What Is Mead? And Does It Taste Anything Like Beer Or Wine?

Have you ever asked yourself the question, “what is mead?” Well, if you responded no while reading this, don’t worry, you’re in great company. Mead is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented honey added to water. Apparently, mead results to be the most ancient alcoholic drink known to the English tradition, the old English word for mead is ‘meodu’. It is sometimes called “honey wine” due to its main ingredient, which is honey.

There are several variations of this drink, from sweet to a more “dry” taste.

Some mead producers also like to create a mix of flavours by adding spices, herbs or fruits. Mead requires a minimum period of 12 months to ferment before it can be consumed. Even though it takes a year to ferment before you can drink it, it takes few simple ingredients to prepare: water, lemon juice, honey, wine yeast and vitamin C tablets.

The traditional mead is prepared in just a few practical steps:

Water is boiled with some honey, lemon juice and vitamin C in a pan.
Then the liquid is left to cool, then transfer to a sterilized demijohn.
Wine yeast is added then the mixture is seal, using a sterilized airlock.
After 2 weeks, when the fermentation has already taken place, the liquid siphoned off into another sterilized demi-john, and stored in a cool, dark, place.
When the liquid is clear, it can be poured into bottles and stored for a year before drinking.

This historic drink has gone hipster and is now being sold by different retailers, independent stockists and online, including amazon.

It is said that now that mead is becoming more and more popular, commercial producers are avoiding the maturing period of 12 months, adding pure alcohol to bump up the abv, to then sell it us naturally brewed.

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The prices vary between £10 to £30 depending on the vendor, bottle size and whether it’s the regular honey taste of spiced version.

Apparently, mead tastes more like wine rather than beer, although the colour might resemble beer. The difference is that with mead, you can drink it chilled, warm or à chamber, whiles beer and wine are far better as much chilled as possible.