I’m going to answer one of my favorite questions today, but it will be answered in parts.
“Willie, what is your Mead making process like?” Mead making, like many other types of Artisanal craftwork, is not a one size fits all operation. My process is likely different from many other Mead makers out there, and my approach to commercial Mead making doesn’t stray too far from what I did during my homebrew days. Scaling a batch of Mead for retail use can be tough to figure out, but if one keeps the scale smaller, you get to use a wider amount of ingredients in a larger number of small batches…but I digress. My Mead making process begins with inspiration.
Inspiration. Sometimes I get a spark from a meal I’m eating, and I think about what kind of Mead would go best with it. For example, I was eating Thai food with my family, and I thought a nice delicate mead with herbal infusions would pair beautifully with my green Thai curry, so I created Secret Treasure…a lightly hopped mead with lemongrass. Often enough, I’m listening to some music and it evokes a certain feeling…like an emotional/spiritual connection, and I think about Mead ingredients, like spices, fruit, and honey, that can also represent similar feelings. This process led me to make our Drink Your Dessert series last Fall, that had our popular Snickerdoodle Mead in the lineup.
Fantasy fiction and video games are often a huge inspiration for my Mead making. One of the first commercial batches I made used Juniper berries and Warrior hops, all thanks to Skyrim’s opening scene (if you’ve played the game, you know what I’m talking about). More recently, Lorien’s Bounty was made due to a passage in the Silmarillion. I am always thinking about how to go about making a special Mead that has eluded me to this day…Elvish wine. In Tolkien’s works, Miruvor is referenced as an Elvish wine or cordial made from sweet nectar. I think this can be made if one sets their mind to it…so let’s play!
Miruvor…In my imagination, this Mead needs to be extremely delicate. Elves are Forest dwellers that are attuned to nature. They would harvest rare Mead ingredients with care and patience and may also use certain herbs that may have medicinal aspects to them if the recipe called for it. Elves are a long-lived race, and as such, might have a developed palate for wine and Mead. This could translate to a dry or semi-sweet Mead with a nice acid balance. The floral notes need to be present, but not overpowering…so selecting a honey that won’t overpower the other ingredients, if any, is key. Perhaps a traditional Mead made with only a rare type of honey is called for? What would they use if they had access to over three hundred different types of honey worldwide?
Tupelo honey, which is produced when bees collect nectar from the blossoms of the white Ogeechee tupelo (Nyssa ogeche) tree, is rare, delicious, and expensive…which would suit the Elves rarified tastes just fine! We’d need at least four pounds of honey per gallon, so we can make it a very intoxicating Mead. I would also select a yeast that is known for fermenting Mead cleanly, without giving too much character that could overpower our delicate honey flavors, such as Lalvin D-47. Then I would make every effort to ferment the Mead at a cooler temperature. After fermentation, proper storage for long term aging is crucial…somewhere dark, cool, and oxygen free. This is a simple Mead recipe using only one ingredient, but it is the most important ingredient.
If Tupelo proves to be hard to find, or too expensive, one could substitute another light honey, such as Alfalfa, and add some other floral notes by adding in dried flowers to the Mead after fermentation is completed. The latter approach would stick more to canon as well, as the original called for “flowers from Yavanna’s gardens.” Perhaps some dried honeysuckle, with a dash of Elderflower would add interesting flavor and complexity?
There you have it! The birth of a Mead from concept to recipe.
Cheers!
Willie
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We've finally released our highly anticipated single barrel batch of Three Wyrd Sisters Mead...a fire roasted pineapple and coconut Mead aged in a Caribbean Rum barrel.
Stop in the meadery to pick up a bottle of this mead or order online with us! Click Here.
The Three Wyrd Sisters Mead was also accidentally left on the table with the Dragon Queen while filming the latest season of Game of Thrones! Don't forget to pick up some bottles of mead for the last two episodes of Game of Thrones!
Our mead is Gluten Free! If you're looking for an alternative adult beverage that doesn't contain gluten and you're tired of overly sweet ciders and weak spiked sparkling waters... Try out some mead!
]]>By Willie Wrede
31 March 2019
Some of you, who have been paying attention to the latest trends in American drinking culture, are aware of a new type of fermented honey beverage hitting the markets and creating a buzz…Mead. For those of you who aren’t as dialed in, or who have heard the term before but aren’t quite sure about what it is, you are not alone. There’s a saying going around in the industry “Mead is the oldest form of fermented beverage that nobody’s heard of.” To a large extent that’s true. At over 9,000 years old Mead, which is fermented honey, is the oldest…but due to a recent Bud Light commercial with actors crying “Dilly Dilly!” millions of people are now more aware.
One chief reason that most folks haven’t tried it yet, is because up until just a few years ago, Mead was only produced by a handful of wineries, which peddled their wares at Renaissance Faires. There were approximately 65 dedicated Meaderies in operation five years ago, but the scene is exploding a la craft beer, albeit at a much slower rate. Today there are close to 500 Meaderies across the United States, with many more in the planning stages, and wineries are adding mead to their product lineup as well. As with cider, most mead is gluten free, and we all know how well that sells in today’s market climate. With over 60 varieties of honey available domestically, and approximately 300 varieties worldwide, all of which have regional influences on their flavor, Mead is the ultimate blank canvas awaiting the artist’s brush.
Pop Culture is giving Mead a boost. HBO’s Game of Thrones, originally written by George R.R. Martin, History Channel’s Vikings, Marvel’s Thor movies, Beowulf, The Lord of The Rings, and Harry Potter, are all somewhat responsible for the rise in recent popularity. Mead has long been a part of fantasy fiction and is mentioned in stories or sagas from long ago.
Most people instantly think that Mead will be too sweet or thick, like the honey it is made from. That’s not usually the case. There were a lot of people blending honey with cheap white wine and calling that Mead. This still happens at some venues where the folks in charge make a business over quality decision. It is also sold like this in some widely distributed labels that say “Meade” with an extra “E” tacked on the end. This faux Mead is called a Mulsum, and is an ancient Roman drink. Today the Mead landscape has adopted some of the best things about Craft alcohol, and there are wide ranges of sweetness levels, flavor combinations, alcohol strengths, and styles available. Meaderies have been surprising people, some of which have the highest average ratings on a popular beer tracking app called Untappd, and the secondary market is ablaze with “whales” being traded and sold for several time the retail value.
An exhaustive list of the various styles of Mead would fill an entire magazine. At last count there were more than 30, and the industry continues to innovate and create more. Where can you find it? Most producers start small, and do a distribution model, but Mead bars are popping up everywhere. Themes run from punkish, to modern/hip. Others take inspiration from their heritage or interests in history. Most establishments sell their product on Vinoshipper.com, and we are no different. See the shop tab to find our current list of bottled varieties, or join one of our Mead Clubs, and get the latest releases sent right to your door!
About the author: Willie Wrede is the founder, co-owner, and Mead Maker at Meduseld Meadery in Lancaster, PA. Meduseld means Mead Hall in old English, and that mental image is exactly what you’ll find when you walk through our doors. Willie is a BJCP Mead Judge, and a Veteran who likes to get lost in the worlds of Fantasy fiction, derives a lot of inspiration for recipes from those novels, from history, and his travels abroad in the U.S. Armed Forces.
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