What is Mead 
Types of Mead
Contest Definition of Mead Types
Mead is a fremented drink made from honey and water which dates back thousands of years, predating both beer and wine. One legend has it that mead gave us the tradition of the honeymoon. According to legend, for one moon (30 days) after the wedding, the bride's father would supply the son-in-law with all the mead he could drink in the hopes of ensuring a fruitful union. This period was known as the honey month or what is known today as the honeymoon. Many legends also abound about mead's aphrodisiacal qualities.
Mead is classified not by the kind of honey from which it is made, but by what else may be added to it for flavoring. Here are a list of some of the various types of mead.
| Type | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Mead (Traditional) | Honey wine (honey only and no spices added). Made with only honey, water, and yeast, plus perhaps a small amount of acid (to balance the sweetness). |
| Sack Mead | Is a name (or an adjective) for stronger meads made with more honey than usual, and therefore more likely to be somewhat sweet. |
| Braggot, Bracket | Honey and malt; honey-beer. Braggot is a generally low alcohol mead made with hops, and usually some malt as well. |
| Capsicumel | Honey with chili pepper |
| Clarre | see Pyment |
| Cyser | Mead made with apples or apple juice. |
| Hippocras | Spiced pyment (honey, grapes, spices) |
| Hydromel | A weak, watered mead |
| Melomel, Mulsum | Made with the addition of fruit or fruit juice (other than apple [cyser] or grape [pyment]) to traditional mead. Melomel may also contain spices, as metheglin does. |
| Metheglin, Methyglin | Made with added herbs or spices, such as cloves or cinnamon. (The word is an English transliteration of the Welsh word "meddyglyn", meaning "medicine". Historically, medicinal herbs were infused into a sweet mead to make them more palatable.) |
| Mora, Morat | Honey and mulberries |
| Omphacomel | Honey with verjuice (the juice of unripe grapes). |
| Oxymel | Mead mixed with wine |
| Pyment, Pymeat, Clarre | May have two interpretations: a melomel made with grapes or grape juice, or a wine sweetened with honey. |
| Rhodomel | Honey with attar (a rose petal distillate) |
| Sack Metheglin | Sweet, spiced mead |
Meads are also classified as sweet, medium-sweet, medium-dry and dry, referring to the amount of residual sugars at bottling. In addition, meads may be sparkling (carbonated) or still (non-carbonated). Of the sparkling meads, they may either be force carbonated or naturally carbonated using the methode champenoise (bottle conditioned).
The following lists the categorizations of mead as defined by a Mead contest.
MEAD CATEGORIES:
Meads are produced by the fermentation of honey, water, yeast and optional
ingredients such as fruit, herbs and spices. Their final gravity
determines whether they are: DRY, 0.996-1.009, MEDIUM, 1.010-1.019 or
SWEET, 1.020 or higher. Mead, Wine, or beer yeasts may be used.
1. SHOW: Mead consisting of honey, water and yeast ONLY. No spices,
fruit or other flavoring additives permitted. Addition of water
treatments and acidification is permitted.
2. TRADITIONAL: Mead consisting of honey water and yeast. Other
flavoring additives are permitted in small amounts, but the primary
flavor must be of honey.
3. MELOMEL: Fruit, other than Grapes or Apples.
4. CYSER: Apples.
5. PYMENT: Grapes.
6. HIPPOCRAS: Spiced Pyment.
7. METHEGLIN: Herbs and/or Spices.
8. BRAGGOT (BRACKET): Malted barley (must be at least 50% honey).
SUBCATEGORIES:
a) Sparkling-Effervescent. Flavors should be expressed in aroma and
flavor. Color should represent ingredients. Light to medium body. Dry,
medium or sweet. Honey character still apparent in aroma and flavor.
Absence of harsh and stale character.
b) Still-Not effervescent. Flavors should be expressed in aroma and
flavor. Color should represent ingredients. Light to full body. Dry,
medium, sweet or very sweet. Honey character still apparent in aroma and
flavor. Absence of harsh and stale character.