Bringing Back The World's Oldest Fermented Beverage | PARAGRAPHIC

Honey, the fundamental sugar in mead, is the most expensive commonly-used fermentable ingredient in modern alcohol production. Over the centuries, this nectar of the gods fell into obscurity but recently began a modern drinking renaissance. One small business is on a mission to revive the ancient beverage for the many who haven't tasted or even heard of the amazing wine made from honey.
Watch more from Superstition Meadery and see more of their process: kzbin.info/door/mfqaSGdBs_p0LFbNP4H-lg
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ABOUT PARAGRAPHIC:
Handcrafted documentaries featuring artisans of all trades. We are filmmakers who tell the stories of creators, makers, entrepreneurs, and artists. The ones who have committed everything to their craft. From garage bakeries and mushroom farms to backyard aquaponics and innovative fabricators, these stories will take you behind the brand and show an inside look at the people who make it happen.
-Of the earth, from the plough
#mead #meadery #honey

[@PARAGRAPHIC]

You can watch more of the mead making process directly from Superstition Meadery on their channel: kzbin.info/door/mfqaSGdBs_p0LFbNP4H-lg

[@dklurf]

In your case it's not gravity, but rather buoyancy. Just FYI man. I like what your making. I want to try that stuff. Honey alcohol sounds yummy.

[@dklurf]

I really think what you guys are doing is flipping awesome. How do I buy some mead from you?

[@PNWJEEPER01]

@@dklurf You're perfectly incorrect. Specific gravity is the correct term. Should probably study up a bit before attempting to school people who make their living as fermenters and distillers.

[@geoffwalters3662]

Awesome Video! Thanks a lot!

[@jonathanflud492]

Do u have a website for this

[@saltysnake3774]

"I'd be a lot warmer and a lot happier with a belly full of mead."

[@IvanRodriguez-ro8hl]

Skyrim

[@Pablo-Le-Fruge]

@@IvanRodriguez-ro8hl ya reckon

[@QueenDaenerysTargaryen]

Perhaps

[@natepierson5653]

I wonder how many had the exact same thought clicking this vid.

[@raiankeiji6954]

"Mead, mead, mead... would it kill 'em to get some beer every now and then? Stupid bees and their stupid honey..."

[@fluggenn]

As a beekeeper hearing you guys saying buying localy makes me happy. Really thinking to get into mead making aswell.

[@Sebastian-hg3xc]

The thing is that claiming your honey is probably this rice sirup from China is ridiculous. Most of the world isn't the US, where you can label anything as you like. If you purchase honey in Euope, you will not get rice sirup.

[@gabrielalbeldaochoa8234]

@@Sebastian-hg3xc Indeed. The US is a weird place, fake food, fake women... what else?

[@mcockerham2003]

You should. I have a small scale apiary, so I don't really get enough honey to sell it, but I have made mead. It is fun, easy, and delicious.

[@noahx.classic]

@@gabrielalbeldaochoa8234 fake things exist everywhere. humans can be pretty fake as well.

[@mcockerham2003]

@Alex Adao Very comprehensive. I use a mix of fruit juice and honey myself. The plum juice and honey was delicious.

[@Matty88K]

I am a homebrewer. One of my friends is a beekeeper and makes fabulous, award winning meads. One reason is he is so good is the effort he puts in, but his access to well harvested honey from his own hives is also a big factor. You can taste the difference in the honey before it's fermented and it is so much better than what you can buy.

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

Mead maker myself, made my first mead over thirty years ago. You’re right: the better the ingredients, the better the mead. From season to season the honey will taste different and from year to year it will also be different. The honey from the Spring of 2023 can be completely different from what those same bees in a hove in the same location made during the Spring of 2022 or 2021. Their Summer honey will taste different from the Spring honey and won’t be the same as the Summer honey from the previous year. Have the bees feast on just one variety of flowers (like in an orchard) and you get a varietal honey and that, too, will be different. Use a different strain of yeast, and more subtle differences will appear. Play with your yeast nutrient schedule and it’s yet another variable that comes into play. And then, there’s all the added ingredients to play with: fruit, herbs, spices,barks. Barrel age it, allow it to age in a fermenter with the addition of toasted oak to mimic the barrel ageing or not. Do you want a tannic, higher alcohol sack mead that has aged for three to four years, or do you want a low alcohol hydromel that is supposed to be enjoyed after just a few months? Mead making is, at its basis a very simple process that’s hard to mess up. I believe it’s easier to mess up a batch of home brewed beer than to mess up a batch of home brewed mead simply because the fermentation and pre-fermentation process in themselves are (most of the time) less sensitive. Observe good practice (sanitisation, aeration, nutrition, and avoiding post-fermentation oxidation) and you’re pretty safe. At the same time it’s a craft you can hone and keep refining endlessly. And it never gets boring because the variations are endless. Happy brewing, and greetings from Belgium!

[@jrenmo]

I’ve been fermenting mead for over ten years. It’s one of my favorite hobbies. I would love to work with/in/own a meadery. The best I’ve made was a wild blackberry aged for two years. I was amazed how it aged. Absolutely tremendous. This particular batch I gifted a bottle to a family member. Fast forward two years, I house sat for them and they still had it so I had to try some, right? It had mellowed out and perfectly balanced flavors. Complex and simple simultaneously. Really can’t describe it, there’s nothing like a really well fermented and aged mead. Cheers 🥂 🍻 🍷

[@mcockerham2003]

Hey! I make my own too. I made some with pomegranate juice that was delicious, if not a bit too sweet. I am currently aging it. What do you do when your sugar content is just too high for the champagne yeast to handle?

[@erho2973]

@@mcockerham2003 reduce the amount of honey used. Less honey means a dryer fermentation.

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

It’s fun isn’t it? I’ve been making mead since I was 18-19 (ish) which means I’ve got a little over 30 years of making mead under the belt. I absolutely love to see how a mead evolves over time. From bottling time onwards, I tend to test periodically and a six months old mead might be really nice but become mind blowing when it’s a year or two years old. It can turn into an entirely different beast. Some meads need age to come into their own. That’s why I like to keep records for each recipe I make and add the tasting notes to that recipe over time. Typically 6 months, 1 year and 2 years (if there’s any left!) but for recipes with a higher fruit and tannin content I keep a bottle or two aside for longer. I don’t cork seal all my meads, crimp caps or even screw tops are fine for short term storage. But for those special bottles it’s dark glass and high quality cork graded for long time storage. Last Summer I concocted a no-water blackberry mead (berries and juice) that I oaked. I added a smidge of vanilla as well. Some of the berries had literally dried in the hot Summer sun. The first tasting was very promising. My father’s already wheedled a bottle out of me, he’s babying it in his wine cellar along with his expensive French wines (he’s only just become a recent mead convert). There is no way he’s opening his bottle until it’s at least a year old and probably only if I promise him another one to taste when it’s 2 years old. Keep having fun making meads! I hope that for you it’s just as it is for me: every stage is a bit like opening a surprise present. 😊

[@revylokesh1783]

I live in a small country, Luxembourg. We have a "national brand" for certain products (a label, really) things like butter, ham, wine, and honey, among others. If you buy a jug of honey with that label on it, you get the name, adress, and phone-number of the beekeeper your honey is from. And the honey (even from the same beekeeper) will be different in taste, texture, and colour depending on the season the honey was produced and what environment the beekeeper placed the hives in. Doesn't get more transparent than this, as far as traceability goes.

[@ThisIsGoogle]

All of the EU does that. You are not special

[@LoreShadow1]

@@ThisIsGoogle Shut up :)

[@austinweatherred5792]

Damn, I never thought about anybody actually living in Luxembourg before

[@aristobrat4987]

@@ThisIsGoogle its wild you feel the need to do this, you didnt even put forth a comment worth conversing over lol youre just insulting

[@tasteban9805]

Schaiss letzebuerger sinn iwwerall

[@GundamGokuTV]

This man smelling the mead like it's wine and shaking it around destroys my image of Vikings smashing down mead in the halls of Valhalla.

[@argonwheatbelly637]

It's kind of a melomel, though, rather than a straight mead. So fret not.

[@officialdislikebutton9712]

TGATS BECAUSE HE IS A GAY VIKING

[@M1E1R]

Drinking mead was like the most exclusive thing around to get drunk on. Like fancy champagne, anno 900.

[@barelyfree9427]

It's like anything today, it's all gay-ized and feminized.

[@gertbamse1]

@Ahmed El-Mhemadawi In Denmark the land of vikings we drink Mjød = mead, in big krus = jug.

[@IvanOoze1990]

“You think you're fooling anyone with that top knot?”

[@mvcharisma2968]

Sounds like this factory’s toilet water is cleaner than the water coming from our taps 😂

[@mcockerham2003]

They also have an employee who is passionate about toilet water.

[@haris.saputra.]

Thay guy explaining mead is so passionate with his world. I love it

[@PlasmaOne]

Funny thing is, this is quite honestly the most simple fermented beverage you can make. And while he has some quite interesting trivia, it ultimately watches like an ad. A little bit of gripe through the lens of this being an advert: A lot of the things hes going though is basic practice even for microbreweries, its all in a days work to make a consistent product. Changing the flavor of a mead is quite difficult because its really only comprised of 3 ingredients. Barrel fermenting is interesting, but I doubt theres enough time in a mead ferment to actually impart significant flavors from the barrel into the product. Sourcing good honey might be a bit of a search, but like he said, look local. The last leg they're standing on is the flavor additives, and thats something you can do yourself too.

[@essare3918]

​@@PlasmaOne As someone who both Homebrews (Real ale, Wine, Cider and Mead) and works in a micro-brewery (Real-ale) I couldn't agree more when you break up the process of brewing regardless of what it is you are brewing away from all the fancy equipment, etcetera, it is in nature a very basic process comprised of the same elementary ingredients, small changes can have significant effects on aromas, body and taste but regardless the process is still the beautifully simple thing it always has been, this video is both intriguing and almost an advert at the same time, for all he never directly tries to make you buy anything, as for what you said about barrel fermenting, I do have to disagree on that one, the potency of whatever barrel you choose to go with plays a role in what is ultimately imparted into the final product but port barrels, or instance, do not in actuality require massive timescales to achieve a relatively decent impression on the final product.

[@mrastleysghost]

@@PlasmaOne It's barrel aging, not barrel fermenting. Mead has a fairly short ferment and then they age it, same as wine, whiskey, etc..

[@logoseven3365]

I have a friend who does this with coffee. Met a fella yesterday who loved his Ferrari’s like this. It’s knowledge, passion and the ability to communicate all rolled together.

[@burstitdown9440]

Hmm it's only 13%

[@thousandeyes5357]

As someone who makes mead, i agree with getting the best ingredients. When I first began, I would purchase cheap honey from the store, now I purchase honey from my local bee keepers. The difference in quality is astounding. Great video!

[@PARAGRAPHIC]

Better ingredients, better mead. Very true in pretty much every culinary activity.

[@alexandersupertramp7191]

I've always wanted to try mead. I've got access to some amazing honeys. How Easy is it too do at home? Is it as easy as leaving mixed honey water to ferment?

[@JustinJurazick]

@@alexandersupertramp7191 A great channel to check out for any kind of homebrewing is CS Mead and more

[@trbig67]

Yes, it's that easy. 3 pounds of honey per gallon of water. I have never tried a "Flavored" recipe that I liked, adding oranges, or cinnamon and cloves. (Cloves ruin ANYTHING for me) If you like it on the sweeter side, use D47 yeast. Not as sweet? (But will still have some) Use EC-1118 yeast. Good luck!

[@dutchomatic]

@@trbig67 Try Kveik....Voss works great for session meads and heavier! I changed form D47 to 71b years ago....and even kveik is better than those. Quicker yields too... Skál!

[@olofsvard8222]

"We make something that no one knows about." 😂🤣

[@seerrees]

I have made Mead in my house several times. Its an amazing and not very complicated process. The passion he has for mead shines thru his eyes once he gets to talking about to History of it all. Great video coverage!

[@brendanrandle]

it still blows my mind that in the U.S you can buy something labelled as honey and it not be 100% honey

[@user-wr3vt8uq4s]

Yeah, it's a bummer. If it's a cheap deal then it's probably not real. Just buy from local hives or start doing it yourself. There are a fair number of apiary coaches who can help you get started or help outsource hives at your location.

[@markgearing]

In Australia we have pretty strict laws against misleading or deceptive advertising. If the packaging says “honey”, the product has to be honey.

[@Wabi-sabi8551]

The FDA guidelines dictate that any honey product that includes added sweeteners or sugar CANNOT be labeled as honey. Honey products with added corn syrup/rice syrup are labeled as a “honey blend,” and include an ingredient list [honey as a single ingredient product will not have an ingredient list on its label]. When shopping for honey, you’ll simply want to avoid “honey blend” products.

[@SilvaDreams]

I suggest you go buy your honey from some place other than the store.

[@StuninRub]

Because that's bullshit. If it's not "honey" they cannot label it as "honey". If the ingredients says 100% honey, then it is 100% honey. Most of our honey also does not come from China like the video says. The FDA makes it VERY difficult to import foods into the U.S. especially if the intent is to create fake food products.

[@alexanderaaron7930]

"DRINKIN' MEAD IN THE HALLS OF WHITERUN ! THE MAIDENS AND THE MEN, WE SWIG OUR BREW UNTIL WE SPEW, AND THEN WE FILL OUR MUGS AGAIN !"

[@youtubeMyspaceGoogleYourYahoo]

only reason I even knew about mead

[@gamejunky3040]

“YOU CAN KEEP YOUR FILTHY SKOOMA, IT MAKES OUR BELLIES BLEED. BECAUSE WHEN WE RAISE OUR FLAGON TO ANOTHER DEAD DRAGON, THEIRS JUST ONE DRINK WE NEED. NORD MEAD!!”

[@imnotcreativeenough7208]

Old Gav is underrated

[@raymondfrye5017]

@@gamejunky3040 Excuse me, but what is "skooma"?

[@annafirth6738]

@@raymondfrye5017 You must never get hooked on Skooma. It's made from Moon sugar and Nightshade. That's about all you need to know.

[@JasonPalenske]

"We're making something no one knows about.." Stares at bottles of home made mead on shelf.

[@tristianlefebvre1878]

When it's made from home, it's made from the heart.

[@johannesbartsch8734]

Maybe it´s just not a thing in America? I am from Germany and I can go to the supermarket and pick up some bottles if I want to. Same thing for Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. In Poland, it´s a little hard to find and in any "southern" European countries but I wouldn´t have thought that it´s such an "exclusive" thing in America.

[@JasonPalenske]

@@johannesbartsch8734 I've been able to by Mead at the liquor store for the last 30 years, it's totally a thing here.

[@johannesbartsch8734]

@@JasonPalenske This video kinda makes it seem like it´s not but thanks for the info mate :)

[@JasonPalenske]

@@johannesbartsch8734 Yeah, I was kind of disappointed in how much they made it out like they were the only ones.

[@Nauro50]

"Bringing Back" seems quite weird with international audience. The mead never went away in many parts of Europe.

[@bricktea3645]

They are talking about America obviously.

[@bricktea3645]

They are talking about America obviously.

[@Guldfisken90]

@@bricktea3645 Why do Americans always assume they are the center of the universe...

[@Myuunium]

@@Guldfisken90 I've found myself wondering the very same thing many times.

[@Th0rnable]

Yeah ... you can get it an every renaissance fair here in germany ... is that different in the USA ?

[@kickboxing6958]

Mead ingredients: Beard, Honey, Water and Yeast

[@sakirabbit900]

Don't forget your mead making accessories

[@jcat5150]

LOL...Rogue did a beer with yeast FROM a beard...those guys are pretty freaky for sure... www.rogue.com/stories/beard-beer-official-beer-of-no-shave-november

[@jcat5150]

@Harley Mace I believe that. I'm also not too keen to drink any of it...lol

[@SilvaDreams]

Nope, just Honey, water and fruit. Beard isn't needed.

[@SilvaDreams]

@Harley Mace Incorrect they chew the fruit to break it up so more sugars are easily accessible since the fruit isn't in a large chunk (and it likely has a low sugar content). The yeast comes from the skin of the fruit.

[@spicyafricanman2401]

I love the way they talk about the making this mead, they're literally in love with the process, you'll never work a day in your life if you love your work.

[@BeardedDanishViking]

No, that's not true at all. It's still work, no matter what romantic nonsense you wrap it in xD

[@spicyafricanman2401]

@@BeardedDanishViking I mean shit I can’t argue with that lmao

[@weirjwerijrweurhuewhr588]

@@spicyafricanman2401 It's also marketing.

[@hardwirecars]

@@BeardedDanishViking not really it just sounds like you are lying to yourself and you have a shit job.

[@colemantrantham9264]

And they are telling lies about their product. They have a passion for telling tall tales. That is all.

[@Kiterou]

"We're making something no one knows about.." *stares at all the brands in the store*

[@lucascoval828]

Whoops.

[@jimcurt99]

I just started making mead at home 6 months ago- and I'm SO glad I live in Arizona- the local honey is awesome- I'm learning so much- really fun

[@imperil7688]

“We make something that no one knows about.” *elder scrolls players have entered the chat*

[@xxbootywaterbanditboixx2169]

*Assasins Creed Valhalla players enter the chat*

[@ts1324]

Except Elder scrolls players . If he was making Skooma I’d be surprised.

[@jotuthegamingguru8809]

Aye aye

[@missmimosa7420]

😂😂💯

[@missmimosa7420]

@@ts1324 I wish but Sadly I doubt it, has deadly nightshade aka Belladonna

[@colindruce-mcfadden9026]

Hey neat, I worked with these folks a while back. I wrote on the early history of mead for these folks years ago. Glad to see those stories being shared again! Also: Superstition Meadery is very legit. Their meads are amazing testament to what the beverage is capable of being.

[@PARAGRAPHIC]

Yes, incredible people with an incredible product. Cheers!

[@Winterborn5]

I just started making my own at home as a hobby. Only have a 2 gallon bucket for fermentation and a few other brewing tools. Nice and simple. I plan on giving my dad a few bottles for his birthday.

[@sethhardy866]

I am a small bee keep and I never went back to eating other honey. I loved honey toasted bread. Always went to the story and get a bottle of it. But when I first harvested honey and tasted it I was blown out of the water. Not to mention you can promote natural flavoring for your honey. If bees eat oranges while doing their job your honey will flavored with a tangy orange flavor.

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

Use some of that honey to make mead. Trust me. It takes time but you’ll love it. Just remember that like wine, mead is better when it gets the opportunity to age. Ferment it. Wait for it to clear. Balance the flavour to your liking (sweetness, acidity etc). Stabilise it to avoid re-fermentation in the bottle (you don’t want a bottle to explode on you). Keep a few bottles to drink at different points in time (after 6 months, after 1 year, etc). The process in itself doesn’t take a lot of work. Most of it is waiting: waiting for fermentation to end, waiting for the mead to clear (for the floating yeast cells to settle in the bottom), waiting for it to age. But each and every stage is fun because it’s a new discovery. Even when you make the exact same recipe, the end result will be subtly different because no harvest of honey is exactly the same. I’ve been making meads for over 30 years. Trust me. If you can spare a few lbs of honey, it’s worth a try. Just a tiny little warning: making your own meads can be addictive. Sharing your home made meads can make you popular among friends and family.

[@realtalk6340]

I love how enthusiastic dude was about his passion. Made me love mead and I Haven’t even tried it.

[@nunyabusiness8538]

hell if fermented corn and mash can taste good i can’t imagine how good fermented honey must taste

[@mk-1579]

Meaders are very enthusiastic about our craft. In a world where commertial breweries, as well as many home brews, brew wine and beer and distillers producing hard liquor, meaders are a relatively underground subculture as the drink is not a popularized one

[@davelapointe8742]

The archeological record shows that beer production predates mead by several thousand years (13k y.a. vs 7k y.a.)

[@AlreadyAway]

Came here to say this.

[@KLRHappyJack]

I thought so too but his point about how it naturally happens anywhere you store honey makes you assume it happened commonly on accident

[@AlreadyAway]

@@KLRHappyJack you are forgetting that it is a bees job to make the honey stable. Yes, it can happen in nature but so can wild wine or cider, which would be more common as fruits are more common than honey. But the amounts in which it is happening is very small. Furthermore, the comment was to just give a correct timeline, not comment on the natural occurrence. All alcohol was found accidently. It's more important to know when man started making it.

[@given-namesurname5740]

@@AlreadyAway there are animals that understand the fermentation process and intentionallg wait for fruit to ferment before eating it

[@piperar2014]

What's the source on those dates? The Younger Dryas was about 13k to 11.5k years ago. I'm under the impression that the earliest cultivation of grains was 10k years ago.

[@vargr8435]

I'm starting my first batch this weekend. Mead is something very special and it's so fun seeing the mead "community" grow everyday.

[@jcman-lp6lg]

7:00 the man's smile was beamin when he's talking about it. A man that love his job.

[@clae8715]

These guys are incredibly well-spoken.

[@yongyea4147]

Lol they are dealing with 3 ingredients

[@Albreyjc]

@@yongyea4147 lol those people making vodka are only dealing with potatoes, lol those people making Sake are only dealing with rice! o_o the amount of examples in the world that make your statement both so very wrong and also so incredibly uninformed is astounding

[@ishmaelcamillo]

Albreyjc they are dealing with honey

[@reynardthefox9072]

that's the mead talking lol

[@Highplainsdrifter44]

My family heritage goes back many many generations in Scandinavia as far back as 1482. Mead has always been a big part of our family.

[@lukeochoa3989]

Paragraphic, you will be a giant channel soon. High production value, great animations, amazing B-roll. This is the first video I’ve ever seen of yours and I am hooked. I can’t wait to watch y’all grow as a channel because y’all deserve it!

[@toad2039]

Got to love that he gives away all his experience with passion. I feel like I know all the tricks of the trade! Thanks

[@sohailislam3416]

I love it how they express their passion

[@RumiSleem]

Looks like I’m gifting a barrel of mead for all my upcoming weddings.

[@PARAGRAPHIC]

They can enjoy a real honeymoon!

[@codyx8273]

That is where the term honeymoon came from. The village would all chip in and keep the newly married couple drunk on mead for 28 days. Drunk and sex for a full month to help the wife conceive.

[@notahotshot]

@@codyx8273, that's a 19th century folklore. The only people who believe it are meadmakers and fools.

[@codyx8273]

notahotshot do you have proof? Cause otherwise it’s just hearsay

[@exidy-yt]

@@codyx8273 ARGH again with this Victorian-era myth! NO that is not the origin of 'honeymoon' it has sweet bugger-all to do with mead. I WISH people would fact-check these little 'did you know?' anecdotes before passing them around. They are the mental equivalent of covid-19 imo, except it remains infectible forever.

[@Thulgore]

Mead is fascinating. I like how this is an ad......but at the same time the guy is encouraging people to try mead made by everyone. That changes it from an advertisement to a genuine love of the product.

[@Taooflu]

Mead and beards seem to go together. Plus I just love the word mead.

[@weirjwerijrweurhuewhr588]

It's just the mead version of all those hipster breweries.

[@RocRizzo]

I once had a discussion with some friends on the origin of mead. We came to the conclusion that someone left some honey out in the rain, and forgot about it. It was fermented by wild yeasts, and months later when it was discovered, the folks who found it, and drank it, thought that it was a gift from the gods!

[@sipofliquid]

more likely, since bee hives are natural, someone just drank from a puddle that had runoff from a beehive and realized it was good, and fermented

[@jchin1117]

That's so beyond inaccurate and impossible. Mead was invented in the 1960s in America. STOP SPREADING LIES on KZbin!!!

[@RocRizzo]

@@jchin1117You forgot the sarcasm tag

[@ragnare]

Yeah I'm gonna need a source on that "amazing" etymology.

[@broodfish]

I couldn't find anything online that it was related to that. Sounds more like a marketing trick to associate their mead with the word.

[@aw299]

ragnare 😂😂😂🙈🙈

[@m.a.1998]

Amaze comes from Middle English amasen, from Old English āmasian, from ā- (perfective prefix) + *masian to confuse.

[@backwardshoe]

Both the "amazing" and "Honeymoon" stories are not true. I guess it's a fun lie to tell to visitors though.

[@alex74417]

@@backwardshoe The honeymoon story is true

[@Kencival]

I’m glad I stumbled on this channel. All the videos so far have been really educational.

[@ericneyens]

I just found this channel today, and I am immediately in love. I love the content here, and the types of people and industries displayed. Do refreshing and inspiring to see

[@novastar2486]

Haha "Mead is the most delicious beverage you have probably never tried"...*takes a swig of mead*

[@Nexis1701]

Lol same here

[@nakona123]

Got myself a bottle of bilberry mead I'm waiting to crack open.

[@deanwayne2440]

Literally drinking from my horn watching this.

[@josiahtheblacksmith467]

My first taste of mead was mead I made myself, it really is quite delicious! I actually like what I make better than what others have bought and let me try after I brewed my own.

[@deanwayne2440]

Josiah the blacksmith send me some, I’ll evaluate it.

[@onixtheone]

“Marketing is a helluva drug” -Rick James

[@AstroPatel]

10:28 "that means that if something is amazing, it is as good as being drunk on mead"

[@adampolitowski]

“We make something that no one knows about.” It is funny how Americans are making something extraordinary out of something that is just common thing in Europe. But another common thing for Americans is to forget all the "old ways" of doing things in Europe and than making huge "re-discovery" in Ameican way. Dont get me wrong I am glad you guys are making it and popularize it in USA but honestly there is no need of revivig that beverage. Nothing has been forgotten, nothing needs to be rediscovered and you are definitely not in possesion of something that no one knows about. Half of European countries know very well and we have a few dozens of different producents of Mead just in my homeland - Poland (I am sure in other European coutnries as well).

[@salmonfish1145]

This is the same case with the sourdough craze. Sourdough was the original way of making bread before industrialised white bread overtook sourdough in popularity. Now it's being revived.

[@LegonDamien]

Croatians get f…ked up every weekend with this

[@repubblesmcglonky8990]

For anyone who has never drunk mead, try it, it's the Bee's knees

[@Dareios4297]

And after that try a bee‘s knees, it’s the mead ^^

[@repubblesmcglonky8990]

@@Dareios4297 go home pascal, you're drunk

[@notahotshot]

Actually it's not the bee's knees, it's the bee's vomit.

[@BEEMAN6969]

@@notahotshot a bee's got 2 separate stomachs. A food stomach and a honey crop.

[@tomconnor2529]

I bought two bottles of Bunratty Mead several years ago and took them to a friends New Year’s Eve party . Everyone that tried it dumped their glasses out after a few sips . It was basically a dry white wine with globs of honey floating in it . Absolutely horrible ! I haven’t tried anything else yet.

[@iggybe]

"This is something you never had before" - I hear this and laugh cause I live in Poland and drink mead every weekend.

[@symeo2778]

Me too! Our best national drink!

[@cavanray6742]

They're yanks, cut them some slack.

[@sungod2429]

I want to go to poland now!

[@billmilne5855]

@@cavanray6742 Actually mead is more popular in the US than many European countries... Just saw a video about a British mead brewer who first heard about it on a trip in the US

[@MikeHesk742]

@@billmilne5855 The US has a huge homebrewing culture, a lot of mainland europe has mead as an established national product, like I know Poland has established brands I've tried. Here in the UK it's the worst of both worlds, homebrewing isnt as big over here (obviously still big but no massive brew stores and less sharing of techniques etc, and it's mostly beer or cider-focused) and very little in the way of established meaderies. Outside of Lindisfarne mead which is a weird (but historical) hybrid that you can get online, the rest are occasional side-products winerys might make for fun.

[@RageKing897]

Amazing! Absolutely loved watching this video! Well done 👏

[@MikeyMacMac]

I love it. This was probably the best youtube surprise ever. Superstition is among the best when it comes to mead, I mean they have the top 12 or so of top 20 meads ranked on tapped. I share it as often as I can!

[@RustyShacklefordddd]

“Id be a lot warmer and a lot happier with a belly full of mead” - Some alcoholic guard

[@chadtavatuna70]

then he took an arrow to the knee

[@mikleman996]

"we make something no one knows about and really expensive to make" laughs in Europe Meadery all over the UK and north Europe

[@TheDamibonf]

Slovenia! Try slovenian mead!

[@mikleman996]

@@TheDamibonf Sounds good! do you have any recommendations?

[@TheDamibonf]

@@mikleman996 I'm afraid not :( I found an excellent bottle a few years ago in a fair, drank it and loved it but I can't find who made it. Slovenia is the biggest honey producer in Europe and they're developing a great culture around it, I'm sure there's plenty of (cheap) choice

[@pamelabratton2501]

Summer honey is SO different from spring honey is SO different from winter honey from the same hive! I am on my second year with two bee hive! Just started my very FIRST one gallon batch of mead! I am STOKED!

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

How did it turn out?

[@xXCREEKSTARXx]

Im making my own at home, with absolute success. Every 5liter batch takes 4-5 weeks, with the pulled off yeast after 4 weeks always surviving a few more weeks, making the rest of the mead reach something like 13-15%. My base-mead now reaches something between 8-10% within a few days, give or take and top out at now 15%. My yeast is a powerhouse lol

[@beurksman]

In Europe we actually drink a fair bit of mead. I'd love to see a craft mead boom, tho.

[@josiahtheblacksmith467]

In the United States where I live it is hard to find. I had to make my own to be able to try it. It was worth the work though, I would like to see a craft mead boom here as well. Would be nice to not have to brew some every time I want some.

[@eugeniusgentapradana8256]

Oh, it will come

[@ukaszbuczek9220]

In Poland there is a lot of companies that make mead. It is called miód pitny

[@jerryreedfan7]

I'd like to think that here in the states that craft mead boom is just starting up and there is a company called groennfell meadery that makes craft meads and can ship it

[@mrinfamouz]

Josiah the blacksmith quite a few meaderies on the east coast, I don’t know where you live but look up charm city meadworks. They have some good stuff from Baltimore

[@haltestelle793]

I am planning my first mead homebrew! Mead truly is amazing. I've experimented with some spontaneously fermented young meads from wild yeast in my room.

[@enricopallazzo3244]

How did it go?

[@IceSlushi]

7:12 - Thanks for teaching me new information about wood and fermentation!

[@opensourceradionics]

the music is so inspiring, I have tears in my eyes ... well, I need to buy a bottle and try

[@brockly7916]

played skyrim years back and I just thought Mead was regular beer..

[@HisVirusness]

It's so much better, especially when you make it yourself.

[@eYeTrIcK77]

@@HisVirusness I want to try to make some now >_

[@HisVirusness]

@@eYeTrIcK77 Check out the channel Doin' The Most; the guy who runs it is very knowledgeable. It may seem overwhelming at first, but he has videos specifically targeted to beginners.

[@biggnutz3092]

Hmm I'm diabetic 🤔😱

[@gabrielalbeldaochoa8234]

@@HisVirusness TBF I would start from an old historical recipe book and from there start experimenting and force your family into tasting mouldy water for the next year until you find your spot in mead.

[@gav1636]

I wonder if anyone’s ever thought about making mead with the hallucinogenic honey from Nepal. I’m curious if it would make “magic mead”, or if the hallucinogenic effect of it would go away in the fermentation process.

[@MrLordwen]

Yes! I'm interested to seeing what would come out of it.

[@saintvictorie]

Hmmm good idea. I'm making a trip soon to the himalayas.

[@alfreddoncarlo9004]

Good idea.

[@melonjuice7441]

mead has been mixed with everythang baby

[@gottago9824]

the ancient greeks used to make hallucinogenic wine - they combined wine and ergot w/a mix of other herbs so who knows?

[@jumbee9]

Fantastic video. Well shot and cut. And I learned something about mead. Very cool.

[@sventer198]

Love how excited these guys are about their product 🎉

[@cordramirez1999]

Love this. My father-in-law has some fermenting as we speak

[@Vinkie]

You're one lucky guy.

[@mavwavesify]

Lol everybody in my country knows about this, its part of our christmas tradition to drink hot mead. I suppose more slavic country residents will agree with me

[@nou1438]

It depends what Slav you are. Here in exyugo we drink warm rakia

[@mavwavesify]

Well, we have palenka which is basically the same thing, but never heard of someone drinking it warm.

[@rodrigorosas8877]

It's also very common in my country, some restaurants even offer it for free at the end of a meal

[@mavwavesify]

Rodrigo Rosas where are you from? Might wanna pay you a visit :D

[@MrIrwin-tl4bv]

Not a Slav, I live in Germany and we also drink mead throughout the cold Season .

[@qaszim2012]

I love learning the entomology of words and this mini doc has tought me more than most documentaries. Honeymoon and amazing who would have guessed. Great job guys.

[@ironelegance]

I tried a bottle of theirs and it's really tasty. Strong too. Like a strong wine with a spirits finish but balanced really well. It's a treat

[@ernsthaft919]

To all US-citizens ... here in europe we are able to consume more then cola, gatorade and bud light... ...and the stores here sell this stuff too!!!

[@TalonsRebellion]

...I literally have a booze supermarket 20 minutes from me as an American. Mead isn't some foreign thing here. I drink it all the time, and the local ones are really freaking good.

[@blueheadedpants]

I didn't realize it was that hard to get mead across the pond, heck even our supermarkets sell Mead over here in the UK Although getting it from a farmers market is so much better quality.

[@PARAGRAPHIC]

Most people in the states go for beer, wine or your distilled spirits like whiskey and vodka. Even hard seltzer has become very popular lately but many haven’t tried mead. It’s one of the more uncommon alcoholic drinks. You can find it at liquor stores but it’s not very popular or well known with regular consumers.

[@stickfood8117]

here in germany you can´t get mead in the average store and almost nobody knows mead and if they do they mostly heard about it

[@paladyeproject]

@@stickfood8117 Rewe and Edeka have mead, not very good mead but they have it

[@josiahtheblacksmith467]

Yep it is hard to find here in the states, especially in smaller towns like the one I live in. I brewed my own since it was difficult and expensive to get here.

[@SilvaDreams]

@@josiahtheblacksmith467 Lol, same. Why buy it when it is so simple to make and much cheaper in the end.

[@tplummer217]

Lots of passion right there.

[@tuckerscreek5221]

2:51 "The more locally sourced you can find the honey the better."......... AMEN BROTHER!

[@joshuagarner6981]

“Almost cooked and turned brown.” *insert credentials* As a beekeeper who is so passionate about keeping bees that I keep hives for our 1,000 acres of farmland even though I am anaphylactic shock allergic to their stings. *back to my point* The honey is brown at the end of the season because it’s dirty. More dirt tracked into the hives over the season. That’s all.

[@NaughtiusMaximu5]

A little floor spice makes everything nice

[@MAJmufin]

that is a lot of bees! Good thing you do it too. Nature needs those lil fellas.

[@xeropave]

That's all from your farm in your opinion. Ever tried strawberry field honey from Hawaii? Didn't think so. It is RED and so other sources can be differently colored. Open your mind a bit.

[@helicocktor]

What's being measured with the liquid is not its "gravity", it's its "specific gravity".

[@Lolwutdesu9000]

Came here to say this.

[@ANTSEMUT1]

I almost read that as Gravy, looking in my peripheral vision.

[@dillweed501]

bird up I bet you’re fun at parties

[@given-namesurname5740]

@@dillweed501 being able to tell people interesting things would contribute to a fun party

[@leonlawson2196]

Bye nerd

[@googleanti-speech7618]

Sir I and extremely impressed, not just by your knowledge, but by your passion for the product, and not only that but you treat it with utmost respect. And I like that!

[@iamM4SK]

dont know why youtube decided to recommend this but im so glad it did! might order a bottle now! great video!

[@amaturearcadia]

It's so good, tried it at the farmers market yuuum

[@telpeloth]

> Never heard about Please, I'm Polish, supposedly Polish knights declined participation in crusades, because there was no mead in Holy Land. That's like XII century Not to mention that I used to keep bees, and my last name literally means "beehive".

[@MikeHesk742]

Legend :D I've had some polish mead, I love that it's mostly survived in Poland. Here in the UK it pretty much died out, there's maybe one established brand that is a mixture of mead and white wine from Lindisfarne that has historical links, but apart from that the only mead you can find here is stuff that's maybe made from winerys as a hobby. Which is why I brew my own.

[@notleviathan855]

I think he's just talking about like "in general" not Niche countries where mead is like important. Here in the states mead isn't popular, unless you go to very specific stores you won't be able to find mead. So we can just assume he's speaking directly to Americans when he's talking about it. I never heard about mead unless it was in videogames. I knew it was a real life thing, but I just thought it went out of fashion until a couple years ago. Just goes to show that a majority of the American Population grabs a six pack, and calls it a day. I didn't even know the ingredients of mead until this video, I thought it was a bunch of fruit mashed together, and sat in a barrel. He's not talking to an international audience. He's an American talking to Americans about mead, and how much culture, and history is behind it.

[@saraha8276]

Polish mead is also great, it's called Miod Pitny and comes in 4 categories, from dry to very sweet as they all contain different ratios of honey to water. It's also traditionally mulled and drunk warm. It can also be fermented with fruits and local berries sometimes, which is great. What they are making in the video (2 parts water to one part honey) is considered Trojniak (Truy-nyuk) and is the second driest.

[@twinkieSTARgirrl]

This was so informative!!!! 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽

[@lazygizmo]

Today I learn what honeymoon meant and im not ok... Oldest and most wholesome tradition. urk my heart.

[@notahotshot]

"Oldest and most wholesome tradition." Also completely false. The etymology of amaze does not have anything to do with mead or the cup called a mazer, beer had been brewed far earlier than mead, and the 19th century theory that honeymoon has anything to do with mead has been rejected by scholars for a long time now. Everything he said was just marketing hype.

[@lazygizmo]

@@notahotshot Sorry I dont speak wrong. I'm going to use mead to break the ice in social parties and have mead on my honeymoon.

[@animesoul167]

@@notahotshot you don't even need to "brew" mead though. it's just honey, water and time.

[@TickyTack23]

I can see this being a very lucrative business to help the bee population.

[@McGovern1981]

Ya thought the same thing! Drink this and help support pollination!

[@nanocowie]

The more business there are for beekeepers, the more beekeepers there will be. Wish there were a few more where I am.

[@Matty88K]

Bee keeping is very hard work and low profit. We need more bee keepers, but good bee keepers, because lazy amateurs have contributed to the problems of varoa mites, foul brood, and other diseases devastating both domestic and wild bees in the US, Canada, and Europe.

[@theguy8242]

The dude looks genuinely happy talking about mead. Loves his job I bet

[@khadegaming3757]

I literally just started my journey down this road I am so stoked.

[@1218omaroo]

60% absolute waffle, 40% good information. Great to see someone talking mead again though. :)

[@blupyxi5669]

Well I dunno anything about any of it so it's all golden to me 😁

[@hatboyal7181]

Literally have a jug of mead brewing in my sauna

[@sauceman5616]

How was it?

[@hatboyal7181]

@@sauceman5616 a bit poisonous, but overall quite nice

[@guycalgary7800]

It’s a tasty beverage for sure , I mix it with ginger ale and serve it over ice for a great summer drink !

[@NovaaktheKING]

This is Dope af dudes passion comes thru so good!!!!

[@TheHelluvastudio]

He looks very happy after had his mead...

[@zachariaswilliams1770]

Going off how much an average bottle of honey cost i could only imagine how much a whole barrel would cost

[@yongyea4147]

$230

[@claystanislaw2281]

I use a little less than 15 lbs to make a 5 gallon batch, and that cost about $60 dollars in my area, depending on the time of year

[@JeffreyQProductions]

@@claystanislaw2281 How long does mead 'keep' for? Indefinitely? Does it go bad?

[@claystanislaw2281]

@@JeffreyQProductions id be lying if I said I knew, because I've never tried to store it more than a few months. My boys usually drink it up pretty fast anyway, but I assume it is the same as grape wine,and only hets better with age

[@oscarbarrera2828]

I just tried mead this thanksgiving and it was amazing!

[@zk1479]

Thanking you. And greetings from Abuja.

[@kenta000007]

"Honey from the grocery store is probably just rice syrup from China." HUH????

[@henryorsomething]

Yeah, there's an episode in a Netflix docuseries (think it was called Rotten) about how China is undercutting domestic honey markets with rice syrup and what not.

[@texlad04]

Buy local products. It really matters.

[@MrTuubster]

I am so glad the EU consumeren rights forbid advertising sugar syrup as honey.

[@alethia5874]

It's true tbh

[@juanvco]

I wouldn't be surprised if that's true. I simply love honey and used to live in south america and eat honey all the time. I moved to north america and I recall buying a bottle at Walmart that was so pale and bland tasting that for sure wasn't pure honey as stated on the bottle.

[@CorpsmanUp93]

We need more meaderies in the States! Right now there’s only a handful on the West Coast and one or two on the East. Unfortunately Americans are too invested in their light beers and hard seltzers.

[@kelseybrandin702]

actually, there's a good number on the east coast! even just here in new england there's a decent number

[@sol12498]

not sure what you're talking about considering i know of at least 10 on the east coast alone

[@logisticsninjistics]

I've made my own mead (even some for my wedding) but never stuck at it. Its great to finally see a Professional operation like this. I hope we see more. Theres a few small meaderys in scotland but its nothing like this I used to buy honey from latvia and poland from ebay when I was experimenting

[@NicMG]

The passion you guys have is 'Amazing', I want some mead now!

[@Sir_Gerald_Nosehairs.]

What do you mean "bringing back"? They've been brewing it on Lindisfarne here in England for centuries.

[@hyenaswine]

Right. Lindisfarne...center of the world lol. Still living in castles too, i'm sure.

[@Sir_Gerald_Nosehairs.]

@@hyenaswine As opposed to that glittering metropolis Prescott, Arizona...?

[@hyenaswine]

@@Sir_Gerald_Nosehairs. Sorry? Oh I see you thought this mead was only for people in Prescott, Arizona and this youtube video was only for people in Prescott, Arizona. Try and keep up, this isn't just for you. It's on the Internet.

[@timm1139]

“... I wonder if Velard is still making that mead with juniper berries mixed in ...”

[@genemcdonald4049]

been making mead for years, always happy to see others doing the same

[@alanstokes5467]

the passion and love this man projects shows his love of both their products and the mead industry. love it

[@miagy420]

This guy looks like Chris from Total Drama Island 🤣

[@DocLumen]

Well THAT'S a show I haven't heard of in a long long time.

[@xBurzurkurx]

"So it's like 1 part honey and 2 parts..." *Superstition Meadery has left the chat*

[@vitanus]

In Germany, even though you have to "search" for it in the store, it is not that difficult to find pure honey. There are plenty local shops from private beekeepers who produce it 100% pure and without adding anything. If you compare that honey, with honey you can buy in a grocery store, even though it is a good label, the taste is quite different. Its simply alot more delicious and healthy