Saturday, August 2, 2003

Join homebrewers and meadmakers for a chance to gather on a summer Saturday to share camaraderie and to make the “Beverage of Kings.”

The American Homebrewers Association (AHA) Mead Day is a national event to help increase camaraderie among homebrewers and meadmakers and introduce or reintroduce the meadmaking hobby.

Each year on the first Saturday in August, homebrewers around the nation are encouraged to invite non-brewing and brewing friends and family to celebrate by making mead.

Before the event, participants that are planning Mead Day events, register their site on this web site. These registered sites help the American Homebrewers Association track how many participants celebrated the event. 2003 event results will be posted on this page a few weeks after August 2.

What is Mead?
To put it simply, mead is a fermented beverage made from honey which is sometimes referred to as "honey wine." Plausibly humankind's first fermented beverage, mead has evolved and expanded its range through the millennia to include other fermentables such as fruit and malt as well as various flavorings such as herbs and spices. Brewers often make a malt and honey mead known as "braggot" or "bracket."

Before the event
• Register your Mead Day site
• Invite non-brewing and brewing/meadmaking friends to help make mead.
• Hold a special pre-event mead dinner for Mead Day friends or family.

During the event
• Tell friends and family about other American Homebrewers Association fun events – Big Brew, National Homebrewers Conference, Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day
• Bring out meadmaking literature for your friends to read– Compleat Meadmaker other meadmaking books
• Drink mead, pair your mead with food and HAVE FUN

After the event
• Fill out the Remittance page on this site and tell us how many participated at your site
• Check out this site for post-event numbers.
• Bottle the mead you made together
• Buy an American Homebrewers Association membership as a gift for new homebrewers or meadmakers
• Have new homebrewers or meadmakers check out www.beertown.org for up-to-date brewing information

Learn More about Mead
The Compleat Meadmaker
In May 2003, the AHA is releasing The Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm -- home production of honey wine from your first batch to award-winning fruit and herb variations.
Mead (honey wine) is the new buzz among beverage hobbyists as more and more consumers start to make their own. This up-to-date title tells the novice how to begin and the experience brewer or winemaker how to succeed in this newest of the beverage arts.

Need info right now?

Order a copy of the special Mead issue of Zymurgy - May/June 2000