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About Mead
By Andrew Campbell
For Saint Patrick's Day this year don't settle
for your typical Irish stout or green lager. Go for something
unique and unusual: Mead. Mead is fermented honey wine, and it is
the oldest alcoholic drink. 
Mead is made out of honey. Many people are surprised to know
that Mead is easier to "brew" than wine and beer, though
it takes more time to ferment and mature. All it takes is some
water, honey, yeast and a good Irish recipe. Like beer and wine,
mead can be brewed with both fruits and spices. In fact, it is the
different ingredients that determine the named varieties of mead.
The varieties include:
- Mead: honey wine (honey only and no spices)
- Hydromel: a weak, watered down mead
- Melomel: mead made with fruit juice other than apple
- Cyser: mead made with apple juice
- Metheglin: spiced mead (add cinnamon, ginger, cloves, or any
spice you desire)
- Pyment: honey-sweetened grape wine.
Mead History (according to Sky
River Brewing)
People have been celebrating with Mead for time immemorial. "The
ancient Greeks called mead, Ambrosia, or Nectar. It was believed
to be the drink of the gods, and was thought to descend from the
Heavens as dew, before being gathered in by the bees. Because of
the believed ties to the gods, it is easy to see why the ancient
Greeks believed mead to have magical and sacred properties. The
Greeks believed that mead would prolong life, and bestow health,
strength, virility, re-creative powers, wit and poetry. The bees
themselves, we are told by Virgil's Georgics are driven to the sky
to honor the goddess Aphrodite. And, the prophetess' at Delphi are
suspected of drinking mead made from a honey from slightly toxic
plants in order to induce their prophetic states, and visions of
the future."
Mead is the toasting tradition of Irish weddings. It became the
ritual at weddings for the bride and groom to toast with a glass
of mead. Popular folk-belief traces the origin of the word
"honeymoon" back to the medieval custom of newlywed
couples drinking mead (honey) for the first month (moon) of
married life to ensure their fertility and to increase the chances
that their first child would be a son.
Mead Today
While drinking Mead may or may not bring your family a new son, it
does provide a good thirst quencher for those die-hard Saint
Patrick's Day partiers. You will be still maintaining traditional
Irish customs by drinking it. While it is made from honey and
therefore a sweet wine, there are many degrees of sweetness from
many makers of Mead. It isn't thick, like honey. It is a pleasant
quaffable wine that goes with the hearty Irish stew you'll be
drinking on Saint Patty's Day.
Have a happy and safe Saint
Patrick's Day!
For even more information about mead and the growing
trends with mead-making, see The
Mead Maker's Page.
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