All About Mead
Mead, the oldest alcoholic beverage in the world, is originally made simply from honey, yeast, and water. We sell a whole selection of meads and mead type drinks here at Independent spirit of Bath.
It's likely by sheer conincidence that so many different societies developed some form of mead at around the same time. Thinning honey with water and letting it sit, allowing wild yeasts to turn the sugar into alcohol. We wouldn't have understood the science but its potent abilities would have not gone unnoticed.
Straight Mead traditionally is just as above, this style is called hydromel; hydro comes from the Latin for water and mel for honey. A fermentation of honey, yeast and water, one of the more modern styles of "honey wine", would be called a Pyment. Still delicious but can be blended with already fermented wine or blended back with additional honey.
Mead made with apples or apple juice is a cyser, a drink similar to cider.
A Melomel is a mead with fruit. The fruit can be part of the fermentation or added after. A pyment would technically cross over into this category.
Braggot, some would say this style goes back to the Hymn to Ninkasi, the oldest written record of brewing. The Hymn to Ninkasi is at once a song of praise to Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of beer; " Ninkasi, it is you who hold with both hands the great sweetwort, brewing it with honey and wine." A beverage with perceivable honey and beer qualities
Metheglin is a style of mead seen closer to home with its name coming from welsh roots. A mead with spices or herbs. The name comes from the Welsh words Meddyg and Lllyn which combine to mean healing liquor. You can find this as a honey wine style and types of it exist in eastern europe too.