Mud and Mead

After a hectic few days at the Salisbury Beer Festival, the Stonehenge Soltice gathering and some fairly dramatic times with Greenpeace, I made it to Glastonbury and the biggest festival of the year.

At the beer festival I had half an eye out for some Mead, but was to be disappointed. In the daytime the gift shop at Old Sarum had the range from Lyme Bay, but I was hesitant to carry too much glass out to the Stones, and was recovering from an unfortunate incident falling out of a moving car (Don’t ask).

So to Glastonbury and the Avalon Vineyard, in nearby West Pennard who sold Mead on tap, and compared to other alcohol at the festival at a pretty competitive price. At least £ per abv/volume.

The festival was as fun as ever, although I’m feeling like I haven’t really challeneged myself this year, my feet hurt and I may have od’ed on folk music. Still it’s about as much fun as you can have in a weekend.

Midaus Nektaras Grizta Vyrai

OK next of the Mead brandies from the very special Mead set. Although now at 40% abv I’m making no pretense that we’re in the realms of Mead any more.

A much lighter colour that the Sventine this looks more like Mead, the Midus website doesn’t include a description but the ingredients listed include:

Half-finished Mead product, alcoholized apple and quince juice, distillilate of the alcoholized apple juice, lemon acid, Dandelion blossoms or Dandelion root.

So definitely not a mead then.

The scent reminds me a little of a Schnapps and a party a wee while ago where someone had an equally dangerous set of German drinks. It’s also quite sweet smelling like mead, but it’s got to be different.

The taste is not unpleasant, sweet with a ting of alcohol but then the after burn kicks in. This feels a bit like a Calvados, but not so sickly sugary as the Lubelska I had the other week.

There’s another note on the bottle

Spititnis Gerimas alcoholic drink

so perhaps Schnapps is a better description than a brandy. The wiki definition of Schnapps sounds very close, sort of an Eau de Vie, but made from honey rather than fruit.

Over time the taste grows on me a little and it does sort of feel like a Mead, just with too much alcohol to make it drinkable in any quantity. They get stronger from here so whatever’s next?

A Connoisseur of Mead

More random internet wanderings have led me to an interesting article from a South African Mead producer, Makana, that I suspect will spawn several posts.

How to drink mead
Mead is a sophisticated beverage. The flavours in honey are more complex and subtle than those in fruit or malt, hence the mead drinker develops a very discerning palate.
The mouth must be cleared of foreign uncomplimentary tastes, such as toothpaste or peppermints. This is best achieved with a light snack - cheese, pickled quails eggs, light meats or the like.
The mead should be chilled in a fridge for at least an hour before consumption. It is best to let the mead stand in the fridge for 48 hours as this allows it to settle into the bottle and recover from any shaking it may have received on the way from the Meadery to your fridge. Some mead drinkers place ice in the mead - it is important to use good quality water for making the ice as the chlorine in tap water will affect the taste of the mead.
Mead should be poured gently into the same type of glasses used for red wines. This allows a decent amount of mead to contact the atmosphere and develops the bouquet of the mead.
If you have not consumed mead before, we recommend that you start with a semi-sweet mead. This can be either a spiced or plain mead. Once you have become acquainted with mead in this way you may migrate to less sweet and dry meads.

Now this is clearly the result of Mead drinking in the modern age, in a hot country. Although the idea of letting Mead settle is interesting, none of the commercial meads I’ve drunk so far have had sediment, so I’m now interested in finding a wilder Mead that does.

What to drink mead with
Mead is an excellent accompaniment to most savoury dishes. Sweeter meads tend to go well with spicier foods while dry meads are excellent served with delicate dishes such as chicken, duck, fish and calamari.
All meals should be consumed with good friends, music and conversation as has been the way for thousands of years.

Are you a mead connoisseur, or do you want to be?
Wines and beers are normally from a specific region, or culture, whereas there is a mead, or a record of a mead, for nearly every human culture that has lived with bees.
Hence a mead connoisseur needs to know about the world, and about our planet's cultures. A mead connoisseur needs to understand that a bottle of Kurpiosky Polish mead is going to be very different, yet share a lot in common with a bottle of Makana Meadery African mead from the other side of the world. A bottle of Munro's Mead from Canada will be very different to a bottle of Medovina Hurka from Slovenia.
A mead connoisseur will understand that bees visit thousands of different species of flowers all over the world, making millions of combinations of flavours in their honey every year. Whereas in wine making we are limited to a handful of cultivars of grapes, mead makers have access to honey - a magical mixture of natural flower nectar which will always be different as you never get exactly the same flowers flowering at exactly the same time every year!!
For a mead maker this great diversity of honey types forms the foundation of the art and science of mead making. The style of mead making adds further levels of complexity to the product.
A mead connoisseur is somebody who can appreciate diversity, uniqueness, and above all live with the fact that the chances are she or he will open a bottle of mead, enjoy it and probably never be able to buy another bottle which tastes exactly the same!

Well to what extent is a Drinker of Mead a connoisseur? I’ve drunk a fair amount of Mead, rarely the same variety twice, and I’d agree they’re never the same so it’s hard to tell.

I also like the image of honey as a magical mixture of flower nectars, transformed into Mead by the art of a Craftsman.

Perhaps once I’ve settled on a favored few I can try different years and see if my taste buds can tell the difference.

Midaus Nektaras Sventine

The second mead from deep inside the Crouch End Triangle, this one is considerably stronger at 30% abv, so much so that Midus describes it as a Mead Nectar rather than a mead.

With the deep brown color of Whiskey and a sweet scent with a scented alcohol tang this promises to be quite interesting. There’s definitely a strong aroma of something here, perhaps a Vanilla, and the Midus site describes it thus:

It is of a mild taste and aroma, and of beautiful red color. The spiciness of the mead nectar is provided by the juice of blueberries, cranberries, and cherries. The drink is enjoyed by little sips from little shot glasses; it goes with sweet desserts the best.

First taste is very pleasant like a dessert wine with a fruity flavor; I know there’s quite a bit of alcohol there but its subtle. The aroma’ still pungent and subsequent sips lack the initial shock of the fruit but are still good. Equally as my taste buds adjust I’m coming to recognize the strength of the Mead brandy.

Undoubtedly not a session drink, but a pleasant tipple, although I'm intrigued to know why the other 4 meads / mead brandies in the set are so much stronger, and the other ordinary meads are so neglected.

Mead on the Moon

A Scandinavian Tale.
[featured in the Tell Me A Story column of the Raleigh, NC News & Observer, Tuesday July 20, 1999]

Long ago Odin, god of wisdom, poetry and War, decided he would send the hand-some young god known as Mani to the sky. There he would drive the moon chariot and fill the night sky with light.

Odin sent along in Mani's chariot all the things wasted on Earth. He sent misspent time and squandered wealth, broken vows, unanswered prayers, abandoned friends. The chariot was brimming with things wasted-chains to yoke fleas and cages for gnats, unfulfilled promises and favors, wasted talents. Mani carried the hearts of those who did not love and the memories of those who did not care to remember.

Mani also took two children with him, a fair-haired boy named Hyuki and his sister who was known as Bil. But Odin had not planned for this to happen. It happened this way.

There was a man named Vidfinner who had two children, Hyuki and Bil. He pretended to love his children, but in fact Vidfinner loved only the magical elixir known as the mead. He had, long before, so craved this drink that he fought the gods and beat them, and stole from them their magical mead.

The people called Vidfinner by another name. He was known as Svigdur, Champion Drinker and that was because he loved the taste of his stolen liquid. He loved the taste, yes, but even more he loved the power it gave him. The magical mead gave people strength and power beyond imagining.

"My mead gives me power over even the gods," Svigdur bellowed to all who would listen. He called to the gods: "I don't care about you. I have my mead!"

But Svigdur was greedy and never could drink enough to satisfy his cravings for that power. He created a secret spring in the mountains from which burbled forth his magical mead. One night, a night filled with wild sounds, Svigdur called to his children. "Go to the mountain spring and fetch me a bucket of mead!"

"But father," Hyuki begged, "it's so late, and so dark, and we're afraid. We cannot climb the mountain at night. We might get lost."

"I don't care about your fears," Svigdur shouted. "Go. Go now. I must have more mead." And with that he slung a pole and a bucket over the young children's shoulders. The two children, shivering with fear; set out for the mountain. They began to climb. They breathed heavily and clutched each other's hands, for they knew they would have to reach the top and get their father's mead. If they failed in their task, their father would unleash his terrible fury on them.

Odin looked down on Earth and saw the two children walking to the top of the mountain. When he saw their bucket, he knew where they were headed, and at the memory of Svigdur's thievery he bristled with anger. Ever since the day Svigdur had stolen the mead, Odin had vowed he would one day return it to its rightful place in the heavens. And so, with his single, shining all-seeing eye, he watched as the children climbed and climbed.

The children reached the top of the mountain and stumbled their way to the spring. There they dipped their bucket and filled it to its brim. When the bucket was full, they tugged it out, but as they placed it on the pole, they spilled some onto the grass at their feet. With that the grass grew tall and lush and strong.

"How amazing," Hyuki said, looking at the growing grass. "This is a magical drink, Bil. We must be very careful not to spill another drop."

"Yes," Bil said. "You know, brother, I think this mead may be a gift from the gods."

"A gift, you say," Hyuki said. "I think our father stole this mead that was meant for the gods."

"Perhaps," Bil said quietly; for she had long wondered about that.

The children, the pole balanced between them, began to walk down the side of the mountain, taking care not to spill another drop. But Odin called to Mani. "You will take those children with you, too," Odin said. "Their kindness is wasted on Earth with a father who cares only for my potion. Go now. Take those children and their bucket of mead with you and keep them there."

Mani swept down and took hold of the children. He put them in his chariot, along with the bucket of mead, and as he sped toward the heavens, the Earth was suddenly washed with light - the light of Mani's chariot, of two wasted children, and of the bucket of the most magical mead.

Ever since that day Hyuki and Bil have lived upon the face of the moon. Some people say that the dark spots on the moon are the children's shadows, and others call out to Bil whenever the moon is full. "Drop some of the magical mead on my lips, sweet Bil," they call, for they too wish to gain the strength that only the magical mead of the moon can impart.


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The Edda is the name given to two works or collections of Scandinavian lore. The first was found in 1643 by an Icelandic bishop and consists of mythological and heroic poetry dating from about the ninth century. The Younger Edda, as the second is known, was found in 1628 and consists of much Scandinavian mythology, and includes a glossary of poetic expressions, lists of meters and of poets. In the Edda, the son of Mundilfoeri, a god, is known as Mani, or moon.

Poetry and the Drinker of Mead

There seems to be another Drinker of Mead out in internet world, this time more of a poet than a drinker and you can find his/her work by doing a search on 'mead' at the Thicket of Thorns

This appealed to my Melancholic nature:

Drinker of Mead
Pointless existence
Now my unfortunate lot
It seems I have ceased

I am forsaken
Cannot hear her sweet whispers
Yet she still resides

In my shattered mind
Her image decomposes
And it seeps through me

I cannot forget
This unceasing agony
This one obsession

Again perhaps there is something to this world of Mead and Poetry.

Lietuviskas Midus Bociy

Some while ago I aquired a gift set of six Lithuanian meads deep in the Crouch End Triangle, from the famous Lietuviškas Midus meadery.

They’ve been lurking in my wine rack ever since, probably because I’ve been a bit scared to try them. The company suggests they produce three varieties of mead, one kind of balsam and four kinds of mead nectars, and at 75% abv that’s one powerful nectar.


However starting at the Mead end (at 14% abv) the miniature Bociy looks much safer, a clean slightly yellow mead with a sweet scent and a definite alcohol aroma.

The first taste is quite weird, initially quite syrupy, then the honey kicks in, followed by a bit of an after-burn. I can’t believe this is the weakest of the set. Folk in Eastern Europe must be hardier than here.

The bottle lists ingredients as diverse as lemon acid (as a regulator), juniper berries and hops so this could be Braggot or a Melomel. Your call?

Overall not unpleasant but too much of an alcohol / spirit taste to be great. There’s a bit of a chemical tang too so probably not worth investing in a bigger bottle.

Friary Vitners Spiced Mead

It’s a hot summery day, so I’m not sure this is the mead for the weather but I have a taste for something new, and their traditional mead was pleasant.

A very sweet smell with a strong presence of cinnamon? This promises to be akin to a mulled wine, and perhaps I’ll heat some later.

A dark rich colour poured from the bottle. It’s been a while since I tried a new mead so I’m looking forward to this.

A smooth sweet taste, the spices aren’t initially recognizable until the after taste kicks in, and it’s a very pleasant mix of spices. Equally its too hot to drink this without ice so:

As it cools the spices seem to become more full bodied. This is very nice indeed and reminiscent of something I can’t quite place, probably a Christmas punch?

All in as my first Metheglin, it’s a far better experience than the Blackberry Melomel from Afon Mel

As the mead reaches a properly chilled temperature, the taste seems to grow on me more, and beckons a very plesant evening to come.