I don't see a booze section, so.. Tell me about Mead.

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - I don't see a booze section, so.. Tell me about Mead. (Page 1 of 2)

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:13:09 PM EDT

I've never had it. I thought it would be fun to drink Mead while playing Skyrim. What can you tell me about it? What does it taste like? What kind is good, what kind should I avoid, etc?

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:14:54 PM EDT

[#1]

Ask Robin Hood?

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:16:22 PM EDT

[#2]

Had some in England. Meh. Milk and honey and stuff. Probably rocked in the Middle Ages before they had Mountain Dew.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:17:51 PM EDT

[#3]

I've only had Lindisfarne Mead. WAY too sweet and sickly for my tastes.

Honey beer, on the other hand, I rather like.

This is the stuff. Skip to about 2:45:

.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:18:29 PM EDT

[#4]

Tagged for interest

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:19:00 PM EDT

[#5]

"No thank you. Allah forbids it."

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:19:05 PM EDT

[#6]

I've had a couple different kinds and they were all far to sweet for my taste. The only brand name I can remember is Rabbit's Foot, or something like that.

Obligatory Skyrim quote, "I'd be a lot warmer with a belly full of mead".

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:19:08 PM EDT

[#7]

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:21:16 PM EDT

[#8]

I've had a bit. Wasn't for me.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:21:36 PM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:
I've had a couple different kinds and they were all far to sweet for my taste. The only brand name I can remember is Rabbit's Foot, or something like that.

Obligatory Skyrim quote, "I'd be a lot warmer with a belly full of mead".

Mead is sweet...so get the ones fermented with peppers to balance out the sweet. I had a habanero and jalapeno mead once that was amazing. It's too sweet for the capcacian oil to be overpowering, it is just awesome.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:21:51 PM EDT

[#10]

Kind of a booze section: http://www.ar15.com/forums/f_1/171_Home_Brewing.html

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:22:54 PM EDT

[#11]

Mead is awesome.

The first time I had it was at an Amon Amarth show about 5-6 years ago.

The lead singer had it in a viking horn. He popped the top and ran down the stage, pouring mead as he went.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:26:10 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:

Mead is awesome.

The first time I had it was at an Amon Amarth show about 5-6 years ago.

The lead singer had it in a viking horn. He popped the top and ran down the stage, pouring mead as he went.

and that post lets me know that you are a cool person.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:26:17 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:

I've never had it. I thought it would be fun to drink Mead while playing Skyrim. What can you tell me about it? What does it taste like? What kind is good, what kind should I avoid, etc?

IT'S GOOD.

But, there are several varieties from several sources.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:26:44 PM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
Mead is awesome.

The first time I had it was at an Amon Amarth show about 5-6 years ago.

The lead singer had it in a viking horn. He popped the top and ran down the stage, pouring mead as he went.

I am now fully erect.

So... this is something I can find in a liquor store, or am I going to have to go into some kind of intensive countrywide search?

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:27:16 PM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I've never had it. I thought it would be fun to drink Mead while playing Skyrim. What can you tell me about it? What does it taste like? What kind is good, what kind should I avoid, etc?

IT'S GOOD.

But, there are several varieties from several sources.

Well, then, specify!

i like sweet drinks. My favorite booze at the moment is Moscato D'Asti

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:29:44 PM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Mead is awesome.

The first time I had it was at an Amon Amarth show about 5-6 years ago.

The lead singer had it in a viking horn. He popped the top and ran down the stage, pouring mead as he went.

I am now fully erect.

So... this is something I can find in a liquor store, or am I going to have to go into some kind of intensive countrywide search?

All of our liquor stores here carry it. We have a local winery that makes their own mead, it's pretty goddamn delicious

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:29:57 PM EDT

[#17]

B. Nektar Meads

Have the Pyment ice cold.

I've tried numerous brands, and I like this meadery the best. It's what I'm buying until my own batches age...

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:30:35 PM EDT

[#18]

I need a Viking helm. Does it come with a free Viking Helm?

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:30:55 PM EDT

[#19]

When it's good, it's the nectar of gods. Unfortunately, the only place I've had REALLY good mead is at homebrew competitions.

You'll have to go to a liquor store with a very large selection to have more than one choice of mead, but there are some good ones. The most widely available is a brand called Chaucer's, it's not very good and I would steer clear if you have a choice. The last commercially available brand I tried was Redstone and it was pretty good. My best advice is go find a place that has some and buy a few bottles. There probably won't be a very large selection so it won't be hard to choose. Try a few different kinds and find what you like. Fermented honey is very different from fermented grapes, and I prefer good mead to good wine but good wine is more available.

Again, when it's good mead, it's f***ing amazing.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:32:04 PM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:
B. Nektar Meads

Have the Pyment ice cold.

I've tried numerous brands, and I like this meadery the best. It's what I'm buying until my own batches age...

awesome!!

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:32:10 PM EDT

[#21]

Quoted:

Quoted:

I've never had it. I thought it would be fun to drink Mead while playing Skyrim. What can you tell me about it? What does it taste like? What kind is good, what kind should I avoid, etc?

IT'S GOOD.

But, there are several varieties from several sources.

Well, then, specify!

i like sweet drinks. My favorite booze at the moment is Moscato D'Asti

I would suggest going to a large liquor store and talking to them..

They'll be able to point out which of their selection is dry vs. sweet, and which is most popular.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:32:34 PM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:

Quoted: The lead singer had it in a viking horn. He popped the top and ran down the stage, pouring mead as he went.

I am now fully erect.

So... this is something I can find in a liquor store, or am I going to have to go into some kind of intensive countrywide search?

I saw Amon Amarth at Wacken Open Air 2004.

Still got my (shitty plastic) drinking horn lying around somewhere. I was teetotal at the time, but I still got into the spirit of things.

My younger brother, on the other hand, was very mashed, and had to buy a second horn when he lost the first in the crush getting to the front of the show.

We were both in this crowd:

.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:33:19 PM EDT

[#23]

honey wine

mulled wine is fairly close

and you can do it yourself in a crock pot

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:33:24 PM EDT

[#24]

I called my local liquor store. they said they carry mead!

Getting good alcohol around here can be a serious pain in the ass. It's not like other states where there's a wall of wine everywhere you go

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:33:58 PM EDT

[#25]

I like honey and most wines. I found it far too sweet.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:35:02 PM EDT

[#26]

Look for Redstone Mead. They're a commercial meadery out of Colorado, so they're not to far from you.

Their Traditional is a good example of a, well, traditional mead. Their vanilla cinnamon is a bit on the sweet side, so it should be considered a desert wine. The melomels (mead with fruit) are good, too. The raspberry melomel they make is a bit lighter, but still kinda sweet. They come in a flip top blue bottle.

Mead runs the gamut of very dry, to REALLY sweet (sack meads), and everything in between. The flavor really depends on the type of honey used - whatever the bees got the pollen from has a strong influence on the honey, and thus the drink. Lots of people like orange blossom honey since it's sweet and citrusy. Clove and wildflower honey tends to be a bit more spicy.

ETA: One warning: DO NOT TRY CHAUCERS. It tastes like pvc in a bottle. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:35:33 PM EDT

[#27]

My local winery has a fine selection. Blackberry is pretty outstanding. If you have a decent wine shop or some of the better grocery stores you should find some, but it will likely be Chaucers (sp), kinda the Bud Light of mead. If you have a winery nearby hit them up. A local SCA guy does some honey mead that will sneak up on you right quick. Look up the local SCA group and see if they have any brewers, they can create some outstanding elixers.

What are the legalities of shipping the stuff? I'd send a couple bottles your way if they wouldn't throw me in prison.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:36:17 PM EDT

[#28]

Quoted:
honey wine

mulled wine is fairly close

and you can do it yourself in a crock pot

No not really... Sorry but if you think mulled wine is close, then you've never had a real mead...

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:36:29 PM EDT

[#29]

Quoted:

Quoted:

I've had a couple different kinds and they were all far to sweet for my taste. The only brand name I can remember is Rabbit's Foot, or something like that.

Obligatory Skyrim quote, "I'd be a lot warmer with a belly full of mead".

Mead is sweet...so get the ones fermented with peppers to balance out the sweet. I had a habanero and jalapeno mead once that was amazing. It's too sweet for the capcacian oil to be overpowering, it is just awesome.

Oh man that sounds awesome.

I like pepper jelly and philly cheese on Ritz crackers. I'm betting this mead with a creamy pasta dish would be tits.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:37:03 PM EDT

[#30]

Quoted: Getting good alcohol around here can be a serious pain in the ass. It's not like other states where there's a wall of wine everywhere you go

Shame.

At pretty much all our local supermarkets, one side of an entire aisle will generally be reserved for the wine section, with the other side containing lagers, ales, cider, spirits, and mixers.

Red Wine.

Red Wine erry'where.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:37:13 PM EDT

[#31]

Way too sweet for my taste. I could feel the cavities forming.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:38:08 PM EDT

[#32]

Quoted:
My local winery has a fine selection. Blackberry is pretty outstanding. If you have a decent wine shop or some of the better grocery stores you should find some, but it will likely be Chaucers (sp), kinda the Bud Light of mead. If you have a winery nearby hit them up. A local SCA guy does some honey mead that will sneak up on you right quick. Look up the local SCA group and see if they have any brewers, they can create some outstanding elixers.

What are the legalities of shipping the stuff? I'd send a couple bottles your way if they wouldn't throw me in prison.

I have no idea what the booze laws are with shipping. Probably not good. We can carry our guns anywhere we want, but got forbid we drink in our own homes

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:39:41 PM EDT

[#33]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I've never had it. I thought it would be fun to drink Mead while playing Skyrim. What can you tell me about it? What does it taste like? What kind is good, what kind should I avoid, etc?

IT'S GOOD.

But, there are several varieties from several sources.

Well, then, specify!

i like sweet drinks. My favorite booze at the moment is Moscato D'Asti

We a bottle of that last night. Most guys will think it is too sweet. It is a ladies hot tub wine.

You will like mead. We have it at the Renessance Festival and during the holidays.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:41:36 PM EDT

[#34]

Here are some readily available meads that should be easy to find, and the descriptions that I sent to a friend a while back:

1. Chaucer's Mead (USA) – Not in anyway satisfying. It may have seen a good mead from afar, but damn sure never brushed up against it...

2. Bunratty Meade (Ireland) – A fortified wine with mead on the label. Making a white wine with grapes that a drunken bee may have known in the biblical sense, does not a mead make. The Irish should stick with whiskey, and stop adding honey to bilge water...

3. Bea's Sweet Mead (Germany) – This is very light and sweet. A bit on the pricey side compared to the previous selections, around $30 if memory serves. Definitely worth trying, and it is a real mead, but not my favorite.

4. B. Nektar Orange Blossom Mead (USA) – Excellent mead, a bit sweeter than what I prefer, but very nice. This is my current case mead, until mine is in production...

5. B. Nektar Wildberry Pyment (USA) – I LOVE THIS ONE! Harder to find, but well worth it. This one tastes like sangria with a smokey finish. I pillage any bottle I can find!

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:42:12 PM EDT

[#35]

Oh shit, I missed the Moscato d'Asti mention earlier.

A great dessert wine!

Fuck, now I'm gonna pick up some mead on the way home. Let me know if that store doesn't actually have any - I'll ship you some.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:43:33 PM EDT

[#36]

I'm scribbling notes furiously

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:44:32 PM EDT

[#37]

I make mead.

Typically takes 6 months to make a batch.

Makes the store bought stuff taste like... Crap.

Mead is the best drink evar... Only displaced by ales because they are faster/easier to make.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:46:03 PM EDT

[#38]

Quoted:

Look for Redstone Mead. They're a commercial meadery out of Colorado, so they're not to far from you.

Their Traditional is a good example of a, well, traditional mead. Their vanilla cinnamon is a bit on the sweet side, so it should be considered a desert wine. The melomels (mead with fruit) are good, too. The raspberry melomel they make is a bit lighter, but still kinda sweet. They come in a flip top blue bottle.

Mead runs the gamut of very dry, to REALLY sweet (sack meads), and everything in between. The flavor really depends on the type of honey used - whatever the bees got the pollen from has a strong influence on the honey, and thus the drink. Lots of people like orange blossom honey since it's sweet and citrusy. Clove and wildflower honey tends to be a bit more spicy.

ETA: One warning: DO NOT TRY CHAUCERS. It tastes like pvc in a bottle. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Most of the stuff I drink is from here in NY, so I kinda doubt XCR will find any there.

I hate giving bottle suggestions on any kind of wine, because every time I try to find one I can't.

You're spot on about it running the gamut though, and any shop worth a shit will know what they carry.

I would just suggest trying plain mead at first, but experiment from there if you want. I prefer mine plain, no fruitypants horseshit.

I like both dry and sweet, so I'd suggest trying both, even if you normally tend to prefer sweet. It's very good both ways.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:46:32 PM EDT

[#39]

Quoted:

Way too sweet for my taste. I could feel the cavities forming.

Then try dry.

Mead does not have to be sweet.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:46:33 PM EDT

[#40]

Quoted:
I called my local liquor store. they said they carry mead!

Getting good alcohol around here can be a serious pain in the ass. It's not like other states where there's a wall of wine everywhere you go

Anything you get will probably be inferior to what you can make with a little bit of research and some basic equipment.
You want The Compleat Meadmaker for a comprehensive tome, but Papazian's Complete Joy has an appendix on mead that will guide you through making some very good stuff as well, and it's a bit easier to follow.

Hypothetically, I would say that *IF* it were legal to mail alcohol from the state of Maryland to the state of Utah, you should PM me your address and I would send you some of my latest batch, which is a few weeks away from being ready for consumption.

However, it's not strictly legal. Though, there is a technicality if the mead just happens to be inside collectible glassware. But, like I said, don't do that, OK?

To the rest of y'all, mead is just fermented honey. It can be sweet or dry, effervescent or still, dark or light, strong or sessionable, just like any other beverage from any other fermentable sugar. You can spice it or not, and you can add fruit or oak or smoke or chocolate. You can mix it with grapes or barley extract to make hybrid styles, and you can go "single malt" on your honey selection or use a blend. In many ways, the world of mead is larger than beer and wine put together - it just so happens that very few commercial meaderies exist, and they're almost often very small, so the commercial representation of mead just isn't there.

Anyhow, on my universal scale of alcoholic beverages, mead is better than wine but not as good as beer.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:46:53 PM EDT

[#41]

Quoted:
I make mead.

Typically takes 6 months to make a batch.

Makes the store bought stuff taste like... Crap.

Mead is the best drink evar... Only displaced by ales because they are faster/easier to make.

Is it difficult? what would you need to do it yourself?

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:47:34 PM EDT

[#42]

Quoted:

Quoted:

Mead is awesome.

The first time I had it was at an Amon Amarth show about 5-6 years ago.

The lead singer had it in a viking horn. He popped the top and ran down the stage, pouring mead as he went.

I am now fully erect.
So... this is something I can find in a liquor store, or am I going to have to go into some kind of intensive countrywide search?

make your own, will take less time

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:52:05 PM EDT

[#43]

Making it myself intrigues me. All i need is a crock pot, you say?

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:52:20 PM EDT

[#44]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I make mead.

Typically takes 6 months to make a batch.

Makes the store bought stuff taste like... Crap.

Mead is the best drink evar... Only displaced by ales because they are faster/easier to make.

Is it difficult? what would you need to do it yourself?

A decent size boiler, an air/water tight container that you can put an airlock on and also get very clean prior to use, a shitload of honey, yeast (higher end yeasts will yield a smoother mead), some water.

Larger batches seem to turn out better. I do five gallons at a time. Small batches are fun to play with, though.

It's actually not that hard to make, it just takes fooooorrrreeeeeevvvvvveeeeeerrrrr... Which means, if you screw it up, it really pisses you off.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:53:14 PM EDT

[#45]

This thread makes me dislike Amon Amarth and that makes me sad.

The first time I tried mead I was expecting the most awesome drink on earth because Beowulf and Vikings drank it. That to me screams testosterone.

I thought when I drank it I would end up fist fighting other mead drinking barbarians and having sex with my wife in a drunken public frenzy while knife fighting packs of wolves.

Instead I was given this putridly sweet wine like substance that gave me the spins, although it did make me want to punch someone.

Months later I discovered jaegermeister which is what I decided that Vikings were actually drinking and in the earliest example of OPSEC Vikings passed on recipes for this sissy ass bullshit that we now call mead to prevent their awesomeness from falling into the wrong hands and make invading easier.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:54:32 PM EDT

[#46]

Quoted:

Making it myself intrigues me. All i need is a crock pot, you say?

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:54:34 PM EDT

[#47]

Quoted:
This thread makes me dislike Amon Amarth and that makes me sad.

The first time I tried mead I was expecting the most awesome drink on earth because Beowulf and Vikings drank it. That to me screams testosterone.

I thought when I drank it I would end up fist fighting other mead drinking barbarians and having sex with my wife in a drunken public frenzy while knife fighting packs of wolves.

Instead I was given this putridly sweet wine like substance that gave me the spins, although it did make me want to punch someone.

Months later I discovered jaegermeister which is what I decided that Vikings were actually drinking and in the earliest example of OPSEC Vikings passed on recipes for this sissy ass bullshit that we now call mead to prevent their awesomeness from falling into the wrong hands and make invading easier.

You've only had shitty mead.

I got my nose broken at that show and didn't even care because mead made me what Liam Neeson wanted to be in that stupid movie about wolves and plane crashes.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:55:02 PM EDT

[#48]

I'm more into some nice Skooma, the imported stuff.

Oh come on it had to be said.

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:55:50 PM EDT

[#49]

Quoted:
This thread makes me dislike Amon Amarth and that makes me sad.

The first time I tried mead I was expecting the most awesome drink on earth because Beowulf and Vikings drank it. That to me screams testosterone.

I thought when I drank it I would end up fist fighting other mead drinking barbarians and having sex with my wife in a drunken public frenzy while knife fighting packs of wolves.

Instead I was given this putridly sweet wine like substance that gave me the spins, although it did make me want to punch someone.

Months later I discovered jaegermeister which is what I decided that Vikings were actually drinking and in the earliest example of OPSEC Vikings passed on recipes for this sissy ass bullshit that we now call mead to prevent their awesomeness from falling into the wrong hands and make invading easier.

So much lol

Posted: 2/17/2012 12:56:47 PM EDT

[#50]

Forget mead, just get Barenjaeger and be done with it

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - I don't see a booze section, so.. Tell me about Mead. (Page 1 of 2)

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