Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

The new forum is starting to heat up and looking through the threads I found one that somebody started about mead. It doesn’t get more Medieval than mead and it really got me thinking about making some!

Mead seems to be wrapped up in our psyche as a mysterious drink that has been passed down to us through the centuries and well, I guess it is just that. And one of the things about mead is that it is written about a lot but it is not very well understood. How many times have you read an epic fantasy novel and joined the main characters in a tavern for some mead? Probably often. Anyway, I didn’t know anything about mead either so I had to look it up.

 Mead: It is an alcoholic beverage made with honey and often spiced up with other flavors like vanilla or cinnamon, and, there are plenty of variations that include various fruits like pears. The big thing to know about mead is that it is neither a wine nor a beer but mead! You have to give it its own class of drink. It is believed to have been made as long ago as 8,000 years and it was the preferred drink of everybody until wine came along. But wine was more expensive and considered better so royalty and wealthy people preferred it. And this relegated mead to the drink of peasants and common folk - until the advent of beer when they made the switch!

How is mead made?

It seems to be a simple process whereby you boil honey and water then add the fermenting yeast then let it ferment for 30-60 days. After that you bottle it then let it age for a year! Wow, I didn’t realize it had to “age” for a year. I guess I won’t be making any mead for this years Fourth of July barbecue. But if I get started soon it will be ready for next years bash! Seriously, I think I may give it a whirl. It would be fun to brew a little mead! Here is the mead thread in the forum if you want to take a peek: Mead  

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