So, I’ve recently started drinking again and thought that with my current reading list of various medieval and pseudo-medieval books, I’d take the opportunity to sample this mead they’re always talking about.
So, what mead could I get that Slaine, Beowulf or their contemporaries would recognize and approve of? I vaguely recall reading an issue of Renaissance magazine six years ago that boasted a new mead that was brewed as closely as possible to the way it was done back in the day (to be sure, there was an awful lot of “back in the day” for them to be true to but I don’t recall a specific timeframe). I also recall about two years ago that mead was making a comeback although it seemed to be aimed at people who didn’t think wine was cutting edge enough and needed something else to lord over their friends.
Also, where in Chicago would I be able to get some? I haven’t seen any, but then again, I haven’t been looking too hard.
Your best bet is to get in touch with an SCA brewers’ guild; most of the commercial mead I’ve tried (granted, it hasn’t been much) wasn’t as good as homebrew.
This guy’s stuff ain’t too bad, though. I’ve also seen mead in Whole Foods and other upscale groceries, so you may want to do some poking around in places like that.
Hm, dont think it would travel well at all, but I just took possession of a case of mead brewed for me by my friend Max…and he is considered one of the better brewers of mead in the SCA interkingdom brewers guild…but we could try to get a bottle to you somehow…and i am not entirely sure of the legality of shipping it UPS.
Ever thought of just making your own? It is actually fairly simple to make, all you really need is honey, water, a gallon glass jug with a cork and airlock. the cork and airlock thingy is readily available at wine and beer brewing hobby shops for less that $5US, and a packet of yeast. Max uses a montrachet yeast IIRC though it might be a sherry yeast=)
http://www.florilegium.org/ and use the page’s search engine and look up ‘mead’ and start reading=) Stef is a nice guy, we camp with him every year at pennsic. I should really try to get him into SDMB, but he barely has time for anything between his job and the florethingy=)
Huh. I didn’t realize that T’ej and mead were the same thing. I like the T’ej I’ve tried. For some reason, I was pictuing mead being thicker like Guiness.
Re: homebrewing. I tried brewing some root beer and that was a disaster. Without checking the links, is the brewing dependent on temperature? I live in an old building that has some pretty massive temperature swings.
That should be, after I combine everything, does it need to sit in a carefully controlled environment. Apparently putting the root beer in the closet wasn’t good enough and I ended up with unfizzy sasperella gunk.
Is there a Renaisance Faire near the North Siiiiiide? You can get try it there without having to fork over a huge chunk of cash for something you might not like.
I personally think mead is ok but wouldn’t really go out of my way for it or spend a lot of money on it.
Oliver Winery in Bloomington Indiana has made Camelot Mead since the 1970’s. As young college kids with as yet poorly developed tastes, we drank it by the case. Oliver is now a pretty respectable winery and probably goes out of its way NOT to promote its mead - so that its other wines will be taken more seriously, I would guess…
I’m pretty sure that mead would give me a pretty good headache these days, but I still buy it for my sister (the former SCA Baroness of Tucson).
I wouldn’t pretend to judge the merits of a good or bad mead, but hope this proves useful.
Camelot is the best commercial mead I’ve tried. Of course, that’s like calling something the best TV dinner, but it isn’t bad- be careful, though, it’s pretty strong. Worst hangover I’ve ever had was from misjudging the alcohol content in that stuff.
Ditto on this - Camelot is probably the best commercial mead that’s available in most places. There’s also Chaucer’s mead but it is heavier and sweeter than the Camelot mead.
Go to your local Whole Foods Market - they will often carry local meads (ours carries Desi’s Dew, http://www.desidew.com/ - right fine stuff, imho), and on several occasions I’ve been able to pick up Irish mead there.
Still, the best mead is made at home. I’ve made some pretty decent ones over the years, and I especially like fruit meads - peach tends to turn out really well for me. It’s not hard to do - honey is less particular than malt when it comes to sanitation and temperatures - but it would be better to try someone else’s and see how much you like it before committing yourself to making any of your own.
The best commercial Mead (in my opinion) is made by Rabbit’s Foot Meadery. You can also get it at Whole Foods in California.
Mead is loads easier to make than root beer. Soda pop of any kind is the most difficult of brewing projects and root beer is a right pain in the ass. Trust me, I’m a 15 year veteran of the yeast wars.
From what I understand when it comes to mead there is a huge amount of possible variation in the finished product…so you could have thick mead or thin, dry or sweet, flat or still, etc., etc. There seems to be about as much variation in types of mead as there is in types of beer.
Having Tej at an Ethiopian restaurant (and my own experiences with beermaking) inspired me to try meadmaking. I have not noticed much commercially available mead in my area so I really have nothing else to compare it too. I find it very interesting though and intend to devote more time to it this spring and summer when I am no longer taking classes. I started a thread on meadmaking back in August that you might find interesting…I think it has some relevant info:
BTW I haven’t tried making soft drinks myself but everything I have heard agrees with what The Devil’s Grandmother writes…making soft drinks at home is harder than making beer or mead.
I tried some mead at a restaurant tonight. Quite good. Not sure what brand it was (didn’t ask), but it was served hot with a stick of cinnamon in it. As I’m generally averse to hot drinks, I let it cool and the cinnamon kind of left a sludge at the bottom of the cup, but it was still quite nice. Reminded me of grog.
Interestingly, it tasted like it had a lot of alcohol, but I didn’t feel at all buzzed afterwards (I’m a lightweight).
What’s the alcoholic content of your average mead?
Holy shit. Is that what I would expect something in the restaurant to run? It was served in a fairly large coffee-sized mug and I did let it steam for awhile, so perhaps some of the alcohol seeped out.