Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

I have been looking into the whole mead thing for a bit now and it has been a challenge. Even though Mead is possibly the oldest brew known to mankind and even though it is supposed to be quite good it is actually not easy to come by.

 Somewhere in our past Mead was the brew of choice but it was usurped by wines and beers. This is because of the expense of honey. This expense made mead the drink of royalty.

Anyway, searching the web didn’t bring up any sites that I had enough confidence in to give up my credit card number so I started calling local places. Eventually I had to call a wine distributor and see if they distributed Mead and to who!

This turned up some possibililties so I called some places and found a local place that carried something called Bunratti Meade. \

I didn’t realize until I got it home that it isn’t real mead! Its a faux mead.  -A white wine that has honey and spices added to make it taste like mead! Drats!!!

So, it was back on the phone for me until I found a store that actually had some real mead in stock. (Chaucer’s Mead) Anyway, its a bit of a drive so I will get it by the weekend and let you know how it is! I will try the faux mead too this weekend and let you know how that is.

In any case, I have ordered and received a Mead making book through amazon.com and I have started to read it. Really quite good of a book and I intend to make some mead of my own.

The book is “The Compleat Meadmaker” by Ken Schramm and I gotta give you a coupe of quotes from the introduction:

“Mankind’s record on taking care of its treasures leaves much to be desired. We have a habit of moving on to the next great fad, and forgetting everything worthwhile that has happened prior to fifteen minutes ago……..”

And more:

“Mead, once considered far superior to both wine and beer, fell into obscurity as honey became scarce and expensive, and was never reclaimed from the nobility’s vault in which it was laid.”

Anyway, I am enjoying the book and will keep you posted on it and on my adventures in mead making.

Here is the book:

The Compleat Meadmaker : Home Production of Honey Wine From Your First Batch to Award-winning Fruit and Herb Variations

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