If "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," hopefully a glass of Mead will make you feel like a newlywed in no time!  Mythology claims Mead increases fertility and sex drive.  Mead is known as one of the world's oldest alcoholic drinks and was brewed in Babylon over 4,000 years ago.  Its affectionate name is the "Honeymoon Wine." 

Mead consists of a blend of honey, wine, fruits and spices.  The earliest styles of Mead were sweet.  Surprisingly, many forms of Mead exist.  Let's now increase our quest of knowledge of this ancient brew.

Traditional Meads are not made from a single variety of honey.  No fruits, herbs or spices are added.

Sack   Meads are very, very sweet.

Hydromels are Meads containing 10% alcohol or below.  This is a new category to classify meads.

Melomels are meads made with fruit, excluding apples or grapes. 

Metheglins are meads made with herbs and spices.

Pyment is a fermented blend of honey and grape juice.

Specialty – Must be fermented from at least 50% honey.

Varietal – This is made without fruits, herbs or spices.

There are only around 50 Meaderies throughout the United States, and the states of Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Virginia all boast meaderies.

Oliver Winery, located in Bloomington, Indiana, is probably considered the "King of the Renaissance" of Indiana wineries.  In the early 1970's, Oliver even hosted an annual Camelot Mead Renaissance Festival.  Their award winning mead is made from orange blossom honey.

Blacksnake Winery, located in Carroll County, Virginia, make Meads with 10-13% alcohol which include Traditional Meads, Melomels and Pyments.  These are bottled at six to nine months and continue to improve with age. 

Valley Vineyards, located in Morrow, Ohio, makes a Honey Mead from fresh clover Honey. 

Cascade Winery, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan makes two types of Mead.  A Traditional Mead and an Orange Spice Mead both sell for $10.00 a bottle.

Sandhill Crane Vineyards offers a truly unusual Mead.  This Michigan winery makes a Melomel Mead called Miel Amour.  It is made with Asian pears, local honey and a hint of cinnamon.  However, it is very sweet with a residual sugar of 10%. 

I have saved the most interesting meadery to the last!  Elwood, Indiana's New Day Meadery is a true meadery as meads are the only beverages they produce.  They produce a Dry Mead in the Traditional style with no residual sugar.  I have tried this wine and it is truly different.  Also produced, is a Semi-Dry Mead, also made in the Traditional Style but sweeter with a residual sugar of 4%.  

In 2007, New Day plans to offer several Honey wines such as Dry Blueberry Honey; Dry Red Raspberry Honey; Dry Peach Honey Wine.

So, go drink some Mead and cuddle with your "Honey."        

Rita Chapman is a frequent visitor to the Winery Adventures website.