#metoo
The ingredients of mead and generally how its made are basically unchanged the last 6-700 years? I am a complete newbie to Mead.
Remember mead always showing up in Beowulf and stuff like that. Always meaning to try some.
But if your g/f hates it, I have to try it!
Itāsā¦complicated. There are quite a few āmeadsā available today that donāt really reflect historical meads. Your best bet is to find some local meaderies, as they generally tend to produce more authentic stuff than the (very few) ālargeā brands.
To be fair, sheās not very experienced with meads, and so she finds this one a bit, well, letās say challenging. She prefers a sweeter mead, and the bitter herbal flavors are not helping matters.
And since weāre talking about mead:
Gl. Dansk MjĆød, a fortified mead from Dansk MjĆød (Billund, Denmark) with the addition of ginger and hops.
I do not consider Dansk MjĆød to be a ārealā mead. Itās fortified, and they reference an old Danish tradition of fortifying mead with schnapps, but personally I donāt consider this as mead any more than I consider sangria as wine. However, Port is certainly an acceptable fortified wine, so Iām a little conflicted here 
. Nonethelessā¦
Itās tasty. The alcohol content, at 19%, is very evident but mild. Itās very sweet (a little too sweet, IMO) and the ginger is the star here, along with sweet honey notes. I donāt really detect any hops flavor. It is best served chilled (IMO), and you can go quite chilly with the serving temp without disrupting the flavor balance.
Itās not nearly as tasty (to me) as Dansk MjĆødās Viking Runes, but itās a decent dessert drink, or a nice little sweet treat anytime. Itās not worth the $28 USD that I paid for it but itās not bad at all.
(I should note that the girlfriend loves this one.)
The first time I tried mead was a bottle of Lindisfarne mead which is (or at least was) made on Holy Island.
I was surprised because in all the illustrated history books I read as a kid, mead was always portrayed as a frothy, beer-like drink. That always stuck with me till I tried some.
Iāve given up on IPAs at home. They are good for camping because they can pack a punch but for taste itās Pilsner for me everytime.
Kolsch sounds interesting though, I had not heard of that.
same here, but with emphasis on the honey
There are meads that have some bubbly yeast-derived effervescence, but theyāre far from āfrothyā like beer. Some modern meads are carbonated, and may contain grains (like barley or oats) to give them a longer-lasting, more beer-like head.
However, traditional meads could be āfrothyā if they were consumed before fermentation had finished - which was somewhat common, especially in certain regions.
you make a great point that for a drink as ancient as mead, there is bound to be regional variations across lands/cultures. I was naive enough yesterday to think they were all similar.
In my experience, meads from different meaderies - even in the same general geographic region - tend to be quite different. Then when you complicate things by adding fruit or spicesā¦
And Iāll bet there were probably even more differences a few centuries ago. Different yeast strains produce different alcohol levels, honeys pick up local flavors that are evident in the mead, and of course the ratio of honey:water affects the sweetnessā¦like wine, there are a lot of variables. Well, it is a type of wine.
I can totally imagine not having the patience to wait for it to fully ferment!
#metoo
Finishing of my last op rum then going for a well deserved rest.
This is my summertime favorite this year.. its not to sweet lightly only and has a well balanced taste of wild strawberries .. or how ever named.. in Germany we say āWalderdbeerenā and nice 90ies design too.
Off topic.. as of only a possible temptation to pour something into a glassā¦
thats my workplace at night:
Brewery in Germany seem to see a need to expand to non alcoholic beverages to fill the gap of younger generations seems to not start drinking beer that much.
But I want to try KĆ¼sten Kola Flens is a nice beer and has a Plopp even .. so their Cola would be interesting
They also offer a whisky:
Well, not in my glass as yet but I did order 4, 4 packs . Weāll seeā¦