"I don't like mead it's too sweet" is something we hear our customers say at every mead event we go to.
And yes, mead can be sweet but it doesn't have to be. In fact, I would argue that most of the time, mead isn't any where near as sweet as people think it is.
You may have heard the word melomel when people talk about mead and a question that we get asked a lot is "What is a melomel?" The answer, in its simplest form is: "A melomel is a type of mead that is made with the addition of fruit" But in mead making, the answers to such questions are never simple. To start with, if you add apple, although it is technically a melomel, it is more commonly referred to as a cyser. If you add grape, then it is called a pyment. If you add grape and then add spices, it is called a hippocras. A blackcurrant mead is sometimes called a black mead and i'm sure there are others...
Mead... or is it honey wine?... or mead wine? err... What is mead again?.. and how do you make mead? Is it even a wine? Isn't it a beer? Isn't it made from honey? Ahhhhhhh! How did we manage to have so much confusion around what mead is? The most common question a mead maker will get is "What is mead?" but the answer to that question is not as simple as those asking it would hope. Mead is considered by most to be the oldest alcoholic drink and it has taken many different forms over the course of several thousand years. In it's simplest form: "Mead is an alcoholic drink made by fermenting honey" How do you make mead? Now as...
What?! You mean that ancient drink, so old no one really knows what is is?! Drunk by.... was it monks? Isn't it made out of honey?
Yes, mead, or honey wine, is the great great great Granddaddy of alcoholic drinks. It has been around arguably longer than humans, has contributed towards the rise and fall of nations, the meanderings of poets, the meeting of lovers and the despair of bees!
