How mead emerged as the drink of summer 2021

From cityam.com

These are heady times for British mead. The honey-based drink is thought to be the world’s oldest alcoholic beverage. It was probably being made in China in 7000 BC and King Arthur counted it amongst  his favourite tipples. Chaucer mentions “braggot”, a form of mead made with honey and barley malt, and the Ancient Hindus got high on “soma.” The ancient Greeks drank “hydromel”, which was watered down honey, and the Romans had “hypocras” – cinnamon wine – and “mulsum” – wine sweetened with honey. 

Now the denizens of trendy Peckham can follow in this distinguished lineage thanks to the new mead bar and garden at Gosnell’s, which hopes to lure modern drinkers with drinks including Borage and a 12% barrel-aged, caramelized honey Bochet. Gosnell’s offers fourteen different meads in all across draught, bottles and cans, with a low-alcohol mead also on the books.

“We’ll be soon offering  frozen cocktails like Meadacoladas and Meaderitas,” says founder Tom Gosnell. “Our meads love wrapping their arms around all kinds of spirits. Our house white is a Chardonnay-style mead, the red is a Pinot Noir-style mead and the Saison mead uses elderflower, lemon balm and hops.”

Gosnell isn’t the only one to have discovered the joy of mead. Before the first lockdown, the Lancashire Mead Company lifted the inaugural “Mead Madness Cup” for their Baldur Mead, awarded at the second Mead Makers’ Conference in Poznan, Poland. The event, organised by the Newcastle-based “Kings of Meads”, attracted honey wines from  twenty countries. 

There are various types of mead, including metheglin (spiced), pyment (grape wine, which the Romans called mulsum), cyser (apple-based), melomel (mainly raspberry ) and sack (sometimes called bracket ale). The resurgence in popularity is being partly attributed to the success of Game of Thrones, which featured it liberally.

There are now several British mead makers including the Cooper family’s Avon Mel in New Quay Farm, Llandysul , west Wales; Mountain Mead in north Wales; The Northumberland Honey Co, which produces the UK’s first methode traditionelle sparkling mead; and King of Cup  in Colchester, Essex, which makes a range of artisan drinks including Chilli Mead. 

https://www.cityam.com/how-mead-emerged-as-the-drink-of-summer-2021/