In 2001 or 2002, I was going to take part in a LARP over the summer, and asked the event arranger what roles needed to be filled. He told me that they needed some mead brewers, and I thought it sounded pretty cool, though at the time I had very little idea what it was. Researching mead a little, I got some clue, as well as got worried that I wouldn't be able to produce any decent mead in time for the event (I think I had about a month). Another worry was that it had to be below 2,8 ABV, in order for me to be able to serve it legally.
At the time there was a 'faux mead' being sold in Sweden, which was essentially a beer with added honey aroma (so not even any actual honey), and this was at 5, something ABV. So I figured the easiest solution would be buy that and see how it tasted if diluted with 50% water. Needless to say, it wasn't very good, but I didn't have high ambitions, so decided to settle for it.
The "mead" was kind of popular during the event, even though it was pretty much water with some beer flavour. But the name "mead" kind of sold itself. We had brought light beer, cider and something called "weak-drink" (a sweet and dark malt beverage with low ABV), as well, but the mead sold much better despite tasting much worse, and people kept coming back for it. I laso found a way to develop the product dureing the actual event. By mixing the weak-drink with the diluted honey aroma beer I got something that tasted a lot better than both did originally.
Anyway, during the event, I was also introduced to "real mead" that some people had brought with them that they had made themselves. So that is how I got introduced to it.
Over the next year I introduced my grandfather to mead, who was both a beekeeper and some experience as a homebrewer (but had never tried making mead). But he tried it out with some of his own honey, and made it quite good in my opinion, and he let me have a few bottles. I also tried out making some with cheap honey from the supermarket, but his outdid mine by far.
The following summer I decided to go back to the LARP event because it had been so much fun (actually for about the following 3 years or so). But I still couldn't serve real mead there due to ABV. However, I evolved my original concept into a mix between 1/3 sloppily fermented mead, 1/3 unfermented honeywater and 1/3 weak-drink, which actually tasted superb, and everyone loved it. Even songs were written about it!
After some summers of this stuff, I decided to make a real attempt at making a 30 liter batch of truly good mead, and the result was pretty remarkable (This was in early 2006). I had some lemon andn raisins in it (but not overly much), so I guess you could say it was a "hard Sima". It seemed to stop fermenting at about a SG of 15, which was about what I wanted, so I racked it and added sulfites/sorbates. One person who tasted this stuff the next summer went absolutely insane, because they thought it was so good. And since this was around the time I had just finished my studies at University, and was looking what to do with my life, I thought, heck someone really ought to start selling mead in this country, and so after that my fate was kind of sealed. The next year I founded a company that currently imports mead from Poland and USA.
At the time there was a 'faux mead' being sold in Sweden, which was essentially a beer with added honey aroma (so not even any actual honey), and this was at 5, something ABV. So I figured the easiest solution would be buy that and see how it tasted if diluted with 50% water. Needless to say, it wasn't very good, but I didn't have high ambitions, so decided to settle for it.
The "mead" was kind of popular during the event, even though it was pretty much water with some beer flavour. But the name "mead" kind of sold itself. We had brought light beer, cider and something called "weak-drink" (a sweet and dark malt beverage with low ABV), as well, but the mead sold much better despite tasting much worse, and people kept coming back for it. I laso found a way to develop the product dureing the actual event. By mixing the weak-drink with the diluted honey aroma beer I got something that tasted a lot better than both did originally.
Anyway, during the event, I was also introduced to "real mead" that some people had brought with them that they had made themselves. So that is how I got introduced to it.
Over the next year I introduced my grandfather to mead, who was both a beekeeper and some experience as a homebrewer (but had never tried making mead). But he tried it out with some of his own honey, and made it quite good in my opinion, and he let me have a few bottles. I also tried out making some with cheap honey from the supermarket, but his outdid mine by far.
The following summer I decided to go back to the LARP event because it had been so much fun (actually for about the following 3 years or so). But I still couldn't serve real mead there due to ABV. However, I evolved my original concept into a mix between 1/3 sloppily fermented mead, 1/3 unfermented honeywater and 1/3 weak-drink, which actually tasted superb, and everyone loved it. Even songs were written about it!
After some summers of this stuff, I decided to make a real attempt at making a 30 liter batch of truly good mead, and the result was pretty remarkable (This was in early 2006). I had some lemon andn raisins in it (but not overly much), so I guess you could say it was a "hard Sima". It seemed to stop fermenting at about a SG of 15, which was about what I wanted, so I racked it and added sulfites/sorbates. One person who tasted this stuff the next summer went absolutely insane, because they thought it was so good. And since this was around the time I had just finished my studies at University, and was looking what to do with my life, I thought, heck someone really ought to start selling mead in this country, and so after that my fate was kind of sealed. The next year I founded a company that currently imports mead from Poland and USA.
