Althouse: ""[T]here's still one alcoholic territory upon which we can exert our manifest drinking destiny: mead."

February 24, 2015

""[T]here's still one alcoholic territory upon which we can exert our manifest drinking destiny: mead."

Sure, it’s 9,000 years old, and it’s made from honey. But it tastes new, and holy hell, is it growing."

From "This Ancient Booze Is Now Growing Faster Than U.S. Craft Beer."

22 comments:

Darconville said...: The text of the link contains an obvious falsity: mead is not more popular than craft beer, just growing at a faster rate. Of course something that is near zero is going to grow faster than a multi-billion dollar industry.; 2/24/15, 7:59 AM
Mark said...: Madison recently got our own Meadery a year or two back, just opened a tasting room I think.

Goes well with food.; 2/24/15, 8:04 AM
Bob Ellison said...: Yes, what Darconville said. This is a stupid article from the get-go. The URL is "http://www.thrillist.com/drink/nation/mead-is-more-popular-than-craft-beer".

Wake me up when mead passes passes kale in popularity.; 2/24/15, 8:06 AM
traditionalguy said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/24/15, 8:10 AM
traditionalguy said...: It said Mead is Zeus's favorite. Well everybody knows that.; 2/24/15, 8:10 AM
Florida Gator said...: Does this mean that Meadhouse will be renamed to Heorot?

I'm a robot.; 2/24/15, 8:11 AM
Curious George said...: "If yeast gets thrown into the honey, it’s going to create alcohol.”

Yeast is in the air. It's everywhere.; 2/24/15, 8:12 AM
iowan2 said...: My public school education never taught me how important fermentation, and the making of wine, beer, and spirits, where vital to the advancement of the human race. Potable water was a rarity, and learning to ferment drinkable liquids allowed for man to expand his roam.; 2/24/15, 8:18 AM
Bryan C said...: I give it a try now and then but Mead's generally too sweet for my tastes.

But ciders are also getting more popular, which is nice. Unfortunately most of the apple varieties once grown for cider have fallen out of favor with Big Orchard and need to be replaced or rediscovered.; 2/24/15, 8:20 AM
chickelit said...: Some personal recommendations:

Got Mead?; 2/24/15, 8:25 AM
Peter said...: Beer in the middle ages was made from barley, and most of it was so weak that it had to be consumed fresh for its alcohol content was not high enough to keep it from spoiling.

Then (11th century?) brewers discovered that adding hops to the barley would extend the shelf life of their beer (which it does via an antibacterial effect that favors the activity of brewer's yeast over less desirable microorganisms).

Today hops are added mostly to create that hoppy flavor, but it wasn't always so.; 2/24/15, 8:36 AM
chickelit said...: Mark said...Madison recently got our own Meadery a year or two back, just opened a tasting room I think.

Get thee to a meade'ry! Why woulds't thou be a breeder of Wisconsinners?; 2/24/15, 8:37 AM
Brando said...: Doesn't seem like something I'd like, but I welcome the expansion of our alchoholic endeavors! I predict it won't be long before we have fermented, distilled and brewed just about every combination possible.; 2/24/15, 8:44 AM
Edmund said...: @Brando

If it's got carbs that yeast can turn to alcohol, it's been done. In Africa, they use sorghum, palm sap, milk, bamboo sap, and bananas, among other things.; 2/24/15, 8:53 AM
Julie C said...: You people haven't lived until you've gotten drunk on Palm wine. Killer!; 2/24/15, 8:56 AM
dbp said...: In high school and college I was a hobbyist beekeeper and produced a lot of honey. Some of it I sold by putting up a sign in front of our house, but just as much was given to friends and family. A good quantity just accumulated.

I finally got rid of the rest of it by making two 5 gallon batches of mead. I used champagne yeast, which allows for a high alcohol content but the process was slow--I think it took a couple of months to complete.

My wife and I would bring a couple of bottles to the grad student cookouts that seemed to take place a couple times per week when we were students. People were always reticent to try it, but once they did, they were hooked. It is almost enough to get me back into beekeeping, almost.; 2/24/15, 9:23 AM
Darconville said...: @Bryan C

Good mead shouldn't be overly sweet. The meads I've had from new producers lately are usually cloying and quite terrible. Good mead should be at least 8% ABV (and I've had great ones close to 20%), but these producers are aiming for 3 - 5% for easy drinking, so there is just too much residual sugar.; 2/24/15, 9:30 AM
Anonymous said...: Sweet mead is ahistorical. Brewers in the past had no reliable way to stop fermentation in alcoholic beverages other than adding alcohol to the point that the yeast couldn't function. Ciders, mead, beer, wine would all continue to ferment until the sugars were consumed or the alcohol percentage grew so high that the yeasts were killed. Cold weather could slow down or even stop the fermentation, but once the product re-entered a warmer environment those little yeasties would once again start eating the sugars and pissing out alcohol.
I don't believe that medieval brews were the weak sauce that an earlier poster posited, although there was a weak version of the good stuff that was fed to children...Kinderbier is what the Germans called it.; 2/24/15, 10:51 AM
Jaq said...: Wake me up when mead passes passes kale in popularity

I like to cook kale in olive oil and butter with a little beer poured in for steam. Then some salt, gotta have the salt.

Kraft beer is just too much *taste* for me. I think the brewmaster's art (there must be a muse for brewing) has reached its apogee with Molson's Brador. Available only in Canada AFIK.

Maybe I should try mead. I wonder if anybody would trade me for a four-pack of Heady Topper somebody gave me for Christmas?; 2/24/15, 11:25 AM
Jaq said...: Ah, I see. Molson's is about 8%, which is one reason I like it. Wake me up when meed makers get serious.; 2/24/15, 11:27 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "If You Give a Dude a Kale Chip."; 2/24/15, 12:59 PM
ken in tx said...: You have to boil your honey wort to get rid of the natural peroxide that honey contains. Otherwise it won't ferment. The peroxide in honey is why it doesn't spoil in the hive, and why it is good for treating wounds.

Mead should not be overly sweet. You can add hops and it tastes like beer with almost no head.; 2/24/15, 3:55 PM