# Mead, the Official Beverage of the Plague Years **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 20, 2000, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mead-the-official-beverage-of-the-plague-years/8984 "2000-03-20T20:21:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kakkerlak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bb73d2/32.png) [@Kakkerlak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kakkerlak)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mead-the-official-beverage-of-the-plague-years/8984/21 "2000-03-21T02:38:00Z")
A buddy and I brewed some cinnamon honey mead a couple of years back. The green tint we got wasn’t too appetizing, and the taste was kind of like carpet matting. But you did get the most wonderful buzz that made you want to dress in bearskins and smite the Saxons. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mead-the-official-beverage-of-the-plague-years/8984/22 "2000-03-21T02:45:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by {:-Df: > I have no better resource for this, but according to Michael Crichton in his book Eaters of the Dead, mead is a fermented drink allowed to Muslims (that is, permissible within the rules of Islam). Apparently it is fermented fruit (and/or grains) which are not allowed, _not_ alcohol per se. I’m not sure whether distilled mead would be allowed. > > Can anyone confirm or deny the Quran’s position on fermented honey? I’ve never read the book, but I saw the movie (“The Thirteenth Warrior”). From the treatment in the movie, I took it as sort of a joke. While I’m not familiar with the Qur’an (Koran, whatever spelling), Crichton seemed to having some fun with the idea that Mohammed didn’t prohibit drinking mead in so many words, _not knowing of it._ Of course, if Mohammed had known of mead, I suppose he would have prohibited its consumption as a fermented alcoholic beverage. Of course, that’s just my (more or less informed) impression. Interestingly, the word “alcohol” comes (through a change of meaning in Medieval Latin) from an Arabic word meaning something completely different: powdered antimony, of all things. Maybe there wasn’t a clear conception of alcohol as a chemical in the language or science of the time when Mohammed made his proscription. * * * “In my nightmares I am chased by algorithms”–crewman Celes, ST:V ---
**Author:** ![Suzeanne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Suzeanne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suzeanne)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mead-the-official-beverage-of-the-plague-years/8984/23 "2000-03-21T03:09:00Z")
Paula, ignore it if it says to refrigerate. It’s booze, fer cryin out loud, without dairy. Around here, a bottle of the Chaucer’s never lasts long enough to be refrigerated for safety anyway. Cold mead is just NASTY, if the mead is prepared right. The watery bland stuff that CAN be refrigerated isn’t worth drinking. Use the mulling spices that came with the bottle. You might find you like it better with a bite. That stuff, heated right with the spices, is fantastic on a sore throat. I think me and my tonsilitis are going to go have a few glasses now. ---
**Author:** ![Danielinthewolvesden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Danielinthewolvesden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danielinthewolvesden)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mead-the-official-beverage-of-the-plague-years/8984/24 "2000-03-21T10:04:00Z")
Try a SCA event (especially an overnite event) if you want to try some good mead. Brewing is very period & very popular. Mead can be good @ “cellar” temp, but not ice cold for chrisake. OR, make your own. ---
**Author:** ![TheMadHun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@TheMadHun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMadHun)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mead-the-official-beverage-of-the-plague-years/8984/25 "2000-03-21T12:03:00Z")
Slightly off-topic but what the hell… The word “honeymoon” is supposedly derived from the month-long celebration after a wedding during which mead is drunk in _ahem_ moderate quantities. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TheMadHun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@TheMadHun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMadHun)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mead-the-official-beverage-of-the-plague-years/8984/26 "2000-03-21T12:04:00Z")
Oops, should have pointed out that these were weddings of old, not the modern, free-loading, circus that we have today. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mead-the-official-beverage-of-the-plague-years/8984/27 "2000-03-21T13:02:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I go to the Renaissance festivals specifically for mead and a turkey leg They had turkey during the Renaissance? > [@](#): > > The word “honeymoon” is supposedly derived from … another folk etymology. Honey, in this context = sweetness. The reference to the moon is to the fact that it waxes and wanes, rather than to the period of a month. Hence “honeymoon” = a period of sweetness which will immediately begin to diminish. If you can’t get mead, the Polish version, krupnik, is a close substitute. ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Incognito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guy_incognito/32/3920_2.png) [@Guy\_Incognito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Incognito)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mead-the-official-beverage-of-the-plague-years/8984/28 "2000-03-21T15:11:00Z")
AskNot: I think I know the Indiana winery you are referring to. The Oliver Winery in my hometown of Bloomington, Indiana makes a mead called “Camelot Mead”. From what I hear, it’s supposed to be pretty decent. I think they will ship their wine almost anywhere. I don’t know the price per bottle, but you can reach them for more information at: ## Oliver Winery 8024 N Hwy 37 Bloomington, IN 47401 (812) 876-5800 “It’s only common sense, There are no accidents 'round here.” ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Incognito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guy_incognito/32/3920_2.png) [@Guy\_Incognito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Incognito)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mead-the-official-beverage-of-the-plague-years/8984/29 "2000-03-21T17:50:00Z")
AskNott: ## Sorry that I mis-spelled your name above. “It’s only common sense, There are no accidents 'round here.” ---
**Author:** ![Danielinthewolvesden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Danielinthewolvesden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danielinthewolvesden)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2000, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mead-the-official-beverage-of-the-plague-years/8984/30 "2000-03-22T10:51:00Z")
This is way off line, but yes, Tom, they did have turkey during the ren. Pilgrims might actually have eaten it. However, you probably mean in Europe. Per the Larousse Gastronomique, “its 1st appeared on a french table in 1570, at the marriage feast of Charles IX”. In common use by 1630. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mead-the-official-beverage-of-the-plague-years/8984.md?page=1)