From a glass, or a tankard, mead seems to be a heavier drink than beer. However, like all things, enthusiasts exist that revel in the craft and enjoyment of mead. So raise that glass, hoist that tankard, and drain the cup all way down to the bottom, refill and get another in reverence to Mead Day!
Learn about Mead Day
Mead Day has been created in order to foster camaraderie among mead makers, as well raise awareness regarding the rich craft, long history, and trade of this drink. Mead is actually one of the oldest fermented beverages across the world. It consists of yeast, water, and honey, and it is a craft that we should definitely pay tribute to.
Even if you have never heard of it or never tried it before, we are sure you enjoy a beer or some other sort of drink of this nature, and really we have mead to thank for that. After all, everything that we enjoy today is a development and progression of something that we have enjoyed in the past.
The flavor of mead is going to differ based on the ingredients that are added to the fermentation. Many different types of ingredients can be added. This includes blossoms, herbs, and seasonal fruit. A lot of mead makers carbonate their beverage, like wine, sparkling cider, or beer. Hops can also be added to the recipe for a more hoppy flavor. Mead can also be distilled. This creates more of a liqueur-type mead. As you can see, this drink is very versatile and people have found lots of different ways to create it and enjoy it.
History of Mead Day
Delving into the history of Mead Day is like a trip down memory lane. While it was officially recognized as Mead Day in 2002 by the America Homebrewers Association, it has been around for a lot longer. The fermentation of honey and water, mead has been historically shown as far back as 6500 B.C.
Many cultures also refer to mead as ‘honey-wine’, although various cultures also differ on that very topic. However, mead may also have spices, fruits, grains or even hops added to vary the taste and body of the drink. Occasionally, mead is even carbonated or naturally sparkling, dry, sweet or semi-sweet depending on the recipe.
This means the established mead methods are truly a time-honored tradition, steeped in history and culture. Mead Day itself has garnered a growing reputation, being a way to learn how to make, bottle and even start selling mead for yourself.
How to celebrate Mead Day
Many enthusiasts enjoy talking about their crafts with anyone willing to listen and even share a bottle with them as they come to speak about their drinks, mixtures, and methods. Many enthusiasts get together on this day to swap recipes, methods, and stories over a tankard or cup.
Usually over the task of making more mead for later consumption, or just to enjoy the process some more with friends and family nearby. Some groups dedicate Mead Day to comparing mead of a certain recipe against other people’s recipes. These kinds of competitions tend to be laxer than one might expect, with the brewers themselves willing to share their own exact recipes and methods in order to be reproduced or find a way to make the mead better.
The American Homebrewers Association has a competition every year, where the winning mead is the ‘official’ mead of the next year. But no matter if you are just brewing up a batch of mead yourself, sharing it with some family and friends, or going out to an event and cracking open a keg of mead, enjoy responsibly, have fun and be sure to thank the bees for that honey that is turned into the liquid ambrosia that is consumed during Mead Day!
You could even have a bit of fun trying to make your own mead for the first time if you have never made it before. As mentioned earlier, there are so many different ingredients that can be added to mead, and consequently, so many different flavors that can be made.
Because of this, you will be able to experiment with the flavors that you like the most in order to create a mead that is suited to your taste buds. Even if it does not work out exactly how you had hoped, we are sure you will have a lot of fun along the way.
You can also spend this day learning more about mead and the history of the drink. You will find a lot of information online, and there are even books about it. If you are a bit of a history buff, you will certainly enjoy looking through the archives and finding out more about the introduction of mead and the different ways that this drink was enjoyed.
Aside from this, it is also worth looking to see if there are any events or special offers going on at a nearby brewery. A lot of brewers will celebrate this day. They may have an event going on. Alternatively, a lot of brewers will decide to add a special mead drink to their menu for this day or week only. Why not give it a try? If you have never had mead before, it certainly sounds much more appealing to get someone else to make this drink for you, rather than attempting to come up with a concoction yourself!
