Recipes for Mead

Despite what most people think, mead is not a kind of beer, as the definition of a beer is an alcoholic beverage made from grains. In Europe beers were made from barley and wheat. In Japan beer is made from rice (this beer is called Sake) and for the ancients of Mesoamerica beer was made from Maize (Corn). Mead is made from water, honey and yeast; as such it is not a beer. Neither is it a 'wine' as the sugars involved in fermentation are not derived from fruit.

Mead is mead, an ancient drink much beloved of the Celts and the peoples of Europe during the Middle Ages. For mead brewing, the initial mixture of water, honey and yeast is termed a must and the yeast converts the sugars in honey into alcohol at which point the must becomes mead. It is possible to create different flavors by adding ingredients such as fruit or spices into the Must, or by putting them into the Mead when Fermentation has stopped.

To a purist, however, the various forms of products that are called 'Mead' can be broken down into the following list:

Mead and its Derivatives

Mead Honey 'wine' made without the addition of any spices or fruit.

Metheglin Honey 'wine' made with spices.

Melomel Honey 'wine' made with fruit; of which there are two main types:

Pyment Honey 'wine' with grapes

Cyser Honey 'wine' with apple juice:

Hippocras (also known as Ypocras): honey 'wine' with fruit and spices (a post-fermentation recipe for which can be found here.

Sack Mead Very sweet honey 'wine'.

Sack Metheglin Very sweet spiced honey 'wine'.

There are tow main styles of Mead which can be made: small mead which is fermented quickly, has a high CO₂ content and has more of the characteristics of a beer than a wine; strong mead which is far more wine-like with a high alcohol content (which may be as high as 18% by volume) and like wine can be 'sweet' or 'dry' in character depending on the yeast strain used. Beyond the basic recipe given below, the type of mead you can produce is only really limited by your imagination. It is even possible to make an ale–mead hybrid using a mixture of honey and barley extract as your sugar source. A number of authentic and derived mead recipes are given on the links list to the left. However, if you've never made mead before follow this recipe first and then start to get a little more adventurous.

If you have never made mead before, please look at this page on basic mead brewing to find out how to make a simple mead. Even if you have made mead before, please check this page as all the recipes assume you have some familiarity with the techniques and methodologies described therein.

Need to convert any measurements on this site? I have conversion pages available for Volumes, Mass/Weight and Temperatures available.