I placed an order with our main mead guy Andrew a few weeks back and when it didn’t arrive I contacted him; he apologized and explained that he had a huge backorder because it’s Ren Faire season. Obviously I accepted his apology and of course the mead arrived soon after, but then I started thinking, if it’s Ren Faire season then it’s definitely Mead Season.
For the uninitiated, mead is an ancient beverage, predating ceramic pottery and even agriculture, so the historical record is unclear, but there is evidence of mead production in ancient times from across the globe, in Asia, Africa and Europe. Made by fermenting honey and water and often some spices and fruits, mead goes by many names, depending on both the country of origin and the recipe. There’s also a lot of lore about it: the ancient Norsemen believed it could turn you into a poet (that’s nice right?). It’s made by bees, so it’s definitely not appropriate for vegans, but for those of you that share concern about the fate of the honey bees, Andrew assures me that mead production is a great step in the right direction.
Thanks to folks like Andrew it’s also much more widely available here in NYC. Here are a few of them:
