I'm writing a paper on mead/brewing for class
- Thread starter capoeirista13
- Start date
-
Love Gotmead and want to see it grow? Then consider supporting the site and becoming a Patron! If you're logged in, click on your username to the right of the menu to see how as little as $30/year can get you access to the patron areas and the patron Facebook group and to support Gotmead!
-
We now have a Patron-exclusive Facebook group! Patrons my join at The Gotmead Patron Group. You MUST answer the questions, providing your Patron membership, when you request to join so I can verify your Patron membership. If the questions aren't answered, the request will be turned down.
Lol, I'd love to turn it in w/ a wine bottle's worth of mead, lol. We actually discussed a tasting but b/c everyone in the class isn't over 21, the university wouldn't allow it.
Bah, I've been studying for a few days straight and as a result I'm kind of burnt out atm. The paper was due by monday, but I was studying for my 2 monday tests and 2 tuesday midterms so I didn't get a chance to revise it yet.
Bah, I've been studying for a few days straight and as a result I'm kind of burnt out atm. The paper was due by monday, but I was studying for my 2 monday tests and 2 tuesday midterms so I didn't get a chance to revise it yet.
Here is the latest (and greatest?) edition of my paper, changed a lot due to class and professor input. This is a very trimmed down version, it was supposed to be a 1500 word paper, but I couldn't get the word count down that low even after I cut out a lot. This is STILL over the word limit but it's the best I could do to shorten it w/o making the paper feel incomplete. Let me know what you guys think!
It’s Time to Mead you Maker
The first time that I heard of mead was in the epic Beowulf, back in high school. Mead is, at its most basic level, honey wine. As I got more interested in fantasy novels, I began to see mead mentioned more and more often. As I read about kings, heroes, and knights drinking this mystical beverage, I thought to myself what drink could be more badass than mead? If it was good enough for Beowulf, the hero who slew Grendel, it is certainly good enough for me. However, none of my friends or family knew what mead was. When asked, “What do you know about mead?” the most common response was “Meat? What about it?” So, because no one knew about mead, and I was still under 21 and not able to buy my own alcohol, I arrived at the decision that I must make my own. This was partly because of its description in all of the books that I had read and partly because it seemed unattainable. I also wanted to make an alcoholic drink that I actually liked drinking, which I had yet to find before I started homebrewing.
I was on co-op when I reached this conclusion, so naturally I had a lot of time to kill from nine to five. So I did a lot of research and came across a website which is essentially a mead Bible to many homebrewers across the country. It goes by the name of GotMead.com. GotMead is a website with easy to follow mead making directions for beginners, as well as loads of advanced brewing techniques and personal experience from the many members of the site. I learned a lot about mead just reading other people’s questions and answers. Before I stumbled upon GotMead, the only thing I knew about mead was that it was alcoholic and that vikings loved it. The first and mode important thing I learned was that it was predominantly from honey. Just like beers and wines, it went by many different names, depending on how it was made. A melomel is mead made with fruit, a metheglin is mead made with spices like cloves and cinnamon, a cyser is a cider whose fermentable sugars are at least 50% honey, a pyment is a wine whose fermentable sugars are at least 50% honey, hippocras is actually a spiced pyment, and a braggot is a beer whose fermentable sugars are 50% honey. I also learned about how to measure alcohol by volume, how to choose a yeast strain for a specific recipe, and how to clear a fermented beverage, among other things.
During my co-op I found out that my brother was getting married in November, and my sister was getting married in December, so I could knock out two birds with one stone by making them each some mead. I read and planned for roughly three months before I finally went to my local homebrew store, Home Sweet Homebrew, with my friend Jordan and bought the necessary equipment and ingredients. We got a primary fermenter, a secondary fermenter, racking equipment, a gallon of honey, yeast, nutrients, and some Irish Moss. The man who ran the shop was very knowledgeable, and is a bit of a beer guru in the area. My first mead was going to be a blueberry mead, primarily because my local homebrew store only had blueberry and clove honey, and blueberry sounded much more appealing. Also, we had about two pounds of blueberries at home in the fridge so I thought that sounded like a good idea. As we picked up each ingredient and each piece of equipment we exchanged a look which said “This is so cool,” which was soon followed by those exact words. The ingredients for my first batch of mead looked like this.
Ingredients
10 lbs (one gallon) blueberry honey
2 lbs blueberries
4 gallons of water
1.5 tsp Irish Moss
2 tsp yeast nutrient
10 g D-47 yeast
My process was pretty simple now that I look back on it, but at the time it seemed incredibly intimidating. First I boiled four gallons of water, while slowly adding in the honey. The smell that emanated from this was heavenly, and I thought if the final product is anything like this then I have made the right choice in creating a blueberry mead as my first project. I later found out that boiling the honey in the water was actually robbing the mead of fragrance and flavor. My bad, score one for mead. After I threw all five gallons of this mixture into my primary fermenter, which was a big white food-grade bucket with a spout on the bottom. Then I added my yeast nutrient, blueberries, and Irish Moss which I had boiled for 15 minutes. I had no idea what I was doing when it came to the yeast nutrient, and didn’t even know it existed until I went to the homebrew store, so I threw it all in to be safe. It turns out this was the right thing to do, score one for me. All I did to the blueberries was wash them off and then throw them in. Apparently I was supposed to wash them, crush and juice them, and then place them in a muslin bag for easier removal later. Uh-oh, score one for mead again. Finally, the Irish Moss, which is actually a form of dried seaweed used as a clearing in beers, is not supposed to be used in meads because it creates a taste which mead can not mask. Score one for mead yet again. Then I threw the yeast on top of this and mixed like my life depended on it. This was also the wrong course of action, as yeast should be rehydrated in warm water and, preferably, nutrients such as Go-Ferm before it is added to the must. The must is the original mixture to which the yeast is added. Yikes, score one for mead…again. Then I closed up the fermenter and waited until I started to see bubbles. Over the next week I opened up the fermenter and mixed everything around a lot, this is called aeration and is used to get oxygen into the must to help the yeast to ferment. This was a good thing for me to do, score one for me! I let this go for about three weeks and then I racked it into a glass carboy. To rack means to transfer from one container to another, you do it to help clear the final product. This was also a good choice, score one for me again. A carboy is a glass or plastic container for fermenting drinks; it looks like the thing on top of a water cooler. Over the course of the next three months I racked it two more times and then bottled it. Final score, 3 – 3, I hoped that it would have turned out well.
It’s Time to Mead you Maker
The first time that I heard of mead was in the epic Beowulf, back in high school. Mead is, at its most basic level, honey wine. As I got more interested in fantasy novels, I began to see mead mentioned more and more often. As I read about kings, heroes, and knights drinking this mystical beverage, I thought to myself what drink could be more badass than mead? If it was good enough for Beowulf, the hero who slew Grendel, it is certainly good enough for me. However, none of my friends or family knew what mead was. When asked, “What do you know about mead?” the most common response was “Meat? What about it?” So, because no one knew about mead, and I was still under 21 and not able to buy my own alcohol, I arrived at the decision that I must make my own. This was partly because of its description in all of the books that I had read and partly because it seemed unattainable. I also wanted to make an alcoholic drink that I actually liked drinking, which I had yet to find before I started homebrewing.
I was on co-op when I reached this conclusion, so naturally I had a lot of time to kill from nine to five. So I did a lot of research and came across a website which is essentially a mead Bible to many homebrewers across the country. It goes by the name of GotMead.com. GotMead is a website with easy to follow mead making directions for beginners, as well as loads of advanced brewing techniques and personal experience from the many members of the site. I learned a lot about mead just reading other people’s questions and answers. Before I stumbled upon GotMead, the only thing I knew about mead was that it was alcoholic and that vikings loved it. The first and mode important thing I learned was that it was predominantly from honey. Just like beers and wines, it went by many different names, depending on how it was made. A melomel is mead made with fruit, a metheglin is mead made with spices like cloves and cinnamon, a cyser is a cider whose fermentable sugars are at least 50% honey, a pyment is a wine whose fermentable sugars are at least 50% honey, hippocras is actually a spiced pyment, and a braggot is a beer whose fermentable sugars are 50% honey. I also learned about how to measure alcohol by volume, how to choose a yeast strain for a specific recipe, and how to clear a fermented beverage, among other things.
During my co-op I found out that my brother was getting married in November, and my sister was getting married in December, so I could knock out two birds with one stone by making them each some mead. I read and planned for roughly three months before I finally went to my local homebrew store, Home Sweet Homebrew, with my friend Jordan and bought the necessary equipment and ingredients. We got a primary fermenter, a secondary fermenter, racking equipment, a gallon of honey, yeast, nutrients, and some Irish Moss. The man who ran the shop was very knowledgeable, and is a bit of a beer guru in the area. My first mead was going to be a blueberry mead, primarily because my local homebrew store only had blueberry and clove honey, and blueberry sounded much more appealing. Also, we had about two pounds of blueberries at home in the fridge so I thought that sounded like a good idea. As we picked up each ingredient and each piece of equipment we exchanged a look which said “This is so cool,” which was soon followed by those exact words. The ingredients for my first batch of mead looked like this.
Ingredients
10 lbs (one gallon) blueberry honey
2 lbs blueberries
4 gallons of water
1.5 tsp Irish Moss
2 tsp yeast nutrient
10 g D-47 yeast
My process was pretty simple now that I look back on it, but at the time it seemed incredibly intimidating. First I boiled four gallons of water, while slowly adding in the honey. The smell that emanated from this was heavenly, and I thought if the final product is anything like this then I have made the right choice in creating a blueberry mead as my first project. I later found out that boiling the honey in the water was actually robbing the mead of fragrance and flavor. My bad, score one for mead. After I threw all five gallons of this mixture into my primary fermenter, which was a big white food-grade bucket with a spout on the bottom. Then I added my yeast nutrient, blueberries, and Irish Moss which I had boiled for 15 minutes. I had no idea what I was doing when it came to the yeast nutrient, and didn’t even know it existed until I went to the homebrew store, so I threw it all in to be safe. It turns out this was the right thing to do, score one for me. All I did to the blueberries was wash them off and then throw them in. Apparently I was supposed to wash them, crush and juice them, and then place them in a muslin bag for easier removal later. Uh-oh, score one for mead again. Finally, the Irish Moss, which is actually a form of dried seaweed used as a clearing in beers, is not supposed to be used in meads because it creates a taste which mead can not mask. Score one for mead yet again. Then I threw the yeast on top of this and mixed like my life depended on it. This was also the wrong course of action, as yeast should be rehydrated in warm water and, preferably, nutrients such as Go-Ferm before it is added to the must. The must is the original mixture to which the yeast is added. Yikes, score one for mead…again. Then I closed up the fermenter and waited until I started to see bubbles. Over the next week I opened up the fermenter and mixed everything around a lot, this is called aeration and is used to get oxygen into the must to help the yeast to ferment. This was a good thing for me to do, score one for me! I let this go for about three weeks and then I racked it into a glass carboy. To rack means to transfer from one container to another, you do it to help clear the final product. This was also a good choice, score one for me again. A carboy is a glass or plastic container for fermenting drinks; it looks like the thing on top of a water cooler. Over the course of the next three months I racked it two more times and then bottled it. Final score, 3 – 3, I hoped that it would have turned out well.
Last edited by a moderator:
Wow. It's amazing how this has evolved.
I have just one thought. You've said in the article you did things wrong. I wouldn't go with 'wrong,' just not the most effective, up-to-date methods. Many people make decent mead using those techniques. You're just learning to make amazing, award-winning mead.
Okay, two thoughts... I think you should win the mead count!
I have just one thought. You've said in the article you did things wrong. I wouldn't go with 'wrong,' just not the most effective, up-to-date methods. Many people make decent mead using those techniques. You're just learning to make amazing, award-winning mead.
Okay, two thoughts... I think you should win the mead count!
yikes, apparently i forgot to post the last page of the paper, lol, ill take care of that after class
**second half**
It shouldn’t have been bottled yet, truth be told, but I wanted to have it ready for my sister’s wedding as my brother’s had already passed, and I would have to mail him his bottles and accompanying crystal goblets. I tried the mead, and thought that it was OK, it tasted like slightly alcoholic honey-water, in reality it was 12% ABV. On the same day that I was bottling my mead, my mom was having a small family dinner with some relatives. I thought it would be a good idea to bring a sample bottle of my golden creation and see what everyone thought. My family’s thoughts on my product were a bit different that my own, the consensus was…tastes a bit like beer, I think I’ll stick to my red wine. It occurred to be that maybe this just wasn’t the right demographic, so a week later I brought a bottle to a party at my friend’s house. Here the reaction was much different. They ranged from, “This is good,” to “Wow this is really good, you made this? No way, you didn’t make this. Where did you make this?” I also noticed that although it tastes pretty good when you are sober, it tastes much better when you are drunk. Sober, it tastes like alcoholic honey water, but has no burn only a slight warming sensation, drunk it tasted like liquid blueberries. I mailed my brother his bottles, one of them exploded, kind of. The cork popped out and hit my brother in the head from across the room, that’s what you get for bottling early. When he tried it, he said it was good cold, but he doesn’t think he’d be able to drink it warm. To me, that marks a failed experiment. But that’s OK, as it was only my first try. I brought a bottle of the mead, as well as a cranberry cider I made, to a friend’s 21st birthday party. Both of them were huge hits, with people asking me if I could have any ready for Valentine’s Day. My sister has yet to try her Wedding Mead.
I have learned a lot since that first batch, which I dubbed Wedding Mead. I plan on making a new revised batch, called Anniversary Mead. It will essentially be the Wedding Mead, but remade with all of the knowledge I have obtained since then. My anniversary mead would probably end up looking like this.
Ingredients
10 lbs blueberries in primary (crushed)
-blueberry juice to fill up secondary
19 lbs blueberry honey in primary (not boiled)
10 vanilla beans in primary
-10 vanilla beans in secondary
10g 71B yeast
4 gals tap water boiled for primary
2 tsp yeast nutrient
2.5 tsp yeast energizer
1 drop Olive Oil
I have made a lot of different brews since that first batch, and have accomplished my initial goal of finding an alcoholic beverage that I actually like drinking. I have found this drink in mead, dessert wines, and ciders. Below is a recipe that I am currently brewing, I think it is going to turn out great. You may notice that my recipes have gotten a bit more complex.
Ingredients
4 gals of 100% Apple Juice from Trader Joe's
-pasteurized, no preservatives
1 gal of Gala Apple Cider from Trader Joe's
-pasteurized, no preservatives
3 valencia oranges
-used in primary fermentation
-run under hot water, then peeled for zest
-deseeded and then juiced
-did not use pulp, just zest and juice
2 vanilla beans
-used in primary fermentation
-split and scraped
3 lbs Orange Honey used in primary fermentation
0.5 oz Med. Toast French Oak (Primary)
2 valencia oranges
-used in secondary fermentation
-run under hot water, then peeled for zest
-deseeded and then juiced
-did not use pulp, just zest and juice
2 navel oranges
-used in secondary fermentation
-run under hot water, then peeled for zest
-deseeded and then juiced
-did not use pulp, just zest and juice
2 tangerines
-used in secondary fermentation
-run under hot water, then peeled for zest
-deseeded and then juiced
-did not use pulp, just zest and juice
1 vanilla bean
-used in secondary fermentation
-split and scraped
10 vanilla beans
-used at secondary racking
-split and scraped
11.5 g of S-33 Yeast, Safbrew brand
Several drops of Pectic Enzyme
2.5 tsp Yeast Energizer
2 tsp Fermax
It shouldn’t have been bottled yet, truth be told, but I wanted to have it ready for my sister’s wedding as my brother’s had already passed, and I would have to mail him his bottles and accompanying crystal goblets. I tried the mead, and thought that it was OK, it tasted like slightly alcoholic honey-water, in reality it was 12% ABV. On the same day that I was bottling my mead, my mom was having a small family dinner with some relatives. I thought it would be a good idea to bring a sample bottle of my golden creation and see what everyone thought. My family’s thoughts on my product were a bit different that my own, the consensus was…tastes a bit like beer, I think I’ll stick to my red wine. It occurred to be that maybe this just wasn’t the right demographic, so a week later I brought a bottle to a party at my friend’s house. Here the reaction was much different. They ranged from, “This is good,” to “Wow this is really good, you made this? No way, you didn’t make this. Where did you make this?” I also noticed that although it tastes pretty good when you are sober, it tastes much better when you are drunk. Sober, it tastes like alcoholic honey water, but has no burn only a slight warming sensation, drunk it tasted like liquid blueberries. I mailed my brother his bottles, one of them exploded, kind of. The cork popped out and hit my brother in the head from across the room, that’s what you get for bottling early. When he tried it, he said it was good cold, but he doesn’t think he’d be able to drink it warm. To me, that marks a failed experiment. But that’s OK, as it was only my first try. I brought a bottle of the mead, as well as a cranberry cider I made, to a friend’s 21st birthday party. Both of them were huge hits, with people asking me if I could have any ready for Valentine’s Day. My sister has yet to try her Wedding Mead.
I have learned a lot since that first batch, which I dubbed Wedding Mead. I plan on making a new revised batch, called Anniversary Mead. It will essentially be the Wedding Mead, but remade with all of the knowledge I have obtained since then. My anniversary mead would probably end up looking like this.
Ingredients
10 lbs blueberries in primary (crushed)
-blueberry juice to fill up secondary
19 lbs blueberry honey in primary (not boiled)
10 vanilla beans in primary
-10 vanilla beans in secondary
10g 71B yeast
4 gals tap water boiled for primary
2 tsp yeast nutrient
2.5 tsp yeast energizer
1 drop Olive Oil
I have made a lot of different brews since that first batch, and have accomplished my initial goal of finding an alcoholic beverage that I actually like drinking. I have found this drink in mead, dessert wines, and ciders. Below is a recipe that I am currently brewing, I think it is going to turn out great. You may notice that my recipes have gotten a bit more complex.
Ingredients
4 gals of 100% Apple Juice from Trader Joe's
-pasteurized, no preservatives
1 gal of Gala Apple Cider from Trader Joe's
-pasteurized, no preservatives
3 valencia oranges
-used in primary fermentation
-run under hot water, then peeled for zest
-deseeded and then juiced
-did not use pulp, just zest and juice
2 vanilla beans
-used in primary fermentation
-split and scraped
3 lbs Orange Honey used in primary fermentation
0.5 oz Med. Toast French Oak (Primary)
2 valencia oranges
-used in secondary fermentation
-run under hot water, then peeled for zest
-deseeded and then juiced
-did not use pulp, just zest and juice
2 navel oranges
-used in secondary fermentation
-run under hot water, then peeled for zest
-deseeded and then juiced
-did not use pulp, just zest and juice
2 tangerines
-used in secondary fermentation
-run under hot water, then peeled for zest
-deseeded and then juiced
-did not use pulp, just zest and juice
1 vanilla bean
-used in secondary fermentation
-split and scraped
10 vanilla beans
-used at secondary racking
-split and scraped
11.5 g of S-33 Yeast, Safbrew brand
Several drops of Pectic Enzyme
2.5 tsp Yeast Energizer
2 tsp Fermax
Hey there, so I have a second paper I'm writing for class, this one is on current mead culture, and how people see mead and how their preconceived notions of mead are not quite right. Its nowhere near done yet, but maybe you can help me with that...enjoy!
Mead
Not Just for Knights and Men in Tights
Nowadays, it is pretty rare to find someone that knows what mead is. Its honey wine by the way. But there wasn’t always a time when mead’s existence wasn’t so obscure. During the middle ages, honey was plentiful and cheap. This was when mead was most popular; it was the drink of kings and nobility. Alas, honey became expensive and in turn so did mead. This is when mead started to die out as the drink of the elite. In recent years mead has seen a revival in popularity, but seems to remain outside of the mainstream drinking scene in its own niche.
When people actually know what mead is, they tend to have two preconceived notions of it which are very wrong. The first idea that people have about mead is that it is only for renaissance fairs and the people that attend them. People often imagine a man in green spandex boasting a plastic bow and a quiver full of plunger-tipped arrows, singing songs about a fair maiden with his friend the knight, dressed in home-made armor with a Halloween-store sword and shield while they while away the time it takes for their respective moms to come pick them up. The problem with trying to convince people this isn’t true is that mead is often available at Ye Olde Renaissance Faire. It is also the drink of choice in many poorly-written CVS fantasy novels. But these are not the only people who drink mead. Many people who are interested in mead are the ones who make it themselves. They are the homebrewers and the ones who run the meaderies that make quality products. There are also people who are just looking for something new, something different, who happen upon a bottle of mead and decide to try it out. Mead has even made its way into a few cooking recipes. The honey, spice, and fruit notes match well with baked goods, unlike most wines.
The second notion of mead that people have is that it must be sweet, because it is made with honey. Oddly enough, most people don’t automatically associate wine with sweetness, even though the sugary grape juice used to make wine could cause a five year old to purse his lips together in distaste. And what most people don’t know about wine is that a lot of wines are fortified with pounds of sugar. If everyone knew that a major amount of wine’s fermentable sugars came from cane sugar as opposed to grape juice, perhaps their perceptions of the drink would be different. By the same token, no one associates beer with multi-grain bread, or the flavor of the grains that make it. The problem with this is that most of the commercial meads being sold are too sweet by a half (think along the lines of alcoholic Gatorade), so it is hard to show people that not all mead is saturated with sugar. I think Pete Bakulic, resident mead guru of Gotmead.com, said it best when describing people with this notion.
"…most people are ignorant of what mead is and the many styles, flavors and characters of mead. The most common one I run into is ‘Mead is made from honey, ooh, that's too sweet for me.’ I just kind of cock my head to one side, smile and start the explanation, then follow it up with some bone dry traditional or dark fruit melomel. In no time they're asking how much more I brought with me."
Mead is really just another type of wine, like blueberry wine. The only different is that honey is used for the bulk of the fermentable sugars, as opposed to fruit juice or cane sugar.
These problems have the same root. There are not many meads available to the general public, commercial or otherwise. In addition, there has been no outcry for a better product from the few people that drink mead because they don’t know any better. If Natty Light was the only beer available, beer probably wouldn’t be as popular or wide-spread as it is today. The same would go for wine, if something like Franzia was the only option. Luckily for all the beer and wine lovers out in the world there are options. And luckily for mead lovers, some new options are beginning to appear as well. There are a number of meaderies springing up as people rediscover the drink. Good meads are typically found in meaderies, not wineries or vineyards, but some wineries have branched out into brewing mead as well. No longer will people have to drink Chaucer’s brand mead, which only reinforces the negative connotations attached to mead by its name and flavor profile. Now people can buy quality meads from the likes of Redstone Meadery, B. Nektar Meadery, Rabbits Foot Meadery, or even a locally run business like Shields Demesne Winery or Plum Run Winery.
And yet, that is not all that is wrong with mead. Because people don’t really know what mead is, they don’t really know how to market it, or even where to put it in their stores. After all, with retailers it is all about moving a product and making a profit. But if you can’t move a product because you and your consumer are both confounded by it, you will make no profit. Because of this mead is not widely marketed, except for a few meaderies and even less wineries. On the rare occasion that you do find some mead in a store, it may be in the wine section as it should be, but sometimes it will be found among beer, or even among drinks like Twisted Tea or Mike’s Hard. In order for mead to become more mainstream, the producer, retailer, and consumer all need to be reeducated about the product. I don’t know how this is best done, but I do know how I can try to educate the public about it. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is one bottle at a time.
Mead
Not Just for Knights and Men in Tights
Nowadays, it is pretty rare to find someone that knows what mead is. Its honey wine by the way. But there wasn’t always a time when mead’s existence wasn’t so obscure. During the middle ages, honey was plentiful and cheap. This was when mead was most popular; it was the drink of kings and nobility. Alas, honey became expensive and in turn so did mead. This is when mead started to die out as the drink of the elite. In recent years mead has seen a revival in popularity, but seems to remain outside of the mainstream drinking scene in its own niche.
When people actually know what mead is, they tend to have two preconceived notions of it which are very wrong. The first idea that people have about mead is that it is only for renaissance fairs and the people that attend them. People often imagine a man in green spandex boasting a plastic bow and a quiver full of plunger-tipped arrows, singing songs about a fair maiden with his friend the knight, dressed in home-made armor with a Halloween-store sword and shield while they while away the time it takes for their respective moms to come pick them up. The problem with trying to convince people this isn’t true is that mead is often available at Ye Olde Renaissance Faire. It is also the drink of choice in many poorly-written CVS fantasy novels. But these are not the only people who drink mead. Many people who are interested in mead are the ones who make it themselves. They are the homebrewers and the ones who run the meaderies that make quality products. There are also people who are just looking for something new, something different, who happen upon a bottle of mead and decide to try it out. Mead has even made its way into a few cooking recipes. The honey, spice, and fruit notes match well with baked goods, unlike most wines.
The second notion of mead that people have is that it must be sweet, because it is made with honey. Oddly enough, most people don’t automatically associate wine with sweetness, even though the sugary grape juice used to make wine could cause a five year old to purse his lips together in distaste. And what most people don’t know about wine is that a lot of wines are fortified with pounds of sugar. If everyone knew that a major amount of wine’s fermentable sugars came from cane sugar as opposed to grape juice, perhaps their perceptions of the drink would be different. By the same token, no one associates beer with multi-grain bread, or the flavor of the grains that make it. The problem with this is that most of the commercial meads being sold are too sweet by a half (think along the lines of alcoholic Gatorade), so it is hard to show people that not all mead is saturated with sugar. I think Pete Bakulic, resident mead guru of Gotmead.com, said it best when describing people with this notion.
"…most people are ignorant of what mead is and the many styles, flavors and characters of mead. The most common one I run into is ‘Mead is made from honey, ooh, that's too sweet for me.’ I just kind of cock my head to one side, smile and start the explanation, then follow it up with some bone dry traditional or dark fruit melomel. In no time they're asking how much more I brought with me."
Mead is really just another type of wine, like blueberry wine. The only different is that honey is used for the bulk of the fermentable sugars, as opposed to fruit juice or cane sugar.
These problems have the same root. There are not many meads available to the general public, commercial or otherwise. In addition, there has been no outcry for a better product from the few people that drink mead because they don’t know any better. If Natty Light was the only beer available, beer probably wouldn’t be as popular or wide-spread as it is today. The same would go for wine, if something like Franzia was the only option. Luckily for all the beer and wine lovers out in the world there are options. And luckily for mead lovers, some new options are beginning to appear as well. There are a number of meaderies springing up as people rediscover the drink. Good meads are typically found in meaderies, not wineries or vineyards, but some wineries have branched out into brewing mead as well. No longer will people have to drink Chaucer’s brand mead, which only reinforces the negative connotations attached to mead by its name and flavor profile. Now people can buy quality meads from the likes of Redstone Meadery, B. Nektar Meadery, Rabbits Foot Meadery, or even a locally run business like Shields Demesne Winery or Plum Run Winery.
And yet, that is not all that is wrong with mead. Because people don’t really know what mead is, they don’t really know how to market it, or even where to put it in their stores. After all, with retailers it is all about moving a product and making a profit. But if you can’t move a product because you and your consumer are both confounded by it, you will make no profit. Because of this mead is not widely marketed, except for a few meaderies and even less wineries. On the rare occasion that you do find some mead in a store, it may be in the wine section as it should be, but sometimes it will be found among beer, or even among drinks like Twisted Tea or Mike’s Hard. In order for mead to become more mainstream, the producer, retailer, and consumer all need to be reeducated about the product. I don’t know how this is best done, but I do know how I can try to educate the public about it. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is one bottle at a time.
Hello! I missed the start of this thread, have a lot of things going on at home at the moment and haven't been reading the boards as often as I was. I'm working at rectifying that -- it's not good to be away from mead folk and conversation for too long!
Looks like you're off to a good start, although you could expand the history references. Mead in the Medieval period is an easy association -- most people when they first think of mead, they think of Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, Celts, and Medieval banquets. It springs to mind very quickly.
Honey, and anything made from honey, has been ubiquitous throughout known history. Do a search on this site for Jiahu, and you'll find posts and links to articles on the oldest known artifact showing the making of a fermented beverage, 9,000 years old and from Jiahu China. Ingredients are rice, grape or hawthorn berry, and honey. Two of our forum board members have been involved with recreating this beverage on both commercial and home meadmaking levels.
Check out the Makana meadery, run by Dr. Garth Cambray in South Africa. He feels that the oldest meads were made by African bushmen, and he may very well be right. If so, we're talking about really really ancient stuff. Here's a link to the Makana meadery:
http://www.iqhilika.co.za/
Take a look at the History of Mead forum and you'll find lots of info there also.
There's a few good articles on the main web site. I contribted a short essay on the late Dr. Roger Morse, and you'll find other good material on historical background to mead.
The Medieval assocations -- it's a good lead in for a paper, but you can use that as a jumping off point for a few more sentences in the paragraph on just how well known the making of fermented beverages from honey is to world cultures, through out history.
Hope this is helpful!
Looks like you're off to a good start, although you could expand the history references. Mead in the Medieval period is an easy association -- most people when they first think of mead, they think of Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, Celts, and Medieval banquets. It springs to mind very quickly.
Honey, and anything made from honey, has been ubiquitous throughout known history. Do a search on this site for Jiahu, and you'll find posts and links to articles on the oldest known artifact showing the making of a fermented beverage, 9,000 years old and from Jiahu China. Ingredients are rice, grape or hawthorn berry, and honey. Two of our forum board members have been involved with recreating this beverage on both commercial and home meadmaking levels.
Check out the Makana meadery, run by Dr. Garth Cambray in South Africa. He feels that the oldest meads were made by African bushmen, and he may very well be right. If so, we're talking about really really ancient stuff. Here's a link to the Makana meadery:
http://www.iqhilika.co.za/
Take a look at the History of Mead forum and you'll find lots of info there also.
There's a few good articles on the main web site. I contribted a short essay on the late Dr. Roger Morse, and you'll find other good material on historical background to mead.
The Medieval assocations -- it's a good lead in for a paper, but you can use that as a jumping off point for a few more sentences in the paragraph on just how well known the making of fermented beverages from honey is to world cultures, through out history.
Hope this is helpful!
I have the Jiahu article in the main site, as well as articles about the Midas mead and other historical finds.
Cap, when you finish your papers, if you're willing, I would *love* to publish them on the main site.....
Vicky - coughing pretty much continuously with this bronchitis, but can still type....LOL
Cap, when you finish your papers, if you're willing, I would *love* to publish them on the main site.....
Vicky - coughing pretty much continuously with this bronchitis, but can still type....LOL
Oh yeah, just for fun, go to gocomics.com and take a look at the Ink Pen strip:
http://gocomics.com/features/87
Click on the calendar and go to March 17th 2008, although you may get a message that the archives are for Pro Users only. Sometimes you get this but the strip will still be on the bottom of the page. March 17th 2008 was the start of a good series on mead.
The artist is Phil Dunlap, and in this particular sequence he had a little fun with mead and meadmaking. One of the characters, a Norse god by the name of Tyr, hangs out at the bar and always orders a flagon of mead. It's a bit of fun with the historical stereotypes, i.e., the only folk who drank mead were Vikings, ect. As it turns out, the out of work Tyr ends up as a PR man for mead, mead snobs are lampooned, ect. A lot of funny stuff.
Phil does seem to know a great deal about mead, in spite of the satire (that's actually what made the satire so good), and seems to have lurked on these boards. Rumor also has it that he hangs out with Oskaar, but so far Oskaar isn't saying anything.
http://gocomics.com/features/87
Click on the calendar and go to March 17th 2008, although you may get a message that the archives are for Pro Users only. Sometimes you get this but the strip will still be on the bottom of the page. March 17th 2008 was the start of a good series on mead.
The artist is Phil Dunlap, and in this particular sequence he had a little fun with mead and meadmaking. One of the characters, a Norse god by the name of Tyr, hangs out at the bar and always orders a flagon of mead. It's a bit of fun with the historical stereotypes, i.e., the only folk who drank mead were Vikings, ect. As it turns out, the out of work Tyr ends up as a PR man for mead, mead snobs are lampooned, ect. A lot of funny stuff.
Phil does seem to know a great deal about mead, in spite of the satire (that's actually what made the satire so good), and seems to have lurked on these boards. Rumor also has it that he hangs out with Oskaar, but so far Oskaar isn't saying anything.
lol, awesome, I actually wanted to write more of the historical/informative stuff into the paper, but these essays are supposed to kind of mimic the writing styles that we see on a website, tablematters.com, and they tend to be more humorous/sarcastic than 'educational'
...snip... Rumor also has it that he hangs out with Oskaar, but so far Oskaar isn't saying anything.
I'm sure we'll end up on TMZ!
OK so this is the revision of my second paper. It is currently awaiting revision by my friend who is an English major.
Part 1 (because it was too long for just one post!)
Mead
Not Just for Knights and Men in Tights
“Mead, that’s like moonshine right?” That was the response from my roommate as I told him I was going to write a paper on mead for class. Nowadays, it is pretty rare to find someone that knows what mead is. Its honey wine by the way. But there wasn’t always a time when mead’s existence wasn’t so obscure. During the middle ages, honey was plentiful and cheap. This was when mead was most popular; it was the drink of kings and nobility. Alas, honey became expensive and in turn so did mead. This is when mead started to die out as the drink of the elite. In recent years mead has seen a revival in popularity, but seems to remain outside of the mainstream drinking scene in its own niche. You can actually buy mead anywhere you can buy wine, but it is most likely going to be found at a renaissance fair, a meadery, or an outgoing winery.
When people actually know what mead is, they tend to have two preconceived notions of it which are very wrong. The first idea that people have about mead is that it is only for renaissance fairs and the people that attend them. People often imagine a man in green spandex boasting a plastic bow and a quiver full of plunger-tipped arrows, singing songs about a fair maiden with his friend the knight, dressed in home-made armor with a Halloween-store sword and shield while they while away the time it takes for their respective moms to come pick them up. The problem with trying to convince people this isn’t true is that mead is often available at Ye Olde Renaissance Faire. It is also the drink of choice in many poorly-written CVS fantasy novels. But these are not the only people who drink mead. Many people who are interested in mead are the ones who make it themselves. They are the homebrewers and the ones who run the meaderies that make quality products. There are also people who are just looking for something new, something different, who happen upon a bottle of mead and decide to try it out. Mead has even made its way into a few cooking recipes. The honey, spice, and fruit notes match well with baked goods, unlike most wines.
The second notion of mead that people have is that it must be sweet, because it is made with honey. Oddly enough, most people don’t automatically associate wine with sweetness, even though the sugary grape juice used to make wine could cause a five year old to purse his lips together in distaste. And what most people don’t know about wine is that some wines are fortified with pounds of sugar. By the same token, no one associates beer with multi-grain bread, or the flavor of the grains that make it. The problem with this is that most of the commercial meads being sold are too sweet by a half (think along the lines of alcoholic Gatorade), so it is hard to show people that not all mead is saturated with sugar. I think Pete Bakulic, resident mead guru of Gotmead.com, said it best when describing people with this notion.
"…most people are ignorant of what mead is and the many styles, flavors and characters of mead. The most common one I run into is ‘Mead is made from honey, ooh, that's too sweet for me.’ I just kind of cock my head to one side, smile and start the explanation, then follow it up with some bone dry traditional or dark fruit melomel. In no time they're asking how much more I brought with me."
Mead is really just another type of wine, like blueberry wine. The only different is that honey is used for the bulk of the fermentable sugars, as opposed to fruit juice or cane sugar.
These problems have the same root. There are not many meads available to the general public, commercial or otherwise. In addition, there has been no outcry for a better product from the few people that drink mead because they don’t know any better. If Natty Light was the only beer available, beer probably wouldn’t be as popular or wide-spread as it is today. The same would go for wine, if something like Franzia was the only option. Luckily for all the beer and wine lovers out in the world there are options. And luckily for mead lovers, some new options are beginning to appear as well.
There are a number of meaderies springing up as people rediscover the drink. Good meads are typically found in meaderies, not wineries or vineyards, but some wineries have branched out into brewing mead as well. No longer will people have to drink Chaucer’s brand mead, which only reinforces the negative connotations attached to mead by its name and flavor profile. Now people can buy quality meads from various meaderies all over the country. If you are in Boulder, Colorado you could visit Redstone Meadery and pick up their award-winning Traditional Mountain Honey Wine. Or perhaps if you are in Ferndale, Michigan you could check out B. Nektar Meadery and buy their award-winning vanilla cinnamon mead. If you’re on the west coast, particularly in Sunnyvale, California, you could stop by Rabbits Foot Meadery and get yourself some award-winning Orange Blossom mead. Although Pennsylvania is not saturated with meaderies, there are a few places to get it locally. There are a few wineries that sell mead, like Shields Demesne Winery or Plum Run Winery. However, there is only one commercial meaderies in Pennsylvania, and that is Stonekeep Meadery. Stonekeep Meadery offers various types of meads, including traditional meads, melomels, and metheglyns.
Part 1 (because it was too long for just one post!)
Mead
Not Just for Knights and Men in Tights
“Mead, that’s like moonshine right?” That was the response from my roommate as I told him I was going to write a paper on mead for class. Nowadays, it is pretty rare to find someone that knows what mead is. Its honey wine by the way. But there wasn’t always a time when mead’s existence wasn’t so obscure. During the middle ages, honey was plentiful and cheap. This was when mead was most popular; it was the drink of kings and nobility. Alas, honey became expensive and in turn so did mead. This is when mead started to die out as the drink of the elite. In recent years mead has seen a revival in popularity, but seems to remain outside of the mainstream drinking scene in its own niche. You can actually buy mead anywhere you can buy wine, but it is most likely going to be found at a renaissance fair, a meadery, or an outgoing winery.
When people actually know what mead is, they tend to have two preconceived notions of it which are very wrong. The first idea that people have about mead is that it is only for renaissance fairs and the people that attend them. People often imagine a man in green spandex boasting a plastic bow and a quiver full of plunger-tipped arrows, singing songs about a fair maiden with his friend the knight, dressed in home-made armor with a Halloween-store sword and shield while they while away the time it takes for their respective moms to come pick them up. The problem with trying to convince people this isn’t true is that mead is often available at Ye Olde Renaissance Faire. It is also the drink of choice in many poorly-written CVS fantasy novels. But these are not the only people who drink mead. Many people who are interested in mead are the ones who make it themselves. They are the homebrewers and the ones who run the meaderies that make quality products. There are also people who are just looking for something new, something different, who happen upon a bottle of mead and decide to try it out. Mead has even made its way into a few cooking recipes. The honey, spice, and fruit notes match well with baked goods, unlike most wines.
The second notion of mead that people have is that it must be sweet, because it is made with honey. Oddly enough, most people don’t automatically associate wine with sweetness, even though the sugary grape juice used to make wine could cause a five year old to purse his lips together in distaste. And what most people don’t know about wine is that some wines are fortified with pounds of sugar. By the same token, no one associates beer with multi-grain bread, or the flavor of the grains that make it. The problem with this is that most of the commercial meads being sold are too sweet by a half (think along the lines of alcoholic Gatorade), so it is hard to show people that not all mead is saturated with sugar. I think Pete Bakulic, resident mead guru of Gotmead.com, said it best when describing people with this notion.
"…most people are ignorant of what mead is and the many styles, flavors and characters of mead. The most common one I run into is ‘Mead is made from honey, ooh, that's too sweet for me.’ I just kind of cock my head to one side, smile and start the explanation, then follow it up with some bone dry traditional or dark fruit melomel. In no time they're asking how much more I brought with me."
Mead is really just another type of wine, like blueberry wine. The only different is that honey is used for the bulk of the fermentable sugars, as opposed to fruit juice or cane sugar.
These problems have the same root. There are not many meads available to the general public, commercial or otherwise. In addition, there has been no outcry for a better product from the few people that drink mead because they don’t know any better. If Natty Light was the only beer available, beer probably wouldn’t be as popular or wide-spread as it is today. The same would go for wine, if something like Franzia was the only option. Luckily for all the beer and wine lovers out in the world there are options. And luckily for mead lovers, some new options are beginning to appear as well.
There are a number of meaderies springing up as people rediscover the drink. Good meads are typically found in meaderies, not wineries or vineyards, but some wineries have branched out into brewing mead as well. No longer will people have to drink Chaucer’s brand mead, which only reinforces the negative connotations attached to mead by its name and flavor profile. Now people can buy quality meads from various meaderies all over the country. If you are in Boulder, Colorado you could visit Redstone Meadery and pick up their award-winning Traditional Mountain Honey Wine. Or perhaps if you are in Ferndale, Michigan you could check out B. Nektar Meadery and buy their award-winning vanilla cinnamon mead. If you’re on the west coast, particularly in Sunnyvale, California, you could stop by Rabbits Foot Meadery and get yourself some award-winning Orange Blossom mead. Although Pennsylvania is not saturated with meaderies, there are a few places to get it locally. There are a few wineries that sell mead, like Shields Demesne Winery or Plum Run Winery. However, there is only one commercial meaderies in Pennsylvania, and that is Stonekeep Meadery. Stonekeep Meadery offers various types of meads, including traditional meads, melomels, and metheglyns.
no probs! my prof. suggested that I include specific meaderies so the concept would seem more concrete
