Mead, the honey alcohol of the ancients, is making a comeback

From abc.net.au

Move aside craft beer, the world's oldest alcoholic drink is making a comeback and it's gluten free — made from fermented honey.
Mead was drunk by the Vikings. Ancient Greeks called it Ambrosia, 'the drink of the gods', and the brewing techniques date back more than 3,000 years.
Amrita Park Meadery at Pomona is Queensland's first commercial meadery to set up a cellar door for tastings, aiming to educate visitors about mead and the complexities of their golden brews.

                                                             (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)

It is a shared passion for Nicola Cleaver and her partner Andy Coates, whose 98-year-old grandfather, Dennis 'Poppo' Coates was an award-winning mead maker.

"At first people try to pigeonhole it a little, is it like port, is it like beer? It's like mead," Mr Coates laughed.

"Most people come and they have their tasting and they love learning about mead, the education behind it and the science behind it and they just like to stay and chat," Ms Cleaver added.

The couple buy honey in bulk from a young apiarist and keep six bee hives in their lush meandering gardens.

                                                            (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)

The taste varies according to the style of mead and the delicious mixes of fresh fruit and spices that are added to it in the fermenting room.
Water and yeast are added to the honey in a temperature-controlled environment to form what is known as a 'must'.
"We specialise in traditional meads, which are just the honey yeast water. Then you have melomels which has fruit additions and then there are metheglins which is mead made with spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg or cloves.
"And then there's other types, braggots that have grains added and aciglens that are made with maple syrup - there's so much variation in meads, it's incredible."

Nicola Cleaver is proud of her ginger and lime blend using fresh regional produce from Templeton's Ginger and Suncoast limes.
Their citrus and spice mix was designed with a festive feel.
The alcohol content of the couple's mead varies from 13-17 per cent, compared with 12-13 per cent for most table wines.
It can be chilled or heated, provide punch to a spritzer, and the flavour changes according to the season and the nectar the bees have been feasting on.
Mead was produced in ancient history throughout Europe, Africa and Asia, especially India.
Now old has become new again and the mead movement is gaining momentum.
"Especially in the (United) States and in Europe," Mr Coates said.
"They're opening 100 or more meaderies a year and in Australia it's just taking off, there's 10 or 12 meaderies and we're all sticking together and trying to grow the market."
The couple launched their mead at Caboolture's Abbey Medieval festival and it was so popular they are already working to supply it on tap at the event next year.
"Since the cellar door's been open it (business) has increased every week, we're just getting more people through and lots of online sales coming through as well, so that's quite exciting."

All in the family

Mr Coates is proud to be carrying on the family tradition from Dennis 'Poppo' Coates who started making mead in 1942.
In a visit to the tasting room the 98-year-old was chuffed to see his contribution honoured with special displays of his many awards and memorabilia.
"He was very successful as a bee keeper and made mead, entered in competitions all over the world," Andy Coates said.

Award winners

As the oldest grandson, Mr Coates is following in 'Poppo's' footsteps in more ways than one.
Amrita Park Meadery recently won two silver medals and three bronze medals at the 49th annual Eltham Wine Show, which attracted entries from amateurs and professionals from Australia and overseas.
Two years into a five-year plan, the couple said the demand was there and if anything, they wanted to slow things down a touch.
"We're going to stay boutique and just grow organically and just keep putting out a good product and really get behind the mead movement," Mr Coates said.
"It was the most popular and biggest drink and because of cost it went out of fashion and a lot of people don't even know what mead is now.
"We're all about educating people and educating their palates and it seems to be going really well."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2018-12-19/mead-honey-ancient-alcohol-bees/10613700

Mead is the new drinking trend among young women like me – here’s why

From independent.co.uk
By Gina Clarke

While prosecco was once the drink to welcome I’ve converted many of my friends to the ‘drink of the gods’, and you’re more likely to see us sipping on mead than toasting with sparkling wine

 Part of the appeal of mead is perhaps that it doesn’t feel gendered in the same way prosecco is    

It was a hot sunny day at a castle and I was cooling off in the gift shop when I spotted a table full of whisky, fruit brandy and – surprisingly – mead.

I had known mead in my younger days, but it was always something brewed in a cellar and would only come out when my friends and I had drunk the rest of our parents’ alcohol.

Often housed in a dusty bottle, we used to hold our noses before knocking a tot of mead back. But these bottles on the table in front of me were different – they were tall, slender and beautifully designed. Inside, the drink was a tempting golden colour and tasted sweet and gentle, with no sign of the home-brewed burn I remembered from my teenage years.    

According to the conservation charity English Heritage, sales of mead have been increasing by around 10 per cent each year for the past three years, with younger drinkers leading the way. They now sell one bottle every 10 minutes.

This may seem surprising, but there is a sense of nostalgia among young drinkers that this trend is tapping into. From the soaring popularity of gin – previously considered a tipple of upper-class grannies – to a surge in speakeasies and the craft beer movement, many people are looking to the past as a way of reviving their drinking habits.

While prosecco was once the drink to welcome I’ve converted many of my friends to the “drink of the gods”, as it was once known, and you’re more likely to see us sipping on mead than toasting with sparkling wine.

Part of the appeal of mead is perhaps that it doesn’t feel gendered. While prosecco is considered a traditionally “female” drink and beer its masculine equivalent, mead holds no such preconceptions, and allows people to step outside of their comfort zone and enjoy it together – without the undertone of cultural prejudice.

While in the past we have experimented with making our own sloe gin, I quite fancy trying my hand at mead next. Seeing how beautifully presented those bottles are at the visitor’s centre made me realise what a disservice those dusty drinks had done all those years ago. English mead is something to support – it offers a refreshing drink with a sweetness that makes you clamour for another glass. But it also only lends itself to a few sips after dinner, so I never feel too bad the next morning.

It’s exciting to see a drink that has hitherto been overlooked become popular once again. As a culture we are often clamouring for the next innovation, but it’s trends like these that remind us that sometimes the best things are the simplest. The past has a lot to offer – and using cocktail hour to encourage a reverence of history can never be a bad thing.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/mead-alcohol-drinking-prosecco-craft-beer-women-speakeasy-nostalgia-a8662591.html