Discover the Irish company reviving mead after a 200-year hiatus

From irishtimes.com

Kinsale Mead is creating a new drink from old methods, and bringing mead to a wider audience with support from the Food Academy programme

As the first mead makers in Ireland in over 200 years, Kate and Denis Dempsey of Kinsale Mead Co. had to step up to the mark when it came to making an authentic drink.

The couple had been fermenting their plan for a long time ahead of the company’s 2016 launch. “A friend was visiting from England and we took her to the Hill of Tara,” Kate recalls. “We stood on the point of the great Mead Hall and I thought, this is a sign. We started off making a home brew to work out what we liked and didn’t like. We talked to lots of people from the mead-making community, many in the USA.”

To begin with, they had to figure out their raw ingredients. Mead’s main ingredient is honey, but as Kate says, “Ireland is a low producer of honey, so we needed to get bigger barrels, and there is fantastic quality honey in Spain.”

A move from Maynooth in Co Kildare to Co Cork’s gourmet capital, Kinsale, followed, where Kate and Denis sought help from the local enterprise board (LEO) and Bord Bia and began to make larger batches.

Kinsale Mead takes the techniques and methods traditional to ancient meads, and updates them with ingredients for a modern palette.

“You can make it very sweet but our meads are off dry, rather than dry,” Kate says. “When mead was made a very long time ago, honey was precious, particularly in Ireland. Honey bees don’t like foraging in the rain – and of course we have plenty of that in Ireland – so they wouldn’t have used a lot of it in mead back then. Therefore we think it would have been off dry. Berry mead would have been commonplace also, we believe.”

The berries they use come from various local suppliers, mainly Wexford, while water comes from Innishannon, upriver from Kinsale, along the river Bandon which rises in the Shehy Mountains.

The honey, fruits, water and yeast in Kinsale Mead’s offerings are mixed and this ferments in about three to five weeks. They currently make three variations of the drink: Atlantic Dry, Wild Red and Hazy Summer, all stocked in SuperValu. Each contains an alcohol percentage of 12 per cent, similar to wine.

Once things began to take off, SuperValu’s Food Academy proved very useful, offering a lot of practical help and guidance at an early stage. The Food Academy works with the LEO and Bord Bia to help nurture small businesses all the way from startup to getting on the shelf in stores.

“They gave us advice on labelling, marketing and sales, mentoring us through the difficult start-up stages,” Kate says. “A huge part of that was the network of other Cork food and drink suppliers who were so welcoming and supportive at all stages and still today. We cheer each other on, we boost each other up and we buy each other's products too. The Food Academy is more than a marketing idea, it really does support and nurture the local businesses who continually produce the most amazing food and drink.”

Four years on and numerous awards later, the couple is thrilled that there has been so much renewed interest in a product that most people may have only read about in literature or history books.

In fact, Philippines Tatler classed Kinsale Mead, alongside Guinness, whiskey and Baileys, as one of four drinks you must try when visiting Ireland, an accolade Kate is rather proud of.

And even though mead is not as prevalent in Ireland as it is worldwide, the company won big at the Mazer Cup, a global awards for mead makers, held each year in the US. “We won gold for the Atlantic Dry, a huge accolade seeing as it is judged by our peers,” Kate says.

As well as this, Kinsale Mead took home the Blas na hÉireann gold in 2018 for Wild Red and gold in 2019 for Hazy Summer. It has also been awarded two stars by the UK’s Great Taste awards for Atlantic Dry.

“All sorts of people like it – the craft beer people are always interested in trying a new drink. Then there are those who really want to support local as well as the people who are into supporting biodiversity and bees,” Kate says.

“Atlantic Dry has citrus and floral flavours. It should be served chilled or over ice. It goes well with seafood, especially oysters. It’s nice with salty snacks too, some posh crisps or almonds and olives.

“Wild Red is made with Wexford blackcurrants and dark cherries. It has a beautiful balance of tart and sweet – it’s matured for about 18 months, so it’s very smooth compared to a red wine. This goes well with pasta, pizza and good quality chocolate.

"Hazy Summer has six varieties of summer berries including strawberries and raspberries. It’s very summery but we have had it with our Christmas dinner. It’s also good with a barbeque or a berry pavlova,” she says.

For regular Kinsale Mead drinkers, Kate and Denis have just released a small batch of Irish Wildflower Mead, with honey coming from a local beekeeper based in Clonakilty.

Up until lockdown, the couple offered tours of the meadery, but that remains closed for now and they hope to reopen soon. Customers have shown their support in other ways.

“People were looking for an affordable treat, and our online shop really took off. We were shipping out every day. People were sending to friends and family, along with some personal messages, which was lovely,” Kate says.

This summer, it’s likely those friends and family will be meeting for the first time in a long time in gardens and houses around the country. Kinsale Mead just might be the perfect tipple to accompany those much longed-for reintroductions.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sponsored/supervalu/discover-the-irish-company-reviving-mead-after-a-200-year-hiatus-1.4285568

We Tried It: Liliko‘i, Pineapple and Java Plum Mead from Mānoa Honey Co. (Hawaii USA)

From honolulumagazine.com

The Wahiawā-based company is officially in the mead business, with a limited collab available for Father’s Day

Yuki Uzuhashi wants to change what we think of mead.
“Mead caters to cold places” and makes people think of a heavy and sweet medieval drink, he tells me. But that’s not at all what he was envisioning when he decided to expand Mānoa Honey Co.’s offerings to include the alcoholic beverage. “It was hard to get an example of what I wanted,” a much lighter, refreshing drink with local flavours, but after years of experimenting and learning—he took a course from UC Davis’ viticulture and enology department—Mānoa Honey debuted its mead.

The timing couldn’t have been better. With the pandemic shuttering his three main markets—restaurants, tourism and farmers markets—Uzuhashi was considering taking a break from harvesting honey as the number of unpurchased jars grew (good thing honey never spoils). But once the federal government approved his labels—the mead had been ready to go since February—Mānoa announced its three flavours for sale in April.

                                                              Photo: Katrina Valcourt

Mead is made by fermenting honey, similar to how wine comes from fermented grapes. Uzuhashi adds locally grown fruits, resulting in a liliko‘i session mead, pineapple sour and Java plum rosé. Each is 7.6% alcohol by volume—stronger than most beer& but weaker than most wine—and sparkling, with delicate small bubbles.

After a few sips of each, I can’t pick a favourite. The liliko‘i session, with fruit from Kona, is perfect for summertime. The subtle liliko‘i flavour isn’t as sweet as I was expecting; it drinks like a light beer without any bitterness. The pineapple utilizes fruit from Dole and tastes similar to pineapple wine, with a little more sweetness and acidity than the liliko‘i but not nearly as saccharine as fruity wine can be. And the rosé—which is limited and comes in a 375-milliliter bottle, compared to 500 for liliko‘i and pineapple—is the sweetest of the bunch but also a little tart from the wild harvested Java plum (an invasive fruit with small dark berries), so it’s a nice balance. Each bottle costs $15.

As we talk about inspiration and future flavours, a bee flies in; I squirm a little in my seat but Uzuhashi doesn’t notice. He’s waxing poetic about his decision to do a Father’s Day collab with Maui Nui Venison, where $38 gets you a bottle of pineapple mead, ghost pepper-infused honey and wild local deer tenderloin, an invasive species that now feeds the community. He talks about our relationship with what feeds us and how we need to appreciate it more. “In Japanese we have a saying [before we eat]: itadakimasu. ‘I’m taking your precious life into me.’ It’s about being grateful or thankful,” he says. “That resonates with what we do.”

The Father’s Day set includes a bottle of pineapple sour mead, about 0.6 pounds of Maui Nui Venison tenderloin, and honey that’s been aged over 12 months with ghost pepper, which comes as a glaze for the meat.

Photos: Courtesy of Mānoa Honey Co.

Maui Nui Venison isn’t his first collab. Mānoa Honey partnered with Sweet Land Farm in Waialua for Mother’s Day gift sets, which you can still buy: a bottle of mead, tomme goat cheese and a jar of honey for $35. By the time I leave, I’m carrying two bottles of mead, some cheese, two kinds of honey and a small cube of honeycomb.

“What I always say about the honey, you see the trees blooming in daily life. Those are the liquid, that’s what you’re tasting. The alcohol is from flowers that you’re living in. The flowers you’re looking at, that’s your buzz,” Uzuhashi says. “It really resonates, what we do from where we’re living. That’s what I think is the most beautiful part. If I can deliver that, it’s beautiful.”

930 Palm Place, Wahiawā, (808) 927-0501, manoahoney.com. Email yuki@manoahoney.com to order one of 30 limited Father’s Day sets. You can also find Mānoa Honey Co. mead at Village Bottle Shop in Kaka‘ako and Hale‘iwa Bottle Shop.

http://www.honolulumagazine.com/Honolulu-Magazine/Biting-Commentary/June-2020/We-Tried-It-Lilikoi-Pineapple-and-Java-Plum-Mead-from-Manoa-Honey-Co/#.Xusi6LpFzIU

Gosnells and Anspach & Hobday launch Peckham drinks pop-up

From thelondoneconomic.com

Available for takeaway only, for now, meaderers Gosnells and brewers Anspach & Hobday will launch a weekly Saturday pop-up outside the Peckham meadery

London's only meadery, Gosnells, has collaborated with south London brewers, Anspach & Hobday, to launch a weekly pop-up outside Gosnells’ production hub in Peckham.

Taking place from Saturday 13th June – and on every Saturday, between 12pm and 7pm –a selection of cans will be available for sale. The drinks will be solely available for takeaway at the moment, but alfresco seating will be introduced later in the summer, as lockdown restrictions are loosened.

“We have so much space outside the meadery,” said Tom Gosnell, founder of Gosnells, “and this will be a great opportunity to introduce visitors to what Anspach & Hobday and ourselves have to offer.

“I am personally besotted by honey and I want to show the flavour-inspiring cleverness of the bee.
“All of our meads are sparkling and gluten-free. Our 0.5% kombucha-like LOW ALC is our starting point, launched in January; then you move on to our brightly coloured 4% abv cans – Sour, Pink Hibiscus, Citra Sea and Hopped – launched last autumn; and our 5.5% orange blossom honey Classic.
“For real mead enthusiasts, we will also be selling our postcode-specific and vintage meads which range from 6-12% abv.

“Every Saturday, I envisage that our iced cocktail slush machine will be working overtime as we’ll be offering our iconic Meadaritas, and maybe a cocktail combining Anspach & Hobday Porter with rum and mead.”   

Anspach & Hobday Co-founder, Jack Hobday, added: “It’s going to be a collaboration with a difference. When Tom suggested it, it seemed such an obvious win-win, both for our customers and for theirs. Our Bermondsey Taproom and The Pigeon, our bar in Camberwell, are gearing up to sell takeaway draught – but this collab will allow us to get back in the real world that much sooner. And to have a bit of much missed fun.

“We will be offering 10% off ten or more cans, and we aim to have core range beers such as The Pale Ale (4.4%), The IPA (6.0%), The Cream Ale (4.5%) and The Lager (4.7%) available along with any specials, so the selection will change week on week.”

The Gosnells x Anspach & Hobday pop-up will take place each Saturday at Gosnells Meadery, Print Village, Chadwick Road, SE15 4PU. 

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/food-drink/gosnells-anspach-hobday-pop-up/11/06/

Hector Brews a Tepache

From gosnells.co.uk/blogs/news

Hello guys, I wanted to share my thoughts and experience on brewing the honey Tepache. You can watch the video detailing step by step how to brew it @GosnellsMead

First, a brief history of Tepache:

Tepache is a traditional fermented drink from Mexico. The first evidence of Tepache brewing comes from the pre-columbian era (more than 400 years ago), the first brewers being the Nahua people. The word "Tepache" comes from the nahuatl word "tepiātl" that means "drink made out of corn", as Tepache was originally brewed from corn and a raw brown sugar called "piloncillo".

With the arrival of the Spaniards to America, Tepache brewing shifted from corn to other fruits (like guava, apples or pineapples)

Nowadays Tepache is still quite popular in Mexico and in other Mexican communities (I.E. South-western United States). It is more of a low ABV (around 1%), refreshing drink and you can buy it in restaurants, bars and even street vendors! (Sometimes in a plastic bag with a straw).

Due to its low abv, Tepache is considered a family drink for sunny days. But some Mexicans that like a bit more alcohol in their fermented drinks, don't hesitate to pour in a beer in their Tepache mug!

The recipe:

With this project I wanted to make a harmonious blend between mead and Tepache. For this, I substituted the "Piloncillo" sugar with honey. I used a bigger amount of honey than usual recipes to avoid getting the pineapple and spices flavour masking the honey profile (and to get a cheeky couple of extra ABV points as well).

I kept the rest of the recipe as traditional as I could, still using spices and wild yeast from the pineapple skin.

 Honey Tepache recipe

3.4 L of fresh water
450g of honey
1 Big pineapple
6 cinnamon sticks (optional)
6 cloves (optional)

The brewing:

Home brewers caveat: I wanted to be sure that the yeast that fermented the honey Tepache was coming from the pineapple skin, so I did wash and sanitised my equipment before brewing. That's why I heated up the honey as well (honey has dormant wild yeast spores in it). Now, I don't believe this level of sanitisation is necessary to make Tepache, being a drink so popular and brewed in so many households and kitchens, I would think the majority of them do not take these many precautions and most of the time end up with a nice brew too. So I would recommend sanitising just as any other brew, but whatever you do with sanitisation, it is still paramount to brew with spotless clean equipment.

As we use the skin of the pineapple, I would recommend using organic fruit, as skins are the part of the fruit that gets dosed with pesticides and fertilizers. If you can’t find an organic pineapple, any will still work the same. Whatever the organic status of your fruit is, just give it a good wash under the sink (using just warm water and not soap) as we don’t want to be drinking dirt with our Tepache (even when this dirt tastes deliciously like pineapples and honey)

One of the good things about brewing this drink, is that it uses the bits of fruit that usually people throw away (skin and rind). So it’s a great way to use the leftovers after cutting a pineapple. You can even grab the leaves bit (the top slice) and put it on the ground to grow a pineapple plant. 0% waste!

Another thing to keep in mind in this brew is that you will have to check your fermenter daily in the lookout for mould. The pineapple bits will float and if we have any mould strain or weird bacteria inside of our fermenter, things might start growing on those bits. If you start seeing something weird growing on your fruit bits sadly there’s not much to do but to start from scratch (throw away the brew, give your equipment a good clean, sanitise and start all over).

Don’t try and savage part of your brew, as once these spores are visible, it means that the mould has already spread all over our Tepache and as you might already know, mould can cause severe allergic reactions, asthma and/or other serious diseases if ingested. Good cleaning and sanitising practices are the best tools a home brewer has to lower the likeness of these spores flourishing in/on our brew.

Conclusion

The finished product ended up being great. It was hard for me to determine when to serve it, as the more you ferment it, the pineapple flavour shines more and more but you also lose some honey character. So it’s a matter of finding the right balance for your palate.

The flavour: There are definitely floral notes coming through, with some honey sweetness at the beginning and ending in a dry/sour pineapple-y flavour. I also added a bit of lemon juice in the jug to give it a citrus punch at the end. Also, as the Tepache is still fermenting when we serve it, it will contain a moderate amount of CO2 bubbles in it, giving the drink a slight “fizz” or carbonation. 

The aroma: is a bit funky, as most wild fermented drinks (if you have ever fermented pineapple before you would know what I mean). 

Visually, it ended up being a cloudy, dark (ish) yellow-orange drink.

If you are an experienced home brewer, when you watch the video you will notice that I didn’t use a hydrometer, any sort of ph regulation or added any yeast nutrients. This was made on purpose, as I wanted to preserve the spontaneous nature of a brew like Tepache.

Variations

There’s not a simple definition of what Tepache should be or contain. There are dozens of Tepache recipes all around Mexico with only 2 ingredients in common:  pineapple skin and water.
Some popular variations that you can find around are:

• Adding pineapple juice as a sugar source
• Using different spices (like ginger)
• Using malted barley as sugar source
• Adding other fruits like guava or mango
• Pitching a known strain of yeast (instead of wild yeast)

I hope you enjoy brewing and drinking this recipe as much as I did. It really is a refreshing drink and I would recommend having it on a hot summer day. 

https://www.gosnells.co.uk/blogs/news/hector-brews-a-tepache