Aengus MacLeod Met

Ah Easter, seems like a plausible excuse to crack open a bottle of the sweet stuff, while listening to some classic Eurythmics.

This bottle has been gathering dust since last years Witchfest, and is brewed by that famous German Scot Aengus (well of course it is)

A bulbous bottle and a stopped cork lid implies I don’t need to drink all of this in one sitting, well we’ll see about that. I’m also looking forward to contrasting the taste with his 3 year aged version, so perhaps I’ll do both this weekend.

To an extent this German Mead might present the missing link between the Meads of the Celtic World (Brittany, Wales, Scotland, England) and the East (Poland. Lithuania) so although I’ve tasted this before, I’ve not done so with so many weird ideas in my head.

The scent is sweet with a spike, maybe a hint of a melomel, the mead is a rich but slightly pale gold, and the first sip is quite a crisp sweet bite. There is a hint of something else here almost a white wine taste, so I do wonder.

A surprising easy drink to perhaps guzzle, or simply a reflection of the mood I’m in. There’s an almost burnt aroma to the glass now, and the sweetness is quite subdued compare to more mundane mead.

Perhaps this is the secret of a particularity palatable mead, that to some extent the sweetness is hidden, or subdued enough that there other flavours come through. All in all though this bodes for a pleasant evening.

Melionnec Chouchenn (£2.50, 75cl, 13.5%)

My second visit to a Chouchen, and this time a much more elegant look, in a delightful bottle sealed with Celtic spirals and a host of intriguing text that reads thus:

ChouchennCuvee artisanale tradition
La Ruche Celtique
Societe coop d’apiculteurs de Bretagne, 22110 Melionnec
Hydromel Bretton
Boissopn celte d’apertif et de table
Gibier, crepes
Elabore par Joel Catherine, Apiculteur a Korneg

Les Chouchenn
La Ruche Celtique
De la boisson sacree des Druides a la boisson favourite des Fest Deis at Fest nos d’aujourd’hui le chouchenn a toujours ete present dans la culture celte
Le Chouchenn Traditionl de la Ruche celtique eleve de maniere artisanale est une boisson orginale a server tres frais en accompagnement de plats cuisines de viands, poissions et desserts. Il peut etre egalement servi en cocktail d’apertif avec des crèmes de fruits (mure, peche…etc)

This is clearly a mead produced by someone proud of their bee keeping and their Celtic heritage, there’s even a suggestion that there is a bee keeping society involved. Babel fish translates the back text as:

Chouchenn The Celtic Hive Drink sacree of the Druids to the drink favourite of Fest Deis At Fest our of today the chouchenn was always present in the Celtic culture Chouchenn Traditionl of the Celtic Hive high in an artisanal way is a drink orginale has very fresh server in accompaniment of dishes kitchens of viands, pitched and desserts. It can be also been used in cocktail of apertif with creams as fruits (, sinned… etc walls)

So there’s a suggestion of mixing mead with fruit juice, or perhaps something creamy, which probably needs clarifying before experimenting.

The scent is distinctive and reminiscent of the last bottle of Chouchen, sweet but not as sweet as most English meads, with an acidic undercurrent. Not quite vinegar but maybe a hint.

The mead is clear and deep gold, the first taste is sweet but again with subtle undertones, and a bit of an aftertaste, maybe a hint of heartburn but still very pleasant. There’s also dryness here and I suspect if I finish the bottle in one sitting as is my intention I’ll be not only drunk but parched too.

There’s almost a sparkle and the flavor is getting richer. I wonder if someone has ever produced sparkling mead? Anyhow this one has a lot of flavor and the rest of the evening looks set.

An unlikely occurrence of Mead

A somewhat strange occurance last night at my favourite local.

After a successful meeting in Mabels Tavern, which (to a degree) represented the culmination of a years worth of conspiring to set up a new Peace & Disarmament network. A wee bit merry and by random chance I suggested getting together at the Oakdale for a few more beers.

The Oakdale is a strange pub. It’s a back street local but a most peculiar one. They do agood beer from the Milton brewery, a fine range of malt whiskeys and as I discovered a range of meads.

Also the landlord also is one of the tallest Goths I’ve met, and used to (I think) organise ‘synthetic culture’ back in the day. Of late the pub has installed great big aquariums full of Lizards, and on occasion the landlord encourages them to sit on patrons, which is kind of surreal. The juke box is full of old goth classics, and in case you can’t tell I like it here.

Anyhow last night I bought a beer, settled down for a drink and a chat. The bar tender then turned up with a couple of shot glasses as a free gift (you see it is dead nice here). Somewhat confused I looked at them, wondering what and why. My friend started to question if they were a mead, they were, and a familiar sweet smell suggested something strange.

The bar tender pointed out they weren’t shots but glasses of mead. My mind boggled as my friend suggested I was the biggest mead geek in history. I explained about this site and the bartender described the range of Moniack (a Cornish mead??), Gales and I think others.

The mead he’d donated to us was the Monaick and recognizable as such, after all I have drunk a fair amount of the stuff at various Witchfests.

But still completely surreal. My local real ale come Goth pub donating shots of mead on a Friday night. What great start to the weekend, and perhaps the Mead revival is not inconceivable.

Next time I’ll order a pint.

Disappointments of Addis

After finally trying Ethiopian mead at the Zigni House, and being very impressed I took the opportunity to seek out another Ethopian / East Africa restaurant in the quest for Tej.

As a restaurant Addis was fair enough, the waiting staff were pretty useless but inconceivably there was no mead on offer. Putting aside my British reserve I even asked and the waiter dismissed the ask, as either he didn’t understand me, wasn’t interested or the answer was no. There was nothing resembling Mead on the menu although there was a listing under the red wine section for an ‘Ethiopian wine’

In hindsight I suspect an Ethiopian wine may well be a mead, and the waiter may have just been stupid. A google search suggests there may well be an Ethiopian red wine, so I dunno maybe I should drop them an email.

However also in hindsight the food wasn’t that great, the Injura was ok but the lamb dish was more grey than tasty. There are undoubtedly many more Ethopian / East African restaurants to visit first.

A bit more research suggests:

Axum Restaurant - 266 Wandsworth Road, Vauxhall, London, SW8 2JR
Blue Nile - 300 Clapham Road, Stockwell, London, SW9 9AE
Cafe Genet- Unit 7 Village Kitchen, Shepherd Bush Green, London W12 8PP
Damera Ethiopian Restaurant - 129 Askew Road, Shepherd's Bush, London W12
Fassika - 152 Seven Sisters Road, London, N7 7PL
Kokeb Ethiopian Cuisine - 45 Roman Way, Holloway, London, N7 8XF
Kokeb Ethiopian Restaurant - 45 Roman Way, London N7 8XF
Lalibela - 137 Fortess Road, Tufnell Park, London, NW5 2HR
Marathon Restaurant & Bar - 193a Caledonian Road, N1 0SL
Mekasha Ethiopian Restaurant - 75 Fairfax Road, London NW6 4EE
Menelik Ethiopian Restaurant - 42 Caledonian Road, London, N1 9DT
Merkato Ethiopian Restaurant - 196 Caledonian Road, London N1 0SQ
Mosob - 339 Harrow Road, Maida Vale
Muna's - 599 Green Lanes, Hornsey
Nazereth Cafe Ethiopian Restaurant - 4 Walton Road, London N15 4PS
Nile Ethiopian Restaurant - 266 Wandsworth Road, Vauxhall, London, SW8 2JR
Pomi Cafe Ethiopian Restaurant- 157 Kentish Town Road, London NW1
Queen of Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant - 12 Fortess Road, London NW5 2EU
Roha Ethiopian Ethiopian Restaurant - 407 Lordship Lane, London N17 6AG
Sinke / Senke Cafe Ethiopian Restaurant- 1b - 1c, Rock Street, London N4 2DN
Sodere Ethiopian Restaurant - 143 Goldhawk Road - London, W12 8EN
St. Gebriel Deli Ethiopian Restaurant, 12 Blackstock Rd, London N4 2DW
The Peacock Ethiopian Restaurant - 107 Uxbridge Rd, London W12 8NL
Tobia Ethiopian Restaurant - 2a Lithos Road, London NW3 6EF
Wabi Shebele Restaurant - 189-191 New Kent Road, London, SE1 4AG
Zeret Kitchen - 216 Camberwell Road, London, SE5 0ED

And a whole host of listings under African restaurants, which offers some promise too. Busy and interesting mead times ahead

All About Tej

While researching Tej and Ethopian meads I stumbled upon a particular good history of Tej and Ethopia which as a precaution I’ve posted below (things on the internet occasionally and inconveniently vanish.

However in the odd world of the internet, someone seems to have objected to me posting this here. Now if this was the original author than fair enough, but equally this is a blog about drinking mead. One would have thought that with all the credits I included, the thank you’s and the links that a sense of perspective might be possible.

In the cause of advancing human knowledge, and of raising the standards of knowledge about the history of Ethopia, this post is hereby censored by the internet police.

For the main text see here and many thanks to Harry Kloman for the original text. If you ever end up reading this my apologies for pinching your work. However as a precaution against loosing it {well we’re buggered now}

All About Tej



Off to my local book burning tonight, anyone care to join me……

Meyes Ethopian Mead (£4.50, 37.5cl?, ??)

Ah at last my first Ethopian mead and from a restaurant (Zigni House) just up the road from work, which I’ve been meaning to find an excuse to visit for some time.

I’ve been before but suffered a little from the menu which seemed to be very dish specific and the conflict between carnivores (like myself) and vegetarians (most of my friends). This time there was a fair posse and the meat dish (Zil-Zil) and Injera worked well for me.

The mead was served in an interesting bulbous bottle (perhaps a Berele) of indeterminate size and strength. I reckon 375-400ml in that it filled two small glasses of wine. The waitress suggested drinking straight from the bottle, and I tried but the narrow neck made it a bit weird.

From the bottle there was a sweetish honey smell, from the glass a much more bitter one, and the first taste reflected the bitter scent more.

This is definitely an interesting taste, not at all sweat like other meads, but still very pleasant. There’s quite a watery taste here, perhaps it’s not that strong or has been mixed, and the bitter taste may well represent what the honey has been fermented with.

The description of the brewing of Tej includes:

The powdered leaves and twigs of Gesho (Rhamnus prinoides, a hops like bittering agent which is a species of buckthorn

And equally if I wasn;t so British I could have asked for more details.

Still an interesting diversion from sweater meads, something to repeat and an excuse to seek out Ethopian restaurants across London, which sounds like quite a fun expedition for the coming months.

Addis on Caledonian road was recommended by one of my eating companions and so more to follow.

Lyme Bay Christmas Mead (£11.50, 75cl, 14%)

Now I’ve never been a fan of Christmas, it seems to be a festival devoted to stress, family arguments, idiotic behavior and it has always brought the worse out of my parents sometimes with violent results.

So for the last couple of years I’ve been avoiding going home, although last year I seem to have been tricked into a) cooking Christmas dinner for friends and then b) visting family on Boxing day with the usual results.

After various excitements on the Rainbow Warrior this year I wanted to follow a friends advice and simply go to Quinns, his local Irish pub. I’d already planned an exciting new year with my sister on Knoydart, the UK’s last wilderness (well sort of) and so an especially grumpy Christmas seemed ideal.

Having enjoyed a few pints we headed back to his, where it turned out he’d cheated and laid on some festive cheer (bastard) in the form of a Turkey thing. I’d come prepared with a bottle of Lyme bay Christmas mead from the trip to Dorset.

As a new adventure, and perhaps a Christmas tradition we heated the mead, and what a delightful experience it was. Warm, sweet and full of spices. Similar to a mulled wine but much nicer and without the artifice of adding sugar to a cheap bottle of red plonk. Mead was clearly designed to be served hot to sooth the winters chill.

To be honest I can’t remember a huge amount of details regarding the precise taste and the spices may well have masked the subtly of the honey and bitters. Still I’ll very happily drink many more Lyme Bay meads and before the winter is out, I’d like to try a few more evenings of hot mead.

The only fly is the description on the website regarding the Christmas mead:

A rich, smooth honey Mead blended with festive spices.
Awarded One-star Gold at the 'Great Taste Awards' 2009

Which suggests I should be stockpiling more for Christmas 2011