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It is widely thought that mead is the oldest of the fermented beverages that mankind cultivated. While we have no records of it, as its use predates written history, the discovery of mead could have happened quite by accident. Due to the relative simplicity of mead, being just honey, water and yeast, a fallen log containing a beehive that had collected some rainwater could easily have started a fermentation. Any wandering hunter-gatherers drinking from this source would have experience the first intoxication in human history. Early cave paintings show the collection of honey from hives. Archaeologists have found traces of honey and indications of fermentation in Chinese pottery dating back to 7000 BCE. However, we don’t have a written recipe appear until roughly 60 CE.

As the mechanics of fermentation were not well understood until as late as the mid 1800s, the attempts to replicate these processes relied upon a lot of luck and guess work. This lead the art of mead making to take on a very mystical and eventually religious narrative.

The Magic of Mead

Both the Greeks, and the Norse held mead (or as the Greeks’ called it Ambrosia) of great import in their culture. Each attributed the creation of the drink to a divine act, and was not originally meant for mankind to possess. Check out the Mead of Poetry for the Norse’s myths. One depiction of the myth of Tantalus involves him stealing ambrosia from the gods in order to bring it back for mortal consumption. His punishment for doing so was an eternity of standing in a pool of water that would lower out of his reach when he went to quench his thirst, with a nearby fruit tree branch that would move just outside his grasp.

The Greeks attributed this drink to immorality, with such a high regard for the drink. It makes an appearance in many of their legends. It was even the liquid that Achilles was dipped into to grant him his invulnerability, except for his ankles where he was being held during this process.

Arguably a form of modern day mythology, the Lord of The Rings books also make reference to this drink. The meadhall of Rohan acts as a brief location for the adventuring party.

The Honey-moon

Another tradition to have sprung up around mead is the source of term “honeymoon”. The Norse wedding celebrations would last for an entire month (one cycle of the moon). The father of the bride would supply a month’s worth of the drink as a part of her dowry. It was said that if you drank mead for that entire month after the wedding, the first born would be a son. When this came true, much praise was showered upon both the groom, as well as the meadmaker. There developed a certain reverence around special heirloom drinking cups that were supposed to have luck in birthing sons. These would be passed from father to son for generations.

The idea that the drinking of mead could somehow influence the sex of the child is not as crazy as it may seem at first. The mead’s acidity and sweetness could potentially influence the soon to be mother’s body acidity. It is currently thought that acidity or alkalinity of the female body during conception can influence the sex of the newborn. However, it appears that higher acidity may actually favor the X chromosome (girls), while alkalinity favors the Y (boys). If there is any affect at all, it appears mead (and really any alcoholic drink) would promote more girls to be born.

The Downfall of Mead

As agricultural methods improved, crops such as barley and other grains, as well as vineyards for grapes outpaced the scale-ability of honey extraction. Beers and wines gained in popularity with their newfound abundance, especially in southern Europe, and eventually pushed mead into near obscurity. Outside of the more northern climes, where fruit production was limited, mead was often reserved for the royalty and nobility, with the increased expense of this now specialty drink. Queen Elizabeth was known to favor the drink, and her favorite recipe still survives. It is a metheglin braggot (herb flavored mead mixed with a beer, or fermented with the addition of grains) made with rosemary, thyme, bay leaves and sweet briar.

During the middle ages, the demand for beeswax rose with the increasing influence of the Church, and their desire for wax candles. It became more economically advantageous to go after the wax than the honey in the beehives, shifting the production of mead out of the limelight.

Outside of the Scandinavian regions, Ethiopian T’ej is one of the only other mead-esque drinks to survive with widespread use into the modern age. It is also a honey based drink, but includes the bark or twigs of gesho to provide a similar bitterness as hops do in beer. This makes the T’ej drinks resemble a braggot style mead.

Given how uncommon it can be to find commercial meads (or honeywines) available, you may be wondering “will I like mead?”. It is definitely a rational concern before going through all the trouble of tracking down a local store that sells it, or even picking up some equipment to make your own. But have no fear, barring some alcohol allergy, it is very likely that you will find a variety of this honeywine that you enjoy.

If you’re not all that into sweet drinks, that’s not necessarily a deal breaker, either. Just because it’s made of honey, doesn’t necessarily mean that the drink is going to be sweet. Both beer and wine are fermented sugars as well, but they’re not necessarily always sweet, either. Although, I will disclaim that most commercial meads available are likely to be on the sweeter side door to this popular notion. But mead can be made to fall anywhere in the spectrum from bone dry to sickly sweet. And I have found a few commercial ones that don’t focus on having candy like level of sugar.

When it comes down to it. At the basest level, mead is going to taste like honey, but in a more liquid form. Even a dry traditional (just honey) will taste like the honey used to make it, just without the sweetness. Honey comes in a whole plethora of types. Just think for a moment about every kind of flowering plant in the world. These will have unique flavors that transfer into any honey made from their nectar. That’s a lot of variety right there without even getting into the additives.

The interesting thing about mead is that it provides a good base for a wide array of other flavors. Beers tend to have a smaller variety of flavor profiles that are either noticeable or complementary to it’s base. And wines are also limited by having their fruit flavor in the mix. The honey varietals’ characteristics can range from the very strong, to nearly nonexistent -essentially just sugar. This in turn allows a ton of flexibility for the mead makers to customize their brew. Fruits, berries, spices, herbs, even some vegetables or grains, or nuts can be used as flavoring to create a unique palette unachievable in the other drink categories. With all these different possibilities, there’s bound to be some combinations you would enjoy.

That’s so many choices

Don’t be overwhelmed by all the variety. I’ll try to separate things into categories that help give a sense of what they taste like and who would like them. Unfortunately, unlike wine which has specific names for certain flavor varieties that also come with a general sweet/dry ranking and a flat/carbonated expectation, Mead has a much less rigid categorization method. In fact, meads categories really only define what types of ingredients we’re used. A melomel, or a fruit or berry flavored mead can be sweet and flat, dry and bubbly or any mix of the two. So commercial meads’ names may not describe everything about them.

Wine drinkers will feel most at home with mead in comparison to others who prefer other types of drinks. Most meads are very wine-like. Especially the traditional (just honey). They are most similar to white wines, in both flavor and appearance. Next is the melomels. While possible to make these dry, they will still have that sense of sweet fruitiness even without the sugar content. A dry melomel will tend to have a considerably fainter fruit flavor, and likely to rely on tannin to give it more body and mouthfeel. These will most resemble a red wine. Semi-sweet and sweet meads have the sugar to enhance the fruit flavor and also give it some character. So those will be most similar to a blush or white wine. Of special interest to you wine drinkers may be the pyment. This is a subcategory of melomels, but is specifically using grapes as its fruit flavoring. Depending upon the type of grape and whether the skins are used or not will mimic their likeness to the red-white spectrum.

The different tastes of mead

Cyser (apple mead), while technically another subcategory of melomels, deserves special mention. These often can turn out very similar to hard ciders. But instead of being fully apple flavored, there will be that honey base behind it. Also, due to the higher sugar content of honey versus the corresponding volume of apple juice it is displacing, an apple mead is likely to be higher in alcohol content than pure cider. Depending on the yeast used in their creation, cysers can also fall into the white wine-esque category. The yeast that eat malic acid produce these, as malic acid gives apples, and also pears, their slightly sour/tart flavor. Without that crisp bite, an apple mead is a very smooth.

Metheglins are an odd one. Meads flavored with either herbs or spices can span all the flavors of the different spices available to us. Cinnamon, vanilla, and cloves are very commonly added to melomels, as well. So these naming categories aren’t even rigid, as you can have fruits, spices, grains, and honey all in one batch. But I think the best comparison we’re going to get for a metheglin is a mulled wine. When making your own, be careful, as it can be easy to overdo spices or herbs. Fresh versus dried, and whole or cut versus ground will have a huge impact on the speed and strength of the flavor imparted. Making tinctures is a common practice to help combat this. Soaking the spices or herbs in a high proof, relatively flavorless alcohol like vodka can get you a standard measurable strength of flavor. Adding a little bit of the tincture at a time until you find the sweet spot gives a much greater amount of control over the end result.

What if I’m not a big wine drinker?

Fear not, beer drinkers. Braggots are a mead that also makes use of grains, malt, and hops to make it much closer to what you are used to. In olden times these were actually made by mixing two different beverages together. Modern brewers tend to mix the ingredients together prior to fermentation, however. To be a true braggot, it still needs to be over 50% honey as the fermentable sugar. Otherwise it is just a beer with honey, which tastes mostly like beer.

Also I have found, oddly enough, capiscamel (pepper mead) can have a beer like character to them. With some added heat.

Next, we have the bochet. It is a beast all on its own. I’m not really sure what it can really be compared to. A bochet is a mead where the honey is first cooked or caramelized before adding it to the must. This will give it a nice toffee or butterscotch flavor. The longer it is cooked, the more pronounced these flavors get. This is the one is for those wanting that super sweet candy flavor.

Note: If you attempt to make one of these be very careful. Honey expands a lot when heated. And a boiling super sticky liquid is not unlike napalm in its difficulty to remove.

Similar to the bochet, is the acerglyn. This is a maple syrup mead. What could go better with a sweet viscous liquid than another sweet viscous liquid? Another one for the sweet tooth. You are unlikely to find any dry versions of this one, as maple syrup without the sweetness tastes very much like wood.

Hopefully this guide has given you an idea of what mead tastes like, and where you should begin your adventure. This drink is uniquely customizable to pretty much any palette imaginable. As this niche in the home/craft brewing scene grows, we are bound to see more of these interesting combinations become available commercially. As it stands, even a traditional mead is a rarity in stores. But the explosion in craft brews had helped kickstart the rebirth of this drink as well. And seeing how others are experimenting with their brews will only inspire that creativity in others. Enjoy!

Honey is the most important component in your mead. All your flavor additions could be put into any other beverage, but the honey is what makes it mead.

A traditional mead doesn’t have to mean it’s boring just because there’s nothing else added to it. Honey can be made from the nectar of a variety of different flowers. Not all flowers impart the same flavors to their honey. Depending on the source, honey of different types can have vastly different flavors to them. For example, orange blossom honey carries that familiar citrusy, fresh flavor with it, while basswood honey has a woody flavor to it. These flavors are even carried over into the meads you make with them. Accentuating these flavors, either alone or mingled with flavor additions, is one of the keys to making a great mead.

Jump to the list of honey types.

Color

While flavor is generally the most important component that meadmakers are looking for when crafting upon their recipes, color can be another property that is oft sought after. The U.S. Department of Agriculture classifies honey into seven color categories. From lightest to darkest:

• water white
• extra white
• white
• extra light amber
• light amber
• dark amber

The color of honey is determined by the minerals and other small compounds that are mixed in with the sugar. These will vary in type and amount depending upon the source of the nectar used to make it. The darker the honey, the more of these compounds are contained within. The darkest honeys often contain more beneficial compounds, and some even have medicinal applications. Honey can become darker over time, and is most often related to the temperature the honey is stored at. The higher temperatures result in a faster change in color.

Lighter colored honey is generally milder in flavor, while dark honeys can be quite strong. There are some exceptions to this, however. Basswood, for example, is quite light in color but has a strong flavor. On the other end of the spectrum, tulip honey is very dark but mild.

The exhaustive list of the honey varietals for use in your meads

Varietal	Flavor	Color
Acacia (Black locust tree)	Mild, slightly tangy, floral, doesn’t crystallize	Water white to pale amber
Alfalfa (generally blended)	Nearly flavorless to milky, some has spicy notes	White
Apple Blossom	A hint of apple in the aroma	Light to medium amber
Aster	Flavor depends on region and species of aster; crystallizes quickly	White to light amber
Avocado	Fairly strong, buttery flavor	Dark amber
Basswood	Strong, zesty (becomes minty when mixed with a mild honey)	Dark amber
Beechwood (Honeydew Honey)	Exotic. Aromatic, woody, malty, tangy	Dark amber
Blackberry	Delicate and sweet with a hint of fruit	Very light amber
Black Button Sage	Slightly herbaceous, slow to crystallize	Medium amber
Black Locust	Fruity, rare (the trees blossom only every few years)	Pale to dark amber
Black Mangrove	Thin bodied. Swampy aroma, with a mild, sweet, but brackish flavor.	Pale to dark amber
Blueberry	Fruity, blueberry aftertaste	Medium amber
Blue Curls	Minty, fruity flavor. Granulates quickly and smoothly	Extra light yellow-amber to milky white
Blue Gum (Eucalyptus)	Cool, minty undertones reminiscent of blue bubble gum.	Amber
Boneset	Rank in aroma, but a mellow, herbal, sagelike flavor. Think, heavy, molasseslike texture.	Very dark reddish amber
Borage	Herbal and floral bouquet with hints of cucumber and orange pekoe tea. Sugary aftertaste. Delicate and silky textures. Slow to crystallize	Medium to dark amber, with a gray tinge
Buckwheat	Pungent and slightly earthy with notes of burnt molasses, cherry, tobacco, and plum. Malty.	Dark purple turning to deep wine red to black; opaque
Canola	Delicate, low acid, crystallizes easily	Light amber to white
Carob Seed	Bittersweet honey flavor woven with strains of caramel and subtle chocolate.	Dark autumn honey
Cat’s Claw	Rich aroma. Sweet, mild, and buttery flavor with a hint of iron. Heavy body. Granulates smoothly and with a waxy grain.	Water white to medium amber
Chamiso (Rabbit Brush)	Bittery overtones	Medium amber with reddish tinge
Chestnut	Strong, nutty, spicy, a bitter aftertaste (perfect with gorgonzola and parmesan)	Extremely dark amber, with a hue similar to chocolate. Sometimes reddish
Clover	Tangy and delicate; most labeled “clover” are actually blended; crystallizes easily	Water white to amber
Cranberry	Mild fruity flavor with tart aftertaste	Medium amber
Dandelion	Strong flavor with blended tangy notes	Dark Amber
Eucalyptus —Yellow Box, Blue Gum, Red River Gum (U.S. & Australia)	Mildly sweet, fruity aftertaste; some have a slight menthol flavor	Dark
Fireweed	Mild, smooth,delicate, buttery	Light to medium amber
Gallberry	Tart wildflower flavor	Dark amber
Goldenrod	Robust flavor of wildflower and beeswax	Light amber
Heather (Scotland)	Slightly bitter with an aftertaste of burnt caramel	Dark amber
Horsemint	Highly aromatic, spicy, and minty in flavor. Hints of lemon and oregano	Clear water white to amber
Huajillo	Extremely delicate and distinctive taste that is described as very light, smooth, and tangy.	Mild, light colored
Huckleberry	Full-bodied	Dark amber
Iron Bark (Eucalyptus)	Nutty aroma, soft mellow. Slight toffee flavor	Amber
Kamahi (New Zealand)	Full-bodied, complex	Light amber
Kiawe(Hawaii)	Rich tropical fruit and menthol flavors.	Pearly water white with waxy, golden overtones
Knapweed	Bitter, tangy, and astringent flavors	Light to medium amber
Knotweed	Rich, heavy and robust. A fruitier version of buckwheat honey without the malty flavors	Very dark amber with reddish tones
Kudzu	A rare honey with a strong flavor	Bluish to very dark purple
Jarrah (Eucalyptus Marginata)	Nutty, malt flavor	Dark Amber
Lavender	Lavender floral	Medium amber
Leatherwood(Tasmania)	Strong and spicy	Dark amber
Linden	Spicy with a woody scent	Pale amber
Lehua	Buttery with lily-like overtones	Crystallizes quickly and is made into a light golden cremed honey
Lemon	Strongly scented, citrusy, bright, tart, sour, aromatic.	Bright amber yellow
Purple Loosestrife	Rich, strong and unappealing	Extremely dark purple
Macadamia	Exotic, rich, not too sweet, nutty with tangy, musky floral undertones.	Medium amber to dark, deep amber
Manuka	Slight medicinal taste	Dark cream to tan or dark brown
Mesquite	Sweet, yet warm, smoky, woody, citrus flavors.	Medium amber with a brown tint
Milkweed	Very heavy in body, fruity, quincelike, slight spicy tang.	Water white with a light yellow tinge.
Mint/Spearmint	N/A	N/A
Neem	Bitter, with dark toffee, gingerbread taste	Dark
Nodding Thistle (New Zealand)	Delicate floral	Light amber
Orange Blossom	Hints of citrus-orange and orange blossom	Light amber to dark amber
Pine Honey (Turkey)	Molasses	Dark amber
Prickly Pear	Heavily bodied.	Medium to dark amber with bright red tint
Pohutukawa(New Zealand)	Distinct butterscotch flavor	Pale – the whitest honey in world
Poplar (Tulip Poplar)	Strong	Medium amber
Pumpkin blossom	Light with a hint of pumpkin flavor	Medium amber
Purple Sage	Mild flavor, slow to crystallize	Water white
Rainforest	Fresh, floral aroma. Taste varies depending on region	Light
Rata (New Zealand)	Mild, rich, almost salty	White
Raspberry	Will have a mild hint of raspberries; crystallizes as soon as it leaves the comb so is always sold in cremed form	Light amber
Red Gum (Eucalyptus)	Bold taste much like buckwheat	Dark
Rewarewa (New Zealand)	Rich, malty	Burnished amber
Rhododendron	Medium sweetness, light aroma, and subtle flavors	Light to medium amber
Rosemary	Fragrant and herbaceous; great with cheese	Pale amber
Safflower	Milky flavor	Amber to dark amber with a slight greenish cast
Sage	Herbal notes	Medium amber
Sainfoin	Sweet, fragrant, and floral with a spicy, delicate flavor.	Pale yellow
Saw Palmetto	Citrusy and herbal with woody overtones	Medium amber
Sidr	Applely, rich and buttery.	Very dark amber
Silkweed	Strong scent and flavor, spicy condiment honey	Dark amber
Snowberry	Butterscotch	N/A
Sourwood	Spicy ginger	Medium amber
Star Thistle	Wet grassy, musky, spicy, anise and cinnamon aroma	Extra light amber
Sunflower	Distinctive floral aroma, heraceous with citrus notes; crystallizes easily	Light to medium amber
Tahonal	Deep and tropical	Extra light amber to dark amber
Tamarisk (Salt Cedar)	Heavy body, with flavors of molasses and chocolate	Dark amber
Tawari	Creamy Butterscotch	Light amber
Thyme	Herbal notes	Burnt grass
Tulip Poplar	Rich, pleasant, sweet, flowery and smoky.	Dark amber
Tupelo	Medium, complex, very sweet; slow to crystallize	Golden amber with a slight greenish cast
Ulmo (Chile)	Anise and violet	N/A
Viper’s Bugloss (Borage) (New Zealand)	Delicate flavor, floral bouquet	Light amber
Wenchi (Ethiopia)	Intense flavor with a floral fragrance with notes of caramel and balsamic	Yellow-amber with a reddish tinge
White Sage	Clover-like flavor, elegant floral aftertaste	Translucent yellow
Wildflower	Floral overtones	Amber to Dark amber
Wilelaiki (Hawaii)	Spicy with floral, smoky, peppery flavors.	Light to medium amber with a greenish tint
Yellow box (Eucalyptus)	Fairly sweet, smooth and buttery.	Light Amber
Zambezi (Zambia)	Rich, smoky, spicy, and woodsy flavor	Dark amber

Alcohol was a very important part of ancient civilization’s culture. It helps define their leisure time and identity as a people and thus gets a prominent role in their stories and myths. Mead is no different to the Nordic peoples during the viking age. So important, in fact that they use the drink as essentially a metaphor for how inspiration for creative endeavors possesses people. The Mead of Poetry is a mythical beverage that causes its drinker to gain great wisdom, to the point of being able to recite any information or answer any question. There’s a whole myth devoted to its creation and the aftermath of such a valuable treasure existing.

It is quite bizarre.

The Myth

As is expected of a Norse myth, we begin with the conclusion of a war. This one was between the two main families of the Norse gods – the Aesir and the Vanir. To mark their truce, the gods proceed to spit into a vat. Not to let good spittle go to waste, they decide to turn this mixture into a man named Kvasir. This man was so wise that there was no question he could not answer, and proceeded to travel spreading his knowledge and counsel to mankind.

This brutal endeavor wasn’t enough for the dwarves. They, with some friends,  proceeded to visit some giants. They capsized one’s ship, causing him to drown. And later, when they tired of his wife’s loud weeping, dropped a millstone on her head. The giant’s adult son, Suttung, was not pleased when he heard of this, and snatched up the dwarves and stranded them on a small reef at low tide where they would surely drown when the sea rose. The dwarves begged and pleaded, and finally offered to trade the mead for their lives, to which the giant agreed. He took his prize back to a hiding place underneath a mountain and placed his daughter there to guard it.

Odin’s thirst…for knowledge

Odin, meanwhile, heard about this mead’s existence and desired to obtain it for himself. Disguising himself as a wandering farmhand, Odin went to the farm belonging to Suttung’s brother. He offered to sharpen the scythes of the nine servants mowing hay. After a demonstration of how well the scythes could now cut, they were all quite impressed by the whetstone and offered to buy it. Odin consented to sell, but claimed it would cost them a high price, and threw it into the air. In their scramble to catch it, the nine servants killed each other with their newly sharpened scythes. Odin then went to the brother and offered to do the work of the nine servants, and demanded a sip of the mead as his price. The brother had no access to the mead, but still agreed to help Odin obtain it if he could actually do the work of the nine men. Odin accomplished his herculean task, but Suttung refused to allow Odin access to the mead.

Odin reminded the brother that he promised to help him obtain it, and had him drill a hole in the mountain. When the hole was complete, Odin turned into a snake, and made his way through the hole. He then transformed into a charming man and was able to seduce Suttung’s daughter into allowing him to take a sip of the mead if he slept with her for three nights. Odin was able to consume the entire container’s contents in one sip. He then turned into an eagle and took off towards Asgard, still holding the mead in his throat.

The Mead of Poetry returns to Asgard

However, Suttung was also able to turn into an eagle, and gave pursuit. During the chase, Odin swallowed a small bit of the mead, which proceeded to come out his other end and landed in Midgard (the land of humankind). This is known as the rhymester’s share, and is the source of inspiration for bad poets. Odin is to blame for shitty poetry. Suttung was unable to catch Odin before he reached Asgard, and was able to spit the rest of the mead out into some containers. Odin  doles out this surviving portion, the mead of poetry, to inspire great works of art.

Interested in more bizarre Norse myths?