Mead In India: From Tribal Traditions To FSSAI-defined Categories

From slurrp.com

Mead, one of the oldest known alcoholic drinks, has always had a presence in India through regional and tribal practices of fermenting honey with water and spices. In recent years, the beverage has entered formal recognition through the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which has introduced clear guidelines and categories for mead makers. 

Honey has long been a part of Indian food culture, valued for its medicinal qualities, ritual use, and sweetening properties. Communities across India have fermented honey with water, fruits, herbs, and local spices for generations, creating drinks that resemble what is globally known as mead. These traditional practices were largely undocumented and often remained within tribal and regional boundaries. The modern craft beverage movement in India has brought mead into greater visibility. Brewers are experimenting with honey sourced from different regions, and the FSSAI has now defined the legal categories under which mead can be produced and sold. This formal recognition gives the drink a place within India’s evolving alcoholic beverage landscape.

                                                                                            Image Credit: Adobe Stock

Traditional Practices Of Honey Fermentation In India

Tribal groups in states such as Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and the North-East have long used honey in fermentation. Honey collected from forests was mixed with water and sometimes with fruits like mahua or herbs available in the area. The result was a mildly alcoholic drink consumed during festivals, rituals, and gatherings. These brews were made in small quantities and were closely tied to seasonal cycles of honey harvesting. Unlike commercial alcohol, the production was not standardised, and taste varied with each batch depending on the honey source and method of fermentation. These practices underline how honey fermentation was embedded in cultural traditions and social life, rather than being approached as a commercial enterprise.

Global Context Of Mead And Its Indian Revival

Mead is often associated with ancient civilisations in Europe, Africa, and Asia. References appear in Greek, Norse, and Vedic texts, which suggests the wide presence of honey-based drinks. While beer and wine grew into large industries, mead remained marginal until recent global revival efforts positioned it within craft brewing. In India, this global trend intersected with a rediscovery of local traditions and the growing popularity of artisanal drinks. Entrepreneurs began to experiment with Indian honey varieties such as mustard, eucalyptus, litchi, and wild forest honey, which each provide distinct flavour profiles. These efforts transformed mead from a scattered traditional practice into a drink that can now be marketed to urban consumers seeking variety in alcoholic beverages.

FSSAI’s Role In Defining Mead Categories

A turning point for mead in India came when the FSSAI introduced specific standards for its production. Earlier, mead lacked a recognised category, creating uncertainty for brewers who wanted to sell commercially. The FSSAI now defines mead under the category of fermented alcoholic beverages made from honey. The rules outline alcohol content, permissible additives, labelling requirements, and hygiene standards for production. Mead is further divided into categories based on method and ingredients, such as traditional mead, melomel (mead with fruit), metheglin (mead with spices and herbs), and sparkling mead. These definitions align India with international classifications, while also allowing scope for local adaptation. The presence of a legal framework provides clarity for licensing and encourages investment in craft meaderies.

Commercial Growth Of Mead In India

The first licensed meadery in India was established in Maharashtra in 2016. Since then, several small producers have emerged, experimenting with flavours that appeal to an Indian palate. These include combinations with saffron, tulsi, mango, jamun, and even chilli. The craft positioning of mead has allowed it to be marketed alongside premium beers and ciders, targeting consumers interested in experimentation and quality. Production volumes remain small compared to beer or spirits, but the category is steadily gaining recognition. Meaderies often highlight sustainable sourcing of honey, connections with beekeeping communities, and the potential to support biodiversity. This approach gives mead an added narrative of social and environmental value beyond its taste.

Challenges Faced By Mead Producers

Despite regulatory clarity, mead makers face challenges in scaling production and distribution. Honey is an expensive raw material compared to grains used in beer, which makes mead relatively costly. Maintaining consistent supply of high-quality honey is also complex, as flavour and composition vary by season and geography. Consumer awareness remains limited, and many drinkers are unfamiliar with mead or unsure of how it compares with other alcoholic drinks. Marketing therefore requires both education and tasting experiences, which demand investment from small producers. Distribution is another hurdle, as state-level alcohol laws create barriers for a new category entering the market. These factors slow down rapid expansion, even as interest continues to grow.

The Future Of Mead In India

Mead is beginning to occupy a defined niche in India’s alcoholic beverage sector. Its appeal lies in the link between traditional practices and modern craft culture. As consumers seek variety beyond beer and spirits, mead offers a product that is rooted in Indian heritage yet presented with contemporary branding. The FSSAI framework gives legitimacy and paves the way for structured industry growth. If producers can overcome challenges of cost, supply, and awareness, mead has the potential to establish itself firmly in urban markets. Partnerships with beekeepers, innovative flavour development, and participation in craft beverage festivals are likely to strengthen its position. The journey of mead in India reflects the way local traditions can be reinterpreted and preserved within the structure of modern industry.

https://www.slurrp.com/article/mead-in-india-from-tribal-traditions-to-fssai-defined-categories-1757329411315 

What's in my drink, honey?

From indiatoday.in 

By Gagan Sharma

The world is in a ‘shaken and stirred’ mode, with cocktails turning heads and headlining bar menus with everyone eager to experiment. Breaking down the idea of a cocktail: a mix of spirits, often mixed with citrus and sugars, allows an examination of each part in its entirety. With increasing interest and exposure, there are growing debates about every element that makes your drink. While you can’t ignore the spirits, it’s the sugar that’s often at the centre of a long-standing parley—‘is honey any healthier than plain sugar’? Well, sugar is sugar, but who’s drinking cocktails for health anyway, right? Yet, there’s an uptick in the use of several varieties of honey in cocktails and conversations, and it’s Asia that’s setting global benchmarks. And championing this change, while spreading the gospel of honey, is the continent’s first meadery, Moonshine Meadery in Pune and bars like Bar Trigona in Kuala Lumpur, Asia Today in Bangkok, and, of course, Cobbler & Crew in Pune.

Library of honeys at Bar Asia Today

WHY HONEY?

If sugar is sugar, how can one make it better? The answer still lies with honey. Of course, there’s no biological benefit of switching to honey in cocktails, however, there’s the idea of sustainability, diversity, and community building, which barely comes at an additional cost. But cheaper isn’t always better; imagine your Old Fashioned made with Royal Stag instead of Royal Salute, or think of block ice becoming the norm instead of a cube or bullet ice which is now considered obsolete. You get the point.

Niks Anuman founded Bar Asia Today in Bangkok eight years ago as a non-supermarket project. He says, “We truly believe that all the good ingredients come from Asia, hence Asia Today. Wild honey was a big part of that thought and later it became everything that we do”. One of India’s finest exports to Malaysia, Rohan Matmary, is the Beverage Manager at the Four Seasons Hotel in Kuala Lumpur that homes Bar Trigona. It takes pride in showcasing only natural products across all their drinks. “Bar Trigona proudly uses only Malaysian ingredients. Trigona honey was widely used in tribal homes; we teamed up with farmers and refurbished their hives, which have multiplied over the last seven years. Now we use it across the hotel, making it a popular feature again,” says Matmary.

Rohan Matmary has championed Trigona honey to make it the centerpiece at Bar Trigona

WHY HONEY IS RIGHT ON THE MONEY

More than just an additive to sweeten cocktails, Cobbler & Crew—a bar in Pune—was the first to completely run on honey. Mayur Marne co-founded the place and claims honey’s superiority for its varied textures, sweetness levels, complexity, colour, and application, over sugars. He claims guests have never asked to replace honey with sugar in their drinks. “They’re receptive to the switch, appreciate the improved texture, and the opportunity to explore different kinds of honey. We offer honey tasting which draws the guests further in and makes them see it as a diverse ingredient”, he shares.

Cobbler & Crew, Pune, Mayur Marne of C & C, with a hive from their Bee Hotel Mayur Marne of Cobbler & Crew, Pune, with a hive from their Bee Hote

The utility of honey is a study by itself —- source of the honey, its moisture content, how it’s stored, how quickly it ferments, and lots more. The majority of our honey knowledge comes from bulk, supermarket brands. And trust me, most of what we know is incorrect. I was born allergic to honey, only to realise I’d been consuming fake bottled honey all my life. It was only after tasting pure honey, I realised I wasn’t allergic to honey but probably to the chemicals used in a majority of the big-label brands. Whatever we’ve been fed has been a result of what works for corporate giants. For instance, pure honey never crystallises; wrong, all types of honey does. It shouldn’t ferment on its own, incorrect, much like all sugars, it does spoil too. Wild hives in the park in front of your house, or in the back alley is consumable. Apparently, not. Honey doesn’t mix with water, yes it does, and that’s how all bars make honey syrup or honey water to add to cocktails. The darker the honey, the better it is; not really. You get the gist. Thus, the utility of honey, for a professional, solicits as detailed an understanding as do whiskies, agave spirits, or wines. Matmary concurs: “Different varieties of honey have different characters. Trigona honey is like a whisky—complex, dark, with very prominent flavour. Since it ferments in the hive it can even have a funky, kombucha-like flavour”. Who would have thought.

Just like various style of alcohols, decoding the styles of honey is imperative. It is as diverse an ingredient as any other. Rather than looking at honey as a loosely grouped term of nature’s favourite sugar, it should be the title of a book worth reading. For now, Nitin Vishwas, co-founder of Moonshine, Asia’s first meadery, shares the cheat-codes. “The type of honey decides the end result. Multifloral honey gives fairly neutral flavours. If you want a citrus twang, turn to Mustard honey, for caramel notes, Sidr works well, and for just a dash of sweetness, there’s Acacia. There are other types of honey too that can be complex and experiential such as the ones from the Sundarbans, Konkan belt, and Mahabaleshwar”, he explains.

What’s more, shares Matmary: “As compared to sugar, honey offers a lower Glycaemic Index (GI)—a measure of how quickly a food raises blood sugar levels compared to pure glucose—delaying your inebriation quotient, thus allowing you to hold your liquor for a longer time and hence drink more”. I’d drink to that.

ADVOCATING FOR BEES

While these bee-advocates have taken matters into their own hands and made it easier for you to participate in this bee-and-honey revolution. Here are some points to ponder: There are 350 types of bees, but only a couple of species make honey. The more urban we get, their habitat disappears. Hence, it becomes imperative to take care of them, which is why “Moonshine started the concept of ‘Bee Hotels’. We install bamboo pipes in societies with flowering plants, which allows a safe-haven for bees, allowing them to cross pollinate”, claims Vishwas. Cobbler & Crew homes a bee hotel too. “We’ve installed one in our outdoor section. It provides shelter for bees during extreme weather conditions and in exchange, engages guests to further the conversation and understanding around their habitat”, adds Marne.

Asia’s first, Moonshine Meadery, uses flavour bridges to make meads more acceptable

Bar Trigona goes a step further and actually encourages people to adopt a bee hive of their own. “We adopt a beehive, nurture and operate it for a year. Whatever is collected from that hive, we pack and store it for the guest to collect at the bar. It creates an emotional connect for them, for nurturing a living thing, and in turn, all the money goes to the farmer. We currently have 600 adopted hives, and that’s a lot!” claims Matmary.

In Bangkok, Anuman and his team bring people to the mountains, where they show them how honey is harvested. “It demonstrates to our guests how the environment and bees are in total sync. Our house project called the ‘Sanctuary Project’ provides a variety of stingless bee species (hives and boxes) to our edible flower suppliers/growers. In exchange for our bees pollinating her flowers, we get a chance to observe and learn about them at close quarters”, he shares.

Einstein once said ‘If the bee disappeared off the surface of the Earth, man would only have four years left to live’. If that’s the case, then it isn’t about cocktails, sustainability, price, a sweetener, or the texture of your cocktail. It’s about survival, doing the right thing for the environment, and for the next generation. And that’s a thought that you may want to raise a toast to.

https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/supplements/spice/story/20250707-whats-in-my-drink-honey-2747057-2025-06-28

This start-up from Guwahati is bringing mead to Indian consumers with a distinctly local flavour

From yourstory.com

Founded in 2021 by Kaustoov Gopal Goswami and Dhrubajyoti Deka, Dream Hives, a mead manufacturer, was one of the winners of the Startup MahaRathi Challenge—India's largest innovation challenge for startups—organised under Startup Mahakumbh 2025

In the industrial town of Amingaon, Guwahati, near the Brahmaputra river, something ancient is brewing, albeit with a modern twist. 

At its production facility in Amingaon, Dream Hives Private Limited, a Guwahati-based startup, is making mead—a fermented honey-based alcoholic beverage.  

Considered the world’s oldest alcoholic drink, mead predates both wine and beer. Archaeological evidence of the beverage goes back to 7000 BC; remnants of mead were found in pottery jars in Northern China 9,000 years ago. There are also references to the beverage in ancient Indian, Greek, Egyptian, and Norse texts.  

In Norse mythology, mead was known as the ‘drink of the gods’, while, in India, the Rigveda refers to a fermented honey drink called ‘madhu’. Mead is now enjoying a quiet renaissance in American craft breweries and European bars. 

Back home, Dream Hives hopes to bring this ancient elixir to Indian consumers—infused with the flavours and ingredients unique to the Northeast.  Founded in 2021 by Kaustoov Gopal Goswami and Dhrubajyoti Deka, Dream Hives was born out of an unexpected surplus of honey.  

The duo were working with forest-dependent communities to launch a community beekeeping initiative in the buffer zones of Manas National Park in Assam.  Initially, they packaged and sold raw, natural honey. But during the second COVID-19 lockdown in 2021, with ecommerce operations stalling and excess honey piling up, they began exploring value-added products. 

“We had a large honey stock and no way to sell it. That’s when we started researching alternative uses and came across mead, thanks to a food scientist,” Deka shares.  “It opened our eyes to the untapped potential of honey—not just as a sweetener, but as a core ingredient for something unique.” 

What began as a kitchen experiment fermenting honey evolved into a full-fledged passion project, eventually backed by product testing, licensing, and a dedicated community of early adopters.  Today, the startup has completed its pilot phase, having tested its mead across 500 consumers in Assam. It is now prepping for a commercial launch of its mead in July–August this year, under the brand name ‘AS01’. “ASO1 Has been extensively tested across sommeliers, home brewers, and everyday consumers at events, festivals, and expos. The feedback has helped fine-tune both the flavour balance and bottle design for the launch-ready batches,” says the founder. 

With this, Dream Hives is all set to become Northeast India’s first meadery, says Deka, who is no stranger to entrepreneurship. Before launching Dream Hives, he founded Brahmaputra Fables, a marketplace for handicrafts from the Northeast. In 2018, during a startup event in Delhi, he met Goswami, who was working in the renewable energy sector, primarily in wildlife conservation zones. Their shared passion for community impact sparked the idea for collaboration. 

The product lineup  

AS01’s meads are deeply rooted in Assamese terroir. Unlike global meads that focus on floral or herbal notes, AS01 infuses its honey wine with Assam tea and King Chilli, two iconic ingredients of the region—these give the mead a bold yet smooth profile, says Deka. Also called Bhoot Kolokia, King Chilli is a type of chili pepper native to the northeastern region of India.  

Assam Tea Mead offers a smoky, tannic complexity that mimics wine and honeyed undertones, while King Chilli Mead carries a sweet start followed by a controlled, warm heat, ideal for adventurous palates, explains the founder.  These flavours are not available in meads globally, making AS01 an authentic Northeast Indian expression of a centuries-old drink, he claims.  

Both the meads will be available in still and carbonated versions.  Still mead, with 10-12% ABV(alcohol by volume), will be priced at around Rs 800 per 750 ml bottle, while the carbonated, canned version with 4% ABV will be priced at Rs 350 for 500 ml.

                                                      Dream Hives is positioning itself as a low-alcohol craft alternative to mass-market liquors

The company also plans to launch a non-alcoholic premix named ‘Nemo X’ made with dry lemon; it’s intended to be both a mixer and a standalone beverage. 

There are only a handful of meaderies in the country, including Moonshine and Cerana. Dream Hives will stand out for its location and grassroots approach, says Deka.  

“We wanted to create something that celebrates Northeast India—its ingredients, its culture, and its people. We are infusing the meads with raw fruits and spices of Northeast India.” The company sources honey from indigenous beekeepers in Assam’s Baksa and Rangia regions. It procures high-grown loose-leaf tea from small tea growers across the state, selected for its distinctive brisk and malty flavour profile. Bhoot jolokia is obtained from farms in Morigaon Assam, known for producing GI-certified chillies. 

Market opportunities  

Dream Hives is positioning itself as a low-alcohol craft alternative to mass-market liquors.  “There’s a growing demand for healthier, low-ABV drinks among the younger generation. Mead fits right into that space,” says Deka. There is no added sugar; the natural sweetness comes from honey. The beverage is also gluten-free, lower in calories than cocktails, and contains no artificial flavours or preservatives, making it ideal for the mindful drinker, he adds.  

Dream Hives, which has an excise manufacturing licence, has set up a production facility in Guwahati Biotech Park, with a capacity of 2,000 litres per month.  After the commercial launch of the meads, the company will initially focus on distribution in Guwahati, Jorhat, and Tezpur in Assam via bars, pubs, and wine shops. 

It also plans to expand to major cities such as Bengaluru, Delhi, Goa, and Mumbai in three years. Dream Hives’s efforts were recently recognised on the national stage when it was named one of the winners of the Startup MahaRathi Challenge—India’s largest innovation challenge for startups—organised under the aegis of Startup Mahakumbh 2025.  

Held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, the event celebrated pioneering startups across sectors. Dream Hives was awarded in the agritech category.  The award, which includes a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh, was presented in the presence of Union Minister Piyush Goyal, actor and entrepreneur Sonam Kapoor, and startup ecosystem leaders Sanjeev Bikhchandani and Aman Gupta. 

Dream Hives, which is in the pre-revenue stage, is part of Assam Startup’s incubation programme and has benefitted from the programme’s mentoring, branding, and funding support.  As it readies for a commercial launch, the startup is betting on traditional ingredients, sustainable sourcing, and consumer’s evolving preference for craft alcohol to fuel its journey.

https://yourstory.com/2025/05/guwahati-startup-is-bringing-mead-to-indian-consumers-local-flavour

A buzzy new limited-edition mead helps India’s tribal honey harvesters

From cntraveller.in/story

Made with single-origin honey sourced by tribal communities in Maharashtra and Gujarat, sipping on this small-batch age-old alcohol helps India’s sustainable beekeepers 

The story behind Pune-based Moonshine Meadery is one of the most bizarre backstories of any alcohol brand in India—they legit started making this antediluvian drink because of an in-flight magazine; briefly bootlegging it out of the co-founder’s grandmother’s basement. Their penchant for the peculiar is evinced by their latest limited-edition mead in their Project X series, 1,500 bottles of mead made in collaboration with Under The Mango Tree Society, whose forest-harvested Tribal Gold honey was sourced through tribal communities in Maharashtra and Gujarat. And by drinking it, you invariably help India’s honey harvesters.

Now, you better bee-lieve that goes down smoothly for armchair activists like myself, all too happy to save the planet one sip at a time.

What is mead?

Mead is an ancient alcohol with an ABV of anywhere from four to eighteen per cent, made out of fermented honey. It’s a tipple so time honoured it features in ancient literature with the frequency Japanese whisky blends are touted in lifestyle mags today, listed everywhere from Beowulf to the Rigveda—in the latter, it is referred to as soma.

Why mead?

                                                                                                                               Moonshine Meadery

Started by childhood buddies Rohan Rehani and Nitin Vishwas, Moonshine Meadery—widely heralded as India’s first modern mead-making outfit—came to be because Vishwas picked up an in-flight magazine in 2014. “Nitin read about London’s first new meadery in the last 500 years in Lufthansa’s in-flight magazine, which left us super intrigued as we had only heard about mead in the context of Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones… we knew it was a beverage that had existed, but thought it was lost to the annals of time,” says Rehani. Excited to get their hands on some, the two started calling up bottle shops across Mumbai and Bengaluru to no avail. But the realisation that mead still could be made kickstarted their curiosity in the honey-based bevy made with water and yeast, an interest that has kept on thumping to this day.

Not before long, the two were homebrewing mead in Rehani’s grandmother’s basement. “Honestly, we very nearly started a bootlegging operation that took us a couple years to transform into a full-fledged legitimate business (hence the name ‘Moonshine’) because there was no law concerning meads in the country; we actually had to go meet the Excise Minister of Maharashtra and convince the officials to change the law to allow mead to be added under the wine category.”

Beyond the legality of their homebrewing business, they were rather concerned that potential customers would write off their product as being too sweet once they found out the backbone of mead is fermented honey. So they directly went the experimental route, producing apple and coffee-forward meads versus straight-up traditional ones.

“But as our operations grew, we saw beekeepers from across the country, NGOs, and even government agencies reaching out to us (for collabs),” explains Rehani. While the duo initially turned down such partnerships, it inspired them to invest in a honey-harvesting structure for the business and experiment with honey-forward meads. Rehani even completed a course in beekeeping at the Central Bee Research and Training Institute (CBRTI) in Pune, and set up 600 beehive boxes, which are now looked after by a full-time beekeeper.

Journey of Project X

“The very first batch of Project X we released, we worked with sidr honey from our own beehives in 2021,” which won a gold medal at the European Beer Challenge in 2021. “Our sidr is a unique honey and translated into mead wonderfully with its creamy, buttery vanilla notes, almost like caramel… Project X became a way of spotlighting honey profiles beyond the super sweet stuff we find on our supermarket shelves;” their avenue to experiment with other kinds of honey after seeing a rollicking response to their nuanced nectar at international competitions and from their regular clientele.

                                                                                                            UTMT Society

“About a year ago, the founder of UTMT Society, Vijaya Pastala, gave us this Tribal Gold honey to sample, which we absolutely loved, from the concept of wild beekeeping adding supplemental income to Adivasi communities in Gujarat and Maharashtra to the unique taste that has a completely different profile to the original sidr honey Project X—plus the idea behind the original Project X was to keep on working with different honeys across India,” recalls Rehani. And it certainly holds plenty of nuances, totally distinct when compared to the profiles of other kinds of honey they have used. “This honey is very earthy, very robust, and very dark in colour… influenced by the forest flora that grows around it”—from flowers like mahua and palash to tropical trees like mango, amla, and cashew.

A planet-friendly pint

“India’s honey industry doesn’t have a production problem, it has a consumption problem,” says Rehani. “We produce so much honey that India is a net exporter of honey; I believe we’re amongst the top ten producers and exporters of honey in the world, but our per capita consumption is really, really low, around 30 grams per person, per year (in other honey producing Asian countries it is way higher; in Iran the same per capita rate is more than one kilogram.) In India, we're so used to using cane sugar that honey doesn't feature highly in our list of sweeteners… this poses an interesting challenge for the country and the beekeeping industry, especially considering global warming.”

                                                                                                            UTMT Society

As an example, Rehani references his own experiences with harvesting honey in India, “Over the last three years, due to climate change, my harvest season has halved but my production costs stay the same—so essentially the cost of my honey has doubled, but I can’t double my price and expect to keep my customers. This happens all around India,” which is why so much great small-batch single-origin honey winds up being sold to larger aggregators that degrade the honey. “We as people as a nation aren't consuming enough honey, so there is no demand and so prices for beekeepers are very low”.

But Rehani says that the dynamic completely changes when honey goes into his meadery. “I can convert one kilogram of honey into alcohol, which translates into about 15 bottles of Moonshine mead. So in one afternoon, a group of friends can finish an equivalent of honey that the same number of people would take half a year to finish. So not only does mead upvalue honey, but it also increases the rate of consumption of honey.” What makes mead even more interesting is that “it actually has a net positive impact on agriculture, because unlike cash crops like barley for beer or grapes for wine, with mead, the farmers put bees in boxes around the farmland or forests, adding supplemental income with adding needed pollinators to the food-growing farm area, making it a net positive for agriculture.”

The limited edition Tribal Gold Project X by Moonshine Meadery is only available in Mumbai and Pune at Rs250

https://www.cntraveller.in/story/a-buzzy-new-limited-edition-mead-helps-indias-tribal-honey-harvesters/

Top 7 Mead Brands in India: Honey Sweetness in a Glass

From indianretailer.com

Mead, an alcoholic drink made from honey has slowly begun to find favour with the people in India due to various types and availability throughout the year. The drink is called as mead and it is considered the oldest drink in the entire world it originated around 7000 BC, and it is prepared out of honey and water and other fruits and spices or grains can be also added.  

The Indian mead brands have come into the limelight recently due to a booster push from government policies. The presence of such homegrown labels means we can provide sustainable, tasty meat options that are easy to source. Listed below are some of the finest mead brands available in India! 

What is Mead?

Mead, reportedly known as the drink for the gods, has been around for some time as a drink made from the fermentation of honey, water and sometimes yeast culture. It has existed for thousands of years and has therefore been produced and consumed from one corner of the world to the other. Although the users of masa harina have claimed that this product is useful for their health, in addition to being naturally free of gluten, and rich in phytonutrients, vitamins, and antioxidants from honey and other ingredients, numerous scientific studies are still lacking regarding the usefulness of this product.

Mead Market Size in India

In a recent report, the India Mead Beverage Market size, in terms of value, was $57.14 million in 2023. By the forecast period between 2024 and 2030. India Mead Beverage Market is expected to grow at a continuous rate of 4.76 percent to reach $74.55 Million By 2030.

Best Mead Brands Available in India 

1. Moonshine Meadery

Moonshine Meadery, India’s first meadery was started in the year 2014 by Rohan Rehani and Nitin Vishwas based in Pune and is famous for its gluten-free 100 percent Natural Mead. Apart from that they prepare mind-blowing concoctions by fermenting honey with fruits spices and different flavours such as kokum, coffee, ajwain etc. The key products are identified in the flagship and experimental MeadLABs series; popular products include Salted Kokum and Guava Chilli. In addition, Moonshine advances sustainable farming and helps bees and farmers.

Specialities: 

• Gluten-free
• Natural Ingredients 
• 100 percent natural honey

 

2. Cerana Meads

Based on Indian herbs and spices, Cerana Meads was launched by Dr Yoginee Budhkar and Ashwini Deore for unique and, simultaneously, eco-friendly meads. Located in the Sinnar area of Nashik, they produce meads from locally available fruits such as jamun, pomegranates and grapes. Premium products are Pomegranate Vanilla, Jamun Melomel, and Blue Pea Lavender. Their annual meads such as Yule Spice and Pinot Noir Pyment are currently being sold in Mumbai, Nashik, and Pune.

Specialities: 

• 100 percent natural sealed comb honey.
• Locally sourced fruits and spices, and no synthetic additives.
• Made by infusing Jamun fruit from Konkan in Jamun honey from Madhya Pradesh.

 

3. Charm City Meadworks

Charm City Meadworks located in Baltimore, Maryland was started in the year 2014 by James Boicourt and Andrew Geffken and offers dry, light and leaving meads made from honey, yeast and water. Reflecting Boicourt and the fascination of beekeeping it founded an everyday mead: sweet – Sweet Blossom that has a floral and citrus taste. As philosophically as positioning mead as beer, Charm City Meadworks enshrine simplicity and top-notch quality.

Specialities: 

• It brews meads that are exceptionally dry and drinkable. 
• Focuses on light and refreshing meads.

 

4. Stump

Stump Meads, Karnataka’s first meadery, was started in the year 2021 and started production in the year 2022 by sixth-generation coffee grower Himavanth Hasaganur Jayanth. Sourcing its ingredients from Hassan, near the Western Ghats, the brand produces natural meads with honey, water, fruits and coffee and not chemicals. Products that they provide are apple flavoured and those that are coffee flavoured, though they are planning on a lemon flavoured one. At the moment, Stump Meads is only available in Karnataka, although many people expect to find it throughout India.

Specialities: 

• Gluten-free
• Diverse product range 
• All-natural

 

5.  Four Fires Meadery

Four Fires Meadery, situated in Maumee, Ohio, pays tribute to the area's four indigenous tribes: Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi. The meadery offers a diverse selection of meads, including stills, hydromels, and distinctive flavoured varieties such as Mass-a-peel, Blood Orange, and Slappin' the Basil. Guests can partake in tastings and learn about the art of mead-making. Their products can be purchased at the meadery or online through Vinoshipper.

Specialities: 

• Wide product range 

 

6. Odin Mead

Odin Mead is a unique brand that showcases artisan meads from Spain, Denmark, and Lancashire. The Spanish Hidromiel Odin, crafted from a recipe that dates back a thousand years, provides gluten-free, low-alcohol choices such as Odin and Loki. From Denmark, Odin’s Skull Mead combines beer and mead with hops and barley, resulting in a bold and bitter taste. Meanwhile, Lancashire’s Odin’s Honey Mead and Odin’s Mead are traditional, vegetarian-friendly honey meads that offer rich flavours, capturing the legendary essence of the Norse god.

Specialities: 

• Typical Spanish sparkling and refreshing mead. 
• Completely handcrafted production without sugar, dyes, flavours and preservatives.

 

7. No Label

No Label is an Indian mead brand created by childhood friends Anant Gupta and Vinayak Malhotra under the umbrella of Bored Beverages, an "alt-alcohol" company. The brand promotes equality and individuality, which is evident in its name and mission. Their No Label Original Mead, boasting a 7 percent ABV, is a refreshing and light drink crafted from fermented honey. Dedicated to bringing back the tradition of mead, they have plans to launch intriguing flavours like Passionfruit and Iced Tea at budget-friendly prices.

Specialities: 

• A low-medium sweetness level.
• No Label is neither too dry nor too sweet.

Mead Mapping in India 

There is a demand for mead brands in India, offering a unique honey-flavoured alternative to traditional alco-beverages. This honey-based drink has a rich history that makes it a lot appealing to modern consumers. It is made with all-natural ingredients applauding sustainability and being gluten-free. As the want for newer alcohol grows among Indians, mead is marking a way through the terrain. 

https://www.indianretailer.com/article/retail-business/retail/top-7-mead-brands-india-honey-sweetness-glass

Lighter, fizzier, mead in India

From livemint.com

The oldest tipple in the world is the latest entrant into the low-alcohol beverages segment in India

Mead is making a comeback. One of the oldest alcoholic beverages, by all accounts first made and consumed in the pre-Neolithic era, mead predates agriculture. There are references to it in several mythologies and early religious texts—from the somarasa of the Rig Veda to mentions in the Bible, to Norse and Greek myths. Modern-day mythologies like The Lord Of The Rings (LOTR) and the Harry Potter books also reference mead. And now mead is seeing a worldwide revival as a modern drink, flavoured with spices and herbs possibly unknown to the ancients but essentially the same drink—fermented honey.

In the US, home-brewed mead would sometimes be found at Renaissance fairs, and, unsurprisingly, at fantasy conventions, till modern meaderies started cropping up around the early 2000s. Their number has now grown to over 600.

In India, too, mead is seeing a revival. Pune, Maharashtra-based Moonshine Meadery was the first to set up a commercial meadery in India. Co-founded by Rohan Rehani and Nitin Vishwas in 2017, it started selling small batches in 2018 and has grown to selling around 5,000 cases of the drink every month now.

It all started when Vishwas was travelling in Europe and read a story in an in-flight magazine about the UK’s first meadery in 500 years. “We had always read about mead in LOTR, and in Norse mythology, but didn’t know exactly what it was,” says Rehani. Intrigued, they started experimenting. Rehani applied for internships at US meaderies and snagged one, spending six months working with a leading US meadery.

They found that while mead was more wine-like (it is licensed as honey wine in the US, in fact) in the US and Europe, this wouldn’t work for the Indian palate, which needs a more flavourful, refreshing and slightly sweeter drink. They made their meads lighter and a bit fizzier, positioning it closer to beer than wine.

“We wanted to make a delicious drink because we had always wondered why beer is an ‘acquired taste’. In fact, our anthem is ‘make better, not bitter’,” says Rehani. They also started harvesting their own honey, which they sell under the brand name The Moonshine Honey Project. Besides their flagship meads—Apple Cyder Mead, Traditional Mead and Coffee Mead, which are available round the year—Moonshine also offers seasonal meads like Hopped Mead, Salted Kokum Mead, Grilled Pineapple Mead, Guava Chilli Mead, Chocolate Orange Mead, Mango Chilli and Bourbon Oaked Apple Mead.

                                                                               The hopped mead from Moonshine Meadery

Moonshine is not the only meadery in India today—there is a small but growing cottage industry of mead-making, it appears, especially in Maharashtra. There are meaderies like the Nashik-based Cerana, an all-woman team which makes meads with added fruits, like Jamun Melomel, Pomegranate Melomel and Chenin Blanc Pyment (a pyment is a mead with grape juice). In Pune, Portside makes “stronger” meads with 10% alcohol by volume (ABV) as opposed to the 5-7% in other Indian meads. Two companies launched this year: Karnataka-based Stump Meads, which makes Coffee Mead and Apple Mead, and Delhi-based Bored Beverages, which is bringing Original Mead to the market soon.

There is a lot of interest in low-alcohol beverages, and this is inspiring new mead-makers, says Rehani. “The world over, low-alcoholic beverages outsell spirits but in India it’s just the opposite. Maybe that’s changing now,” he says.

https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/food/lighter-fizzier-mead-in-india-111660975161054.html