Why isn't mead more mainstream?

[wildoates]

When the rest of the world went HD I didn't even bother to get a converter box. I only use my TV for watching film on DVD. When I want to watch the Oscars I have to use somebody else's TV...

I didn't either, but I did recently replace my old TV with a flat screen HD. It gets used for the Wii and movies, unless my sister visits.

Like McFeely, there any number of things I'd rather do than watch the tube, like this weekend where my daughter and I racked 10 gallons of mead, bottled 5 gallons of beer, started 5 gallons more beer (family reunion over Memorial Day Weekend), racked 2 batches of lambic over the fruit and the bugs, and dickered with blending some bits of leftovers just for the heck of it. next weekend we'll bottle another batch of beer (Aaron, hush!) and over spring break bottle the last one, plus the lingonberry mead.

If we have anything to say abut it, homebrewed potables will become much more popular...from here to across the street at least.

 

[akueck]

next weekend we'll bottle another batch of beer (Aaron, hush!)

Ha! I might not have said anything, but now I have to. Lambics even!

For the record our TV is only connected to the DVD and VTR (yes, VTR, we're not even cool enough to have a VCR).

The "watch Sam make weird beers" show exists, who says we can't get someone to put on a "watch Ken drink mead" show?

 

[wildoates]

I know you were thinking it.

Someone needs to put together a proposal and "pitch" it to someone else with deep pockets.

 

[Smarrikåka]

With regards to the workload of beekeeping vs workload of growing grape, I think one thing that needs to be taken account that wasn't taking into account is that beekeeping holds additional value that growing grapes doesn't have in the form of wax/propolis/pollination/etcetera. With grapes you don't really get any other products or added benefits of economic value than the grapes themselves and that which can be done with them.

Still, that may not be enough to balance things out. But on the other hand, I don't think it will matter. Mead shouldn't try to replace wine, but it needs to establish itself as a worthwhile more expensive (if compared to cheap wines) alternative.

 

[tweak'e]

wax/propolis/pollination/etcetera can come into it but its minor and can add workload or lower the amount of honey produced.

while i quite agree mead shouldn't try to replace wine, its still the main market that your chasing.

 

[mmclean]

while i quite agree mead shouldn't try to replace wine, its still the main market that your chasing.

What makes you think mead should chase the wine market?

I think Brad Dahlhofer"s, B. Nektar Meadery showes that the mead market is more of an alternative to wine.

 

[Dan McFeeley]

Although you can look at mead as a good alternative to wine, it needs to be demonstrated first how mead can stand on its own as something unique apart from wine.

That can be a problem with explaining mead to people who are unfamiliar with it -- "mead as a beverage fermented from honey"; the image that pops into people's heads is going to be a honey jar, the sweet taste of honey, and a drink that tastes like honey from that jar. That's like describing a fine wine in terms of grape juice (think supermarket grape juice) fermented into an alcoholic beverage.

--

 

[BrewinNColorado]

McFeeley-

That is a very good point. How should mead be labeled? Do we group it into its own category that is separate from wine and "country wines" or “fruit wines”, or should it be categorized as a "honey wine"?

Also, how would categorizing it under wine or separately affect how we market mead, current legislation concerns, as well as sales of mead.

Just some other items to think and discuss.


Michael

 

[Tiwas]

"Mead, if you're not one of the sheep"
"Real men drink mead. Go away!"
"If you actually had tastebuds, you'd like it"

 

[havoc64]

Well, I'm sorry if you've been mis-lead there Mike. Especially as there's little to no evidence for anyones lineage that far back. The greatest amount of available records are mainly Norman in origin. The Saxons didn't do a good job of recording stuff. What there is, or at least seems to be available for Saxon period (a.k.a. "the dark ages") comes from people like "the venerable Bede" and other ecclesiastic scholars, hence it's biased and incomplete.
fatbloke

I would have to disagree, there are plenty references to lineages if you are related to certain people. For instance, tracing your lineage to someone who was on the Mayflower, or to someone in a Royal Family, it becomes pretty easy as all of those lineages have been tracked extensively.

Not that I disagree with you as you are in the UK, just bringing up what I have discovered. Much of my research was done with assistance of several genealogy offices in the US, Canada, France and the UK. Believe me, explaining the fees on my credit card to the wife of these organizations in the UK and France wasn't easy...lol

I would agree on all your other points though. Industrial revolution and the ability to mass produce wine and beer did contribute to the fall of mead as a drink of choice. My point was more in reference to the beginning of the end. The fact that it became socially unacceptable started the downward trend.

As I am sure you're aware, the Normans tried to change EVERYTHING that dealt with the Saxons and Natives of Britain. Seeing how Mead was heavily embedded in the Saxon traditions of story telling and gathering, one can easily see why the Norman nobles would prefer Wine over it and turn their noses at it.

Not disagreeing with you that some nobles continued to produce it when the ingredients were available, but I am sure that just like today's social gatherings, one would have been ridiculed for serving the "Wrong" beverage instead of what was "fashionable" in the other Royal Courts of Europe. Food, Fashion, Music and Dance were all standards that constantly changed in the "Royal Court", one had to keep up with the latest trends or be though less of.

Additionally the Link of Mead with the Jews probably didn't help any either, especially during the time of the crusades.

You do bring up one of the most common thoughts of why Mead fell into disuse and that was Beer. The simplicity, speed and ease of producing beer in the long run was detrimental to both Mead and Wine. Especially here in the US where even wine consumption suffered.

I don't believe I brought the Romans into this. I was talking about the Roman Catholic Church, which would have preferred Grape Wine due to its tie with Italy and the Holy See.

All in all this is a very very complex issue, I believe there are three factors that will have to be overcome to have Mead become mainstream.

1. Consistent classification and category.
2. Refined production and aging processes.
3. Public acceptance.

As for price, people will pay top dollar for good beverages, you only need to look at the price of Single Malt Scotch, Aged Brandy and Aged Rum to know that.

As for the TV appearances of Mead, how about a good eats episode with Alton Brown? He could even have Ken as a guest on the show? Or maybe Iron Chef where the secret ingredient is Mead?

Happy Meading!

Mike

 

[tycoon]

I agree with McFeeley's point that to increase the appeal of mead in the general public, a reference to wine is inevitable. At least for traditional meads and pyments, which share a lot of things with wine (my opinion about my own traditionals and pyments).

I am not so sure about cysers, methlegins, etc.

 

[AToE]

I should mention too that at the Cup this year there were some amazing meads in the pro competition, ones that even with my distast for sweetness I can very much respect for their quality.

(I went down their expecting to have my eyes opened to semi-sweet meads and learn that I really do like balanced meads, rather than just good dry ones, but sadly my mouth won't cooperate. Believe me when I say my nearly complete preference for dry meads has nothing to do with wanting to be more "hardcore" or "serious wine drinker" or whatever, I wish I did like sweeter meads, as they make up the vast majority of what's out there. I definitely was able to appreciate the quality of the semi-sweet and sweet meadss, but it's just not stuff I could drink more than a few sips of happily)

There were some great meads from Canadian meaderies, and I got to try American ones like B.Nektar that I'd been looking forward to trying for ages (if you like meads sweeter than drier you should definitely check them out, good stuff).

So the quality is out there that will be certainly required for the future expansion of mead. Frankly, the pro stuff exceeded my expectations for the most part. There's some sub-par stuff on the market for sure, but every drink has that problem. People may need to be pushed into drinking mead a few times until they find the ones that are right for them, but I think there definitely is a mead that is right for absolutely anyone - which is not something wine and beer have going for them necessarily.

While the versatility of mead does lead to a lot of confusion, I think it's also one of it's major strengths.

 

[wayneb]

There were some great meads from Canadian meaderies, and I got to try American ones like B.Nektar that I'd been looking forward to trying for ages (if you like meads sweeter than drier you should definitely check them out, good stuff).

I also lean toward drier meads, both in my taste, and in my production.

I'm hoping to convince Brad to do a few more dry meads, which was my ulterior motive for letting him sample some of mine!

 

[TheAlchemist]

OK, OK.

So, if there were a Ken Schramm show, I might bother to try to convince someone I know that has a TV to record it for me...

As an aside, did you know there are more people who watch cooking shows on TV than there are people who actually cook?

 

[AToE]

I also lean toward drier meads, both in my taste, and in my production.

I'm hoping to convince Brad to do a few more dry meads, which was my ulterior motive for letting him sample some of mine!

I was super excited when Aaron handed me a bottle of Brad's dry cyser at the awards ceremony (I think that's what it was) but unfortunately it (like much of what we drank at that ceremony) had been opened and mostly drained for judging between 1.5 and 2 days earlier - the traditional meads all held up fine, but this one had not, which is nothing wrong with it of course, just O2 doing it's nasty work over too long of a period.

As soon I am able too figure out how to get my hands on his meads through some fancy shipping I'll definitely be ordering a non-ruined bottle of the same, as well as any other meads he has at the time that happen to be of the dry variety.

I have to say some of the dry traditional meads in the commercial competition far outstrip my own attempts (no surprise) and really inspired me by confirming my wildest dreams of just what a dry mead could be like.

 

[akueck]

I judged a varietal dry flight with Ken on the commercial side. Even though there were lots of other good meads I got to taste (including BOS during the first round, lucky me!), I still think that dry flight was my favorite overall. I also just prefer the dry stuff. The off-dry meads are also good, but I like them best on the very bottom end of off-dry.

 

[tweak'e]

What makes you think mead should chase the wine market?

I think Brad Dahlhofer"s, B. Nektar Meadery showes that the mead market is more of an alternative to wine.

Although you can look at mead as a good alternative to wine, it needs to be demonstrated first how mead can stand on its own as something unique apart from wine.
--

McFeeley-

That is a very good point. How should mead be labeled? Do we group it into its own category that is separate from wine and "country wines" or “fruit wines”, or should it be categorized as a "honey wine"?

Also, how would categorizing it under wine or separately affect how we market mead, current legislation concerns, as well as sales of mead.

Just some other items to think and discuss.


Michael

that pretty much it in a nutshell. people who are not regular wine drinkers will keep clear of a honey wine. (of course there are the beer and spirit versions of mead for those markets but most people know mead as a wine.)
as its generally wine drinkers doing the buying and that there is no point trying to compete head to head with wine, you need to make mead standout on its own away from the general wine crowd without making it appeal only to a narrow niche of customers.

hence the dilemma of how to entice a wine drinker over to mead, especially if mead is a more expensive product.

 

[Smarrikåka]

I think one market that isn't too hard to reach is those willing to pay a lot of money for beer, simply because there's not that great a deal of really expensive beers. And if they're not going to buy beer, I think they'd rather go for mead than wine, as far as fermented beverages go.

 

[Tiwas]

Another market would be those with higher salaries who got out of golfing because it got too main stream, and who are sick and tired of people drinking boxed wines...Drinking mead would make them special again, and they'd be able to comment on something most people don't really have a chance of drinking.

 

[mccann51]

I think one market that isn't too hard to reach is those willing to pay a lot of money for beer, simply because there's not that great a deal of really expensive beers. And if they're not going to buy beer, I think they'd rather go for mead than wine, as far as fermented beverages go.

From my experience in the US, there are plenty of expensive, high quality beers, as well as the market for them. That said, I agree with your point, that beer drinkers are probably more likely to accept mead. Beer - at least the craft brewing that I'm familiar with - is a far more eclectic and adventurous beverage than wine is (my ignorance of wine as compared to beer is undoubtedly showing), simply due to the large array of possible - and acceptable - ingredients and ways with which to put them together (not to say that the way grapes and yeast are put together to create such an array of flavors isn't impressive). Thus, craft beer drinkers are going to probably be more accepting of the diversity that mead offers.