Mead-Making for Dummies - better than beer?

[Darren Dirt]

http://www.meadworks.ca/dummies

Mead, aka "Honey Wine", is "the first fermented beverage of the world, earlier than [grape] wine or beer".


Apparently its popularity is really taking off -- and I only first heard about this little home-brewing hobby due to this news release: Albertans create a buzz over honey wine:

The Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission has added mead (honey wine) to the list of products that can be produced, packaged and sold directly from Alberta farms...

About the mead/honey-wine industry

• Mead is the first fermented beverage of the world, earlier than wine or beer
• It is believed that during the Middle Ages, the English tradition of honeymoons began with the gifting of honey wine to the newly wedded couple so things would begin as sweetly as possible
• Mead is often referred to as the Nectar of the Gods, or the Drink of Love
• Until the late middle ages both meads and sparkling meads were highly popular beverages, especially in northern regions of Europe, where wine grapes could not easily be grown
• Mead is produced in countries such as England, Poland, Northern France, Germany and Russia. In Africa, it is consumed in vast quantity
• Sweeter meads tend to go well with spicier foods while dry meads are excellent served with delicate dishes such as chicken, duck, fish and calamari
• Most meads benefit from 2-3 years of aging. This is for medium-bodied meads with an alcohol content of 11-12 per cent
• It takes approximately 1.35 kilograms of honey to produce 4.5 litres of medium-sweet mead
• A good mead can age up to 15 years, either in oak wooden barrels or bottles
• A good honey bee colony can produce a surplus of 90 kilograms of honey annually in Alberta

See also:

http://www.meadworks.ca/Just_Do_it

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/mead