of 4.0%[78]
Mulsum: Mulsum is not a true mead, but is unfermented honey blended with a high-alcohol wine.
Mungitch:[79] A party drink made in Western Australia, by Indigenous
Noongar using flowers from the
moodjar tree(
Nuytsia floribunda) are traditionally used to make a sweet mead-like beverage during birak (the first summer in the Indigenous Noongar calendar) the moodjar tree is a very sacred tree to the Noongar peoples.
Myod: Traditional Russian mead, historically available in three major varieties:
aged mead: a mixture of honey and water or berry juices, subject to a very slow (12–50 years) anaerobic fermentation in airtight vessels in a process similar to the traditional
balsamic vinegar, creating a rich, complex and high-priced product.
boiled mead: a drink closer to beer, brewed from boiled wort of diluted honey and herbs, very similar to modern
medovukha.
drinking mead: a kind of honey wine made from diluted honey by traditional fermentation.
Nectars: Typically fermented to below 6%
ABV, they often incorporate other flavours such as
fruits, herbs and
spices.
Omphacomel: A mead recipe that blends honey with
verjuice; could therefore be considered a variety of pyment (q.v.). From the Greek omphakomeli, literally "unripe-grape-honey".
Oxymel: Another historical mead recipe, blending honey with
winevinegar. From the Greek ὀξύμελιoxymeli, literally "vinegar-honey" (also oxymelikraton).
Pitarrilla:
Mayan drink made from a fermented mixture of wild honey,
balché-tree bark and fresh water.[80]
Półtorak (
TSG): A Polish great mead, made using two units of honey for each unit of water.
Pyment: a melomel made from the fermentation of a blend of grapes and honey and can be considered either a grape mead or honeyed wine.[81][82] Pyment made with white grapes is sometimes called "white mead".[citation needed] In previous centuries piment was synonymous with
Hippocras, a grape wine with honey added post-fermentation.[83]
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 (or even
light ale): primarily that it is
effervescent, and often has a cidery taste.[citation needed] It can also be champagne-like.
Rhodomel: made from honey,
rose hips, rose petals or
rose attar, and water. From the Greek ῥοδόμελιrhodomeli, literally "rose-honey".
Rubamel: A specific type of melomel made with raspberries.
Sack mead: This refers to a mead that is made with more honey than is typically used. The finished product contains a higher-than-average ethanol concentration (meads at or above 14% ABV are generally considered to be of
sack strength) and often retains a high
specific gravity and elevated levels of sweetness, although dry sack meads (which have no residual sweetness) can be produced. According to one theory, the name derives from the
fortifieddessert winesherry (which is sometimes sweetened after fermentation) that, in England, once bore the nickname "sack".[84] In Another theory is that the term is a phonetic reduction of "
sake" the name of a Japanese beverage that was introduced to the West by Spanish and Portuguese traders.[85] However, this mead is quite sweet and Shakespeare referenced "sack" in Henry the V, "If sack and sugar be a fault, God help the wicked!", as well as 18th-century cookbooks that reference "sack mead" by authors unlikely to have known nor tasted "sake".
Short mead: A mead made with less honey than usual and intended for immediate consumption.
Show mead: A term that has come to mean "plain" mead: that which has honey and water as a base, with no fruits, spices, or extra flavorings. Because honey alone often does not provide enough nourishment for the yeast to carry on its life cycle, a mead that is devoid of fruit, etc. sometimes requires a special
yeast nutrient and other
enzymes to produce an acceptable finished product. In most competitions, including all those that subscribe to the
BJCP style guidelines, as well as the
International Mead Fest, the term "traditional mead" refers to this variety (because mead is historically a variable product, these guidelines are a recent expedient, designed to provide a common language for competition judging; style guidelines per se do not apply to commercial or historical examples of this or any other type of mead).[citation needed]
Sima: a quick-fermented low-alcoholic Finnish variety, seasoned with lemon and associated with the festival of
vappu.
Tapluchʼi: a Georgian name for mead, especially made of honey but it is also a collective name for any kind of drinkable inebriants.
Tej/mes: an Ethiopian and Eritrean mead, fermented with wild yeasts and the addition of gesho.
Traditional mead: synonymous with "show mead," meaning it contains only honey, water, and yeast.
Trójniak (
TSG): A Polish mead, made using two units of water for each unit of honey.
^Beer is produced by the fermentation of grain, but the grain can be used in mead provided it is strained off immediately. As long as the primary substance fermented is still honey, the drink is still mead.Fitch, Ed (1990).
The Rites of Odin (1st ed.). Llewellyn Worldwide. p. 290.
ISBN978-0-87542-224-4.
^Hops are better known as the bitter ingredient of
beer. However, they have also been used in mead both ancient and in modern times. The Legend of Frithiof mentions hops: Mohnike, G.C.F. (September 1828 – January 1829). "Tegner's Legend of Frithiof". The Foreign Quarterly Review. III. London: Treuttel and Würtz, Treuttel, Jun and Richter. He next ... bids ... Halfdan recollect ... that to produce mead hops must be mingled with the honey; That this formula is still in use is shown by the recipe for "Real Monastery Mead" in Molokhovets, Elena (1998).
Classic Russian Cooking: Elena Molokhovets' A Gift to Young Housewives. Translated by Joyce Stetson. Indiana University Press. p. 474.
ISBN978-0-253-21210-8.
^Lichine, Alexis (1987). Alexis Lichine's new encyclopedia of wines & spirits. Knopf.
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^Gayre, Robert (1986).
Brewing Mead. Brewers Publications. p. 158.
ISBN978-0-937381-00-7. ...Therefore to our synopsis: Mead is the general name for all drinks made of honey.
^Rose, Anthony H. (1977). Alcoholic Beverages. Michigan: Academic Press. p. 413.
^
abSchramm, Ken (2003). The Compleat Meadmaker: Home Production of Honey Wine From Your First Batch to Award-winning Fruit and Herb Variations. Brewers Publications.
ISBN978-0-937381-80-9.
^Hornsey, Ian (2003).
A History of Beer and Brewing. Royal Society of Chemistry. p. 7.
ISBN978-0-85404-630-0. ...mead was known in Europe long before wine, although archaeological evidence of it is rather ambiguous. This is principally because the confirmed presence of beeswax or certain types of pollen ... is only indicative of the presence of honey (which could have been used for sweetening some other drink) – not necessarily of the production of mead.
^Kublickas, Rimantas (2016), Kristbergsson, Kristberg; Oliveira, Jorge (eds.), "Midus: A Traditional Lithuanian Mead", Traditional Foods: General and Consumer Aspects, Integrating Food Science and Engineering Knowledge Into the Food Chain, Boston, MA: Springer US, pp. 339–343,
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^Pratt, J. B. (July 1935). "Insights into Modern Hinduism. Hervey de Witt GriswoldĀdarsha Sādhu: An Ideal Monk. A. J. Sunavala". The Journal of Religion. 15 (3): 358.
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^Schramm, Ken (2003). The Compleat Meadmaker. Brewers Publications. pp. 31, 37.
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abcdSpence, P (1997). Mad about mead!: nectar of the gods. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications.
^Zimmerman, J (2018). "Mull Over Mead: Enjoy an in-depth look at the components and creation of this versatile, honey-based beverage -- a hearty addition to any homebrewing arsenal". Mother Earth News: 50–54.
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abPereira, Ana Paula; Mendes-Ferreira, Ana; Estevinho, Leticia M.; Mendes-Faia, Arlete (2015). "Improvement of mead fermentation by honey-must supplementation". Journal of the Institute of Brewing. 121 (3): 405–410.
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^Scott, William Henry (1990). "Sixteenth-Century Visayan Food and Farming". Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society. 18 (4): 291–311.
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^Gordon Strong; Kristen England.
"2015 Mead Guidelines"(PDF). Beer Judge Certification Program. p. 5.
Archived(PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2016. A Pyment is a melomel made with grapes (generally from juice). Pyments can be red, white, or blush, just as with wine.
^"Mazer Cup Guidelines (commercial)". American MEad Makers Association. Archived from
the original on 8 November 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2016. Pyment: Honeywine made with grapes/grape juice/grape concentrate.
Digby, Kenelm; Jane Stevenson; Peter Davidson (1997). The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digbie Kt Opened 1669. Prospect Books.
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Gayre, Robert; Papazian, Charlie (1986). Brewing Mead: Wassail! In Mazers of Mead. Brewers Publications.
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