About Mead, Metheglin and Other Variations

Author: * Taibhse Cenel Conaill - 7 Posts on this thread out of 34 Posts sitewide.
Date: Jan 9, 2007 - 10:56

Mead is possibly one of the oldest alcoholic drinks, maybe dating back more than 8,000 years, and as such has a rich history and many local variations. Although it was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, production and popularity continued longest in Northern Europe, where grapes could not be grown to make wine.

It became the chief drink of the Celts and Vikings and was often referred to in Gaelic poetry. Celtic graves from the Iron age also give indications of the importance of "mead" to these cultures. Chieftains were buried with drinking implements, including cauldrons that once held mead, or honey used for the making of mead.

In its simplest form, mead is just honey and water, fermented with yeast so that the sugars in the honey turn to alcohol. Originally, fermentation was left to wild yeasts from the air, or from the dregs of old stock, but over the centuries it has acquired various refinements and additions.

Some of the more common variations of mead are:

Metheglin - a mead that contains spices (eg cloves, cinnamon or nutmeg) or herbs (eg oregano, lavender or chamomile). This word is derived from the Welsh word meddyglyn, meaning "medicinal liquor", as healing herbs were often stored as metheglin so they would be available over the winter (as well as making them much easier to swallow). One of the finds in the Celtic chieftain's grave at the Hochdorf site in Germany was a cauldron that had contained a honey mixed with approximately 100 different plants - a very complex metheglin.

Pyment - is a mead fermented with white or red grape juice or wine. Pyment made with white grape juice is sometimes called "white mead."

Melomel - is a mead that contains fruit, such as strawberry, blackcurrant, tayberries or even rose hips. It was also used as a means of food preservation, keeping summer produce for the winter.

Cyser - is a blend of honey and apple juice fermented together

Sack mead - a mead that is made with more than usual the amount of honey, make for a very concentrated sweet drink. It derives its name from the fortified dessert wine sherry, which was once called "sack" in England.

Mulsum - familiar maybe to the Romans here, this is not a true mead, but is unfermented honey blended with a high-alcohol wine.