All About Mead: The World’s Oldest Drink

Did you know that mead is the world’s oldest drink?

The beverage associated with the Medieval and Renaissance ages predates either of those eras. In fact, the consumption of mead predates over 8,000 years! But what exactly is mead, you ask? In this blog we talk all about mead.

What is Mead?

Mead is often referred to as honey wine…but that’s not quite accurate. Mead is an alcoholic beverage made when you mix honey, water, and yeast. You can also add in fruit, hops, and spices to create unique mead blends. For example, Talon Wine’s Honey Sheré is made with orange blossom honey, caramelized honey, and caramelized sugar. The result? A drink somewhere between beer and wine. Depending on fermentation, and if you add hops, mead’s ABV can vary 5%-20%.

A Storied History

While beer and wine may be the world’s most popular beverages today, mead can boast that it has a longer history.

Archaeological digs in Europe and Asia have found evidence of mead from over 8,00 years ago. While this may seem hard to believe, one must remember that mead is simple to make. Take honey, mix it with water, and ferment the mix with wild yeasts, and viola—you have mead.

The Drink of Vikings

Mead is often associated with Vikings. Indeed, the famous Norsemen of centuries past enjoyed mead in mead halls. The famous epic poem “Beowulf” mentions mead.

While mead was popular in the Middle Ages, beer eventually replaced the drink of kings. How so? The rise of cultivating grains meant the rise of beer production. While beer may be more popular today, in recent decades mead has experienced a resurgence in popularity, as we’ll explain further below.

Flavored and Unflavored Mead

Broadly speaking, you can categorize mead into two types: flavored and unflavored. As you may have guessed, unflavored mead consists of the basics: honey, water, and yeast.

Additional ingredients go into flavored mead. For example, mead made with fruit is melomel. Add herbs and spices to mead, and you have metheglin. How about beer and mead together? That’s a drink known as braggot. Like other alcoholic beverages, you can get crafty with mead.

Taste of Mead

Most folks report that mead tastes like sherry, but with a noticeable taste of honey. As mentioned above, what ingredients (or lack thereof) go into mead affect flavor. Even the type of honey used affects mead tastes. This affects sweetness levels, with mead tastes ranging from bone dry to luxurious sweet and sugary.

Different Honey Types

Fun fact: a honeybee’s diet affects the honey they produce. To produce mead, orange blossom, acacia, and clover honeys are typically used.

Mead Makes a Resurgence

In recent decades mead has experienced a revival in popularity. There are several reasons why, such as:

Sustainability:mead employs bees! Bees are pollinators, which support healthy ecosystems.
Lower carbon footprint:compared to grape wine production, honey has a much smaller impact on the environment.
Variety of flavors:as mentioned above, mead can be enjoyed in numerous ways.
Gluten-free:naturally gluten-free, mead is a wonderful alternative to beer.
Low tannin content:mead contains low tannins, unlike wine. Tannins are what give wine a “dry” taste and can cause headaches in sensitive consumers.
Cultural influence:fantasy shows and movies like “Game of Thrones” and Harry Potter have created an interest in mead.

Mead: Frequently Asked Questions

Now that you know the history around mead, let’s answer some frequently asked questions about mead.

How do you store mead?

Like wine, you store mead in a dark, cool area. This makes a wine cellar the perfect place to store mead. Your kitchen pantry or cupboard also works.

What is mead’s shelf life?

The answer: it depends on the exact type of mead you have. A general rule of thumb is the darker the mead, the longer it’s shelf life. Another rule is the higher the alcohol content, the longer the mead will last. Once you open a bottle of mead, it’s best to consume it within 24 hours.