Mead in America
An Ancient Drink for Modern Times

Posted: October 30th, 2004

By Jerald O'Kennard, jerald@tastings.com

Mead. Some call it honeywine. It is the stuff of Norse legends, Greek mythology, and toasts at Medieval Times dinner theatres. But, mead is moving out of the history pages, past the chain-mail gloved clutches of Renaissance Fair knights and Dungeon & Dragon conventioneers, and into the stores, restaurants, and homes of the 21st Century. Why? Well, without offending Dionysus, Odin, or any other vengeful deity, I would dare to say that the meads of the modern age are better than they have ever been and destined for greater things in the future.

There’s a real renaissance going on in the mead world. Today’s mead masters and acolytes are using ancient recipes, traditions and good old fashioned alchemy (just kidding) combined with modern techniques to go back to the future to create and refine mead flavors and styles for the present era. You might think of mead as a mulled, wine served warm with spices for some Falstaffian revelry or winter solstice celebration. But when was the last time you tasted sparkling mead served like a Champagne with appetizers? Or, had it after a dinner as a Sherry-like digestif. Or, enjoyed a chilled, fruit infused mead from your picnic cooler on a hot summer day. These are just some of the ways to discover and appreciate contemporary and traditional meads as mead makers and marketers dispel the misconceptions that this ancient drink is somehow frozen in time and as lifeless as the stale honeywine exhumed from King Midas’ tomb.

So what do modern meads taste like? Meads can be fermented bone-dry, off-dry, or sweet; they can be mixed with fruits, spices, or even aged in barrels. There are a polyglot multitude of (vaguely Tolkienesque) names for the many styles but these are the basic flavor types that we perceived in our recent tasting of thirty international meads.

The several-year-old, barrel-aged meads of Poland such as Jadwiga (93 pts.) and Kurpiowski (91 pts.) were a revelation for their very Sherry-like, full flavored character. In contrast, the French Canadian, Intermiel Black Currants (90 pts.) and Intermiel Raspberries (89 pts.) ¥¥¥melomels¥¥¥ (fruit infused honeywines) were notable for their freshness and delicacy of flavor; some of their very dry hydromels (French for honeywine), remarkably, were made with single-flower-variety honey.

Two US producers were standouts. The meads of the Redstone Meadery in Colorado were diversely styled and well made. Everything from their port-like 2001 Reserve Mead (92 pts.) to their sparkling, fairly dry and Brut-like, Sunshine Nectar (86 pts.) to their Traditional Mountain Honeywine (88 pts.) should appeal to a range of uses and palates. The meads of the Bartlett Estate Winery in Maine, very arguably the finest fruit wine producer in the United States, were perfectly instep with their outstanding still fruit wines. Their Sweet Mead Wine (90 pts.) was reminiscent of a fine German Gewurztraminer Beerenauslese dessert wine and their Dry Mead Wine (88 pts.) was bone-dry with a refreshing floral and herbaceous character.

What should you look for in a good mead? Honey, spice, and everything nice. Seriously, the honey character should be pure, fresh, and very discernable with a lively acidity and a balancing touch of earthy, herbal, or floral character. Since almost all meads are not hopped, it’s important that there is a balance so that the sweetness, dryness, or texture does not dominate or dull the palate. Beyond that, it’s really a matter of taste, what you like to drink, and what style best suits your application.

So, go forth, noble taste adventurers of the second Millennium and unlock the primordial mysteries of honeywine; there’s one that’s right for you. Here’s mead in your eye!

• 2004 Meads