Mead: the brew that launched a thousand ships
Sun, Jul 28, 2013
(Originally posted elsewhere on April 27, 2012)... or at least this guy's interest in bees.
Anyway, if you're not familiar with mead the simplest way to describe it is "honey wine". Mix honey with water, add some yeast, wait a few months and viola! (OK, that's a bit of an oversimplification, though only a bit) There's tons of epic history behind this drink and it seems to be intertwined with human history in many locations around the world.
Below, you can find a flyer that I put together for my home brew club, the Hogtown Brewers. This is intended for use as a handout during mead brewing demos. Annually we perform demos at the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire, and on national Learn to Homebrew Day. Since it's a one-page handout it lacks some detail.
The books mentioned in the flyer are:
The Complete Joy of Homebrewing is geared for folks new to homebrewing and covers beer, mead, and cider. It includes recipes plenty of instruction on the gear you'll need as well as an introduction to the processes involved in brewing.
The Compleat Meadmaker goes a good bit more in depth on the specifics of mead. This book does include recipes, discussion of gear, and discussion of process. It's organized a little differently, and I find it slightly less accessible for folks who are completely new to brewing.
That said both books are great resources for new brewers. If you have no interest in brewing beer and only want mead, then The Compleat Meadmaker will provide more bang for your buck.
Cheers!