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If
it’s good for ancient Druids, runnin’ nekkid through the wuids, Drinkin’
strange fermented fluids, it’s good enough for me! —
Pete Seeger |
Mead is wine made from honey, water and yeast. It is probably the world's oldest fermented beverage. For some people, it is an acquired taste...and I for one acquired it very quickly!
Not only is mead a special drink, but it is very easy to make...easier than beer or regular wine. Although it does take a bit longer (i.e. months and months) than beer to age prior to drinking, even The Village Idiot can make good mead. You can make it still, or sparkling. Light and dry, heavy and sweet, or anywhere in between. Use clover, wildflower, or varietal honey for very different results. Use fruit, spices and other flavorings to make an even wider variety of meads and mead-based beverages. The sky's the limit with mead.
Many of our club members have been stung by the mead bug (...honey...bees...stung...get it?). While we are limited in how much information we can provide here, we hope to bring some meadmaking resources to your attention, and to share with you the knowledge and experience of some of our club's more practiced meadmakers. You will find basic hardware, ingredients, procedures and recipes in the How-To link above.
If you have never had mead, go to your favorite Maryland liquor store and ask for a bottle of Linginore (Berrywine Plantation) Mead. Buy two bottles...one to drink now, and the other to drink two years from now. In two years, you probably won't remember the mead you drank today. But rest assured, it will be different, and definitely for the better.
We recommend going to your favorite homebrew supply shop, bookstore or online seller and buying a copy of The Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm. Yes, the word "compleat" is misspelled on purpose for some reason (maybe it's some Olde English thing). It is a new book, and probably the best thing out on making mead. It starts off simple and uncomplicated, and will take you to whatever level of complexity your brain can handle.
