3 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Mead
Mead is a fermented alcoholic beverage made with three simple ingredients: honey, water, and yeast. The popularity of mead has grown significantly in the last decade or so, and it is now drunk regularly by people all over the world.
Traditional mead has been around for centuries and over the years brewers have created endless flavour possibilities by adding fruits, spices, herbs, and hops to alter the texture and taste. Because of its extensive history, there are quite a few interesting facts about this drink, so let’s take a look at a few things we bet you didn’t know about mead.
1.Mead is Thought to Be the World’s Oldest Alcoholic Beverage
Although the origins of mead aren’t 100% definite, evidence of humans drinking mead was found in Henan Province, Northern China over 9,000 years ago. This means that mead is most likely the oldest alcoholic drink in the world!
2. Mead Can Make Itself
A lot of people believe mead was discovered by accident, after rainwater entered a beehive and was spontaneously fermented by wild yeast. Whether this is in fact how mead was discovered is debatable, however it is a possibility. This means that mead can actually be made by itself without human intervention under the right conditions.
3. Mead is the Reason We Have Honeymoons
Honeymoons, we believe, began in medieval times. Back then they didn’t have watches and instead measured time in months, using moon cycles. When a couple married, the first moon cycle (month) of marriage was considered to be the sweetest, and it was common for the father of the bride to give her a month’s worth of mead (which is often referred to as honey wine) to solidify his daughter’s happiness. This was known as the honey month, which later became known as the honeymoon.
Additionally, mead was thought to be an aphrodisiac. People in medieval times believed that drinking mead everyday would improve the chances of a couple conceiving a child. Mead was even credited if a baby was born nine months after a couple’s wedding.
Try Mead Today
You don’t need to head to a mead hall to try mead. Thanks to its popularity, mead is readily available in almost any supermarket, as well as many online breweries. So, if you’ve enjoyed these fun facts about mead, why not grab a bottle and pour yourself a delicious glass of mead today?
