Authentic Traditional Irish Mead - Can we make One?
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- Опубліковано 22 жов 2020
- What exactly is a traditional Irish Mead? Is there an authentic recipe for Irish Mead? I did some digging around on the internet for Irish Mead. Honestly, I didn't find much. There were a few references but they felt more like marketing for a product that isn't even mead than an authentic source for a traditional Irish Mead.
So, we did the best we could. One "recipe" we found wasn't old, it was fairly new. It was also more of a beer or braggot than mead. We used ingredients that should be easily and readily available in Ireland, such as heather tips and elderflowers.
Ingredients:
3.5 lbs Wildflower Honey: amzn.to/2FMcQB1
2 ounces Raisins: amzn.to/37q4evl
1 ounce (28 grams) Dried Elder Flowers: amzn.to/3dITbOQ
1/2 ounce (14 grams) Heather Tips: amzn.to/3m796cJ
Zest of half a Lemon
Water to fill to 1 Gallon
I packet of Lalvin 71B: amzn.to/2IK4hYl
1/2 teaspoon Yeast Hulls: amzn.to/34fTeyv
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#IrishMead #howtomakemead #mead #makemead #meadmaking
If you are interested in historical Meads, the book Wellcome Mead by Laura D. Angotti contains 105 recipes found in "receipt books" in the Wellcome library, London. The recipes date from 1600 to 1750 (though she acknowledges that the recipe may date even earlier). These are English recipes but as the English had been in Ireland since the 12th century and given the close proximity, there is probably no difference in Meads drank in Ireland and meads drank in Great Britain in those days I would think. A lot if not most of these recipes are for "small meads" which where only 6% or so ABV. They were also intended to be drank fresh and quick. In fact the author actually says in the intro that the timescales mentioned would shock modern-day mead makers.
Where can I find this book????
Now I'm gonna be on the search for this book!
Hi. Im Irish and im a beekeeper. History tells us that Molaga, an Irish Saint trained in Wales, introduced bees to Ireland. So for the Welsh connection well done and the heather would be used for sure. Elderflowers too!!! The Kingdom of Wales is as ancient as Ireland so if your recipe is authentic Welsh it probably the real deal. But remember the ice age was 10000 yrs ago and under 1 kilometer of ice. As the ice receded it created an island of ireland and the uk was still attached to a landbridge to europe. Bees would have naturally made thir way to UK but historically we now know they couldnt have traveled to Ireland without human intervention ie by boat (which Molaga did) Bees are not native to Ireland and there is Roman reports in Literature (circa 100ad=300ad) stating that Ireland was a beeless Island.
I make an 800 year old recipe I found from Wales, it is a Rosemary, Black Pepper Metheglin. It is wonderful, and ancient. I call is the “Green Dragon Mead”.
Recipe?
Heather is a UK thing. In the book sacred and herbal healing beers they have a recipe that goes back to 900 ad and account going back further using Heather tips. Most notable about their mead is that it uses the whole hive bees, hive, everything.
Scandinavian Vikings invaded Ireland regularly around 800AD So any recipes are likely heavily inspired by them or possibly even introduced by them, just as they heavily shaped the county such as place names, etc. Having grown up in Ireland, I can't say I'd really even consider Mead an Irish drink to begin with, it's not common and something one might only hear about from a history book. So if the idea of a Metheglin was introduced, it makes sense they would use whatever herbs and spices were local, so you nailed it with your choice I think, it's likely as traditional as it can get in my opinion. Love what you both do, keep up the great work and thank you for the content!
Thank you! I think you're right... mead in that region was influenced by the Norse. As the years drew on, mead went out of favor with grapes becoming cheaper. That's true nearly everywhere though. Mead is making a comeback and we just tried to do the best we could to make something that would have been made hundreds of years ago in Ireland :)
@@CitySteadingBrews Your wrong there, were strong trade links with the tribes in the area and Europe there was no Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales in 800AD but there was mead in the places that became those countries.
For the beginning, maybe they meant the extra honey will make it "effervescent" and not necessarily "carbonated"? From what I understand, most alcoholic beverages back in the day were drank out of primary (and likely still fermenting) which would make sense as to them possibly meaning effervescent.
A fair assumption!
Started watching your brewing videos two months ago, with the viewing of this one I am now caught up. Now I have four fermentations going under my kitchen table. You two have added another member to the natural home brewing community!
Welcome aboard!
Melomel meads (berries + honey) are likely to have been the most common form of mead in Ireland - why -> because adding berries to honey/water speeds up the fermentation quite dramatically and we had plenty of wild berries. Also our ancestors would have been drinking this mead as it was fermenting, especially once it reached 5-6% ABV which would only have taken days.. so we drank cloudy yeasty fizzy melomels. These were also known as wine of the berry to differentiate them from wine of the grape..
Meadowsweet was traditionally used in Scandinavia in brewing beer or mead. Meadowsweet in norwegian is «Mjødurt» and which translate in to Mead Herbs in english. As someone pointed out in a comment, Scandinavian vikings did travel to Ireland. Who knows, perhaps the vikings brought the tradition of using Meadowsweet from Ireland?
Have you ever tried Meadowsweet? I wonder what it taste like...
@@mycrazylifewfawnlisette3582 No I have not trived it yet, but I am going to try it in my next batch. It is too late to find fresh, so I have to buy dried Meadowsweet. From what I have read, it has a pleasant smell and taste and it will provide some tannin and bitterness to both beer and mead. It is also used for flavouring Gin and Schnapps. Used in tea it was used as a painkiller, so I guess vikings did not suffer headache from drinking to much mead. 😉
@@FreddyHoffmann ooh Mead with a painkiller... I may have to find some! I wonder if it will help my back pain?
If I had any, I'd have used it!
Dublin was founded by Viking settlers, and had Scandinavian Kings. It very much stands to reason that the traditions were also brought over
This is from the Wikipedia page on Mead:
Mead (Old Irish ) was a popular drink in medieval Ireland. Beekeeping was brought around the 5th century, traditionally attributed to Modomnoc, and mead came with it. A banquet hall on the Hill of Tara was known as ("house of the circling of mead"). Mead was often infused with hazelnuts. Many other legends of saints mention mead, as does that of the Children of Lir.
You might try rosehips rather than lemon. My Irish gram always gave us rosehip tea when we were sick. I remember it being slightly sour and fruity.
Oooh, that would be fun to try! I grew up gathering wild rose hips and having rose hip tea as a kid!
I’m from Ireland and I am a student in AIT ath loin WestMead(C)and I’m working on a WestMead Mead using locally sourced ingredients as we have the oldest pub in the world in Ireland season bar is seems fit we would have drank mead
14:30 About elderflowers smell. I always get a slight association with crown dill when smelling (and tasting) elderflowers. I've only ever had fresh elderflowers though, and it's pretty common here in Sweden to make a sweet concentrated juice/cordial with sugar, water, lemon and elderflowers, that I put in the freezer and just mix a spoon or two with a big glass of cold water for a refreshing drink.
I think you can buy it (in liquid form) at IKEA even.
Bog myrtle makes a great addition and would be in keeping with locally available flavorings.
The Herbs and stuff push out the CO2, shaking the herbs, making them go back into the liquid decreases internal pressure, and your airlock hence starts going backward. Happened to me bunch of times before I figured it out.
That makes perfect sense.
I noticed the airlock going backwards on one of mine that was without a cap of herbs/ect.
Would just the vortex from swirling create negative pressure?
@@mycrazylifewfawnlisette3582 I don't think so - I've never had any of my airlocks go backwards on me and if this were the case, then I think it would be quite common to see.
It might be a slight temperature variation that is altered when swirling (between the must and gas), or even the must reabsorbing some of the gasses temporarily as a result of swirling
@@Zoltag00 thank you for your answer! Temp changes is probably most likely even if my hot going in is only a cup of tea, when that cools it could change the temp by 1 or 2° combined with CO2 vs O2 weight makes a lot of sense!
I keep my house at a pretty consistent temp. But once or twice I did notice temp change definitely will make reverse in pressure. I also let my Bochet age on oak in secondary and that was the first I noticed that had reverse pressure with nothing done to it. Then I started doing the swirl (which definitely shortens my primary & conditioning phases) and I have only seen negative pressure before fermentation has obviously started.
does anybody use magnetic stir plates to do this daily mixing?
I've made an oaked out elder flower Mead. Elderflowers give off a light floral note. if you want to know what it tastes like in a alcoholic environment do St germain's elderflower liqueur. I don't know what the other herbs taste like but it should be interesting. The Mead with the oak and elder flowers I named the elder tree. The tasting notes gave off like a buttery floral note. Which was actually surprisingly good.. my best friend has the last bottle of it and it's two years old.
I would definitely be interested in your "elder tree" recipe. Love the name and sounds delicious
Lindisfarne mead is what first got me into drinking mead, your videos got me brewing. Thanks both :)
Nice one. Where I grew up in Switzerland you could harvest tons of elderflower during spring. I always loved it's smell and one day i started making elderflower syrup. I made around 5 gallons and gave it to relatives and friends. But i still had way too much left and i figured that i could never finish that all alone. So i decided to use the syrup to make wine. I added some raisins, (sugar and citrus was already my syrup itsself) and added some more elderflower instead of yeast. I think i even made another one with cloudy fresh apple juice form a farmer friend. They both started off really well but i used improvised airlocks and one day somehow the wasps got inside. Anyways that was my very first try with wines years ago and since then I've been hooked. Great video thank you.
This is great timing, i checked out the "other video" yesterday and thought. Im sure this is an interesting Beer.
I’ve never bought so much honey in my life before D&B!! Lol!!! I’m now a honey sommelier!!
lol.
I just started my Irish Mead tonight! You guys have the best advice and recipes, and your site was why I started brewing mead and beer! Keep up the great work.
Its absolutely a delight to watch your content, I have found it for wine making and now staying for the laughs!
There isn't really an "industry" in Ireland for Mead, as you said we're known for whiskey and porter/ale. You usually find commercial bottles of Mead in more specialty liqueur stores (with a price tag to boot). However, Mead is a very popular drink to homebrew due to the abundance of local honeys. In my own experience, homebrew mead in Ireland is made straight, without fruit, but sometimes with spices -- and definitely fermented to higher ABVs
One of the best books for very old metheglin meads is from 1660s' - The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digbie Kt. Opened
I'm excited to see how this turns out
Go raibh maith agat! (Thank you) for sharing your "Irish" mead. I appreciate all of your tips and tricks and helpful instructions. I've made a few ciders, some didn't turn out too bad, and am going to try some mead after the New Year. Slán go fóill. (See you later)
Got that same shirt. Also going to make this for my Birthday in March
I've definitely done that accidental 1.15+ OG before, just don't ask how many times... Those are the times I grab some yeast hulls, 1118, and/or split the must into two. I try to always keep a packet of 1118 on hand just incase I make a bigger ABV brew or I derp a high OG. I have a well stocked (and priced) local homebrew store so I don't have to wait on orders often and I can grab one offs when needed.
Seeing that herb cap has me wondering if anyone has tried using something like an infusion basket or one of those old style metal tea balls to contain the herbs. I might have to look around on that one.
6:00 "Carbonation was first introduced in 1776."
Well, I'm not a specialist on the topic, but in "Y Goddodin" from the 7th century they already speak about sparkling mead: "They had drank together the sparkling mead by the light of rushes: Pleasant was its taste, long was its woe."
The means to capture it is what I referred to. Until then, there were no seals, so if it was carbonated, it didn't last long.
@@CitySteadingBrews oh I see, thanks for the info!
Really enjoyed your debunking of all of the things you found while researching! Great video, informing and entertaining.
Glad you enjoyed!
I just started my first mead batches on the 20th because of your channel's videos, I am looking forward to seeing what it will be like around Christmas! Thank you for putting out great content!
Hope you enjoy
No jerk detected in trying to get a reliable source material to base a recipe on. Logical and pointed critique of a source is the best way to make sure you're getting exactly what you're looking for.
Thanks to you guys, I've started just today making my own wine. You guys are awesome! thanks for all that you do! Wish me luck and that my batches turn out!
Thomas from Memphis
Best of luck!
Thank you soooooo much for Monty Python! Just hearing it makes me smile🙃
when I researched this topic I came across the herb meadowsweet which i was going to add to my pyment recipe was also going to try and get BlackThorn berries but that was hard to find in the U.S
Hmm...interesting, thought provoking stuff, as all your videos are. I'm a recent sub (and a very recent mead and wine home brewer, so thank you for all your help), when I was a kid in ireland (I moved to the uk in 1966 when I was 9), my Gran used to give us her "special medicine" when we had colds or sore throats, coughs, etcetera. It always came with the caution "Not too much, or yis'll end up buckled", all I know is that it was made from honey and ginger and a few other ingredients, took a few weeks to make, and she called it 'Meath' (pronunciation, I never saw it written down), and she used to drink it herself by the cupful even though she was never ill. The first time I ever heard about actual Mead in my teens, I recall wondering if it was the same stuff or similar.
As an aside, part of the reason I decided to start brewing my own mead is down to the fact that you guys who do have all got fantastic looking women, and,.if my brewing turns out to be any good, I might too 😂 👍🏻
Elderflower. It goes super in gin!!!
Also I fondly remember the bloop of my childhood as made dad made elderflower wine.
hi i am steven, just started watching and started my first cider monday. i have lived in ireland 20 years and never tasted mead
Yeah, it's not really common anywhere anymore.
Lol “fluent in Brian” LOL, that’s good 😂
This made me think of one experimental "what if..." brew I did during spring.
I made 2 gallons of kilju with lots of heather tips, probably around 100-130 grams. Also, as it was kilju, I used the cheapest fastest fermenting yeast I could find. In six days it went to 18% abv. After two weeks I cold crashed and bottled it, and to my surprise it tasted like very artificial bananas (not in a pleasant way). Not sure if the flavor was caused by cheap yeast and fast fermenting, or heather flowers.
After seeing the number of times you guys have been using it, I just ordered some 71B. Looking forward to trying this yeast.
One of the best yeasts for our style of brewing.
So I am on my second attempt at this mead. My first attempt was foiled by unforeseen circumstances. This second round I deviated so I am no longer making your recipe, but I used it as the base and tried to stay with the spirit of it. It tastes wonderful even only being about 3 weeks old and at 16.9% abv. I am surprised it came out so high but yeast apparently really like my house temp. I also made it in a wide mouth 3gal fermenter and with a brew bag, so with all of the additives I got exactly a 2.5 gal. I used clover honey, black currants (chopped since they were so clumped together), and I added Irish breakfast tea (pre-steeped) for extra tannin and flavor. I really enjoy your videos and thanks for sharing this recipe!
new fav pass time drink wine while watching u guys make it
really interested in seeing how this one turns out.
Hey, so I had the same issue of the fermentation going backwards and even I was confused at that time as it was totally strange for me. A while later, I realised that it's because of the air pressure. Not that yeast or any other ingredient intakes air, but the inside pressure is low as compared to the outside pressure. That results in inward action of the airlock.
When my thing happened, it was in peak summers and where I live, the temperature goes up to probably 40°C and that was the time I noticed that it was going backwards. When I moved it to a bit cooler part of the house, it went on being normal again.
So in conclusion, according to me, it's due to air pressure and nothing more. The only thing that concerned me when I noticed this was maybe oxygen was going in my brew while the airlock was in reverse action and could it result in my fermentation getting oxidised... But luckily, my fermentation was good even though the airlock was in opposite direction. So nothing to worry about, with time it gets back to normal when yeast produces CO2 and the pressure gets even.
Correct it is a difference in pressure. It is caused by water vapor condensing when shaking, resulting in a pressure drop. All the surface area of the herbs pushes the equilibrium more towards liquid phase when swirling. It is a difference in pressure, but it is caused by condensation of water vapor.
Found my two Green Irish shirts, ordered the herbs you have listed and Meadowsweet. Everything will be in by December 4th... I'll be making my own starting then. Also ordered a couple big mouth bubblers and a couple hops (I'm going to hop a few meads). Very excited! Dang I forget Irish Moss.... Now I need that and oak chips.
Where do I get Irish Moss from? When I looked on Amazon, it didn't quite look right. I searched both Irish Moss and carrageenan. And yes I know you didn't use that in this but I'm debating making 2 or 3 versions of this. I'm already going to change the recipe by adding Meadowsweet, I'd like the medicinal properties of it for this. I'm debating an exact copy and a second with Meadowsweet or just the one but I am curious about what Irish Moss would do for taste (I can't think of what carrageenan ice cream tastes like to have a hint).
Just watched your 1 year tasting of this... I WANT TO MAKE SOME :) I will do a 2 or 3 gallon batch in a wide mouth fermenter so I can put the herbs in a bag. Don't want to loose any of it if it's that good!
Imrim agus olaim ( I play and I drink) in Gaeilge
I look forward to this one and have high hopes. Can't wait to see the results
One of my neighbors father was a master brewer at O'Doul's and he refers to your Meade as a High Meade( from England).
Meade with an e is an invention of Bunratty.
@@CitySteadingBrews ok, you're correct on that my mistake.
I love elder flowers! Picking the individual flowers off the stalks after harvesting the stalks so you don’t get too many tannins when making elderflower syrup is a pain but man, a cool glass of elderflower lemonade or cordial on a hot summer day is wonderful. I’ve never made it using dried elderflowers as I have access to fresh ones every Spring. Fresh ones might provide a slightly different flavour. Elderflower mead or elderflower wine might be extremely interesting. Never worked with heather tips though. No idea how they affect the flavour.
Thanks for this video!
Found this video, and as Irishman with a love of history and a decent knowledge of where to look online for good info, I found an Irish book from 1415 with a recipe for a metheglin. So here you go.
An Irish Materia Medica by Tadhg Ó Cuinn, 1415
"Item, the narrow-leaved water parsnip, fresh maidenhair spleenwort, balm, small scabious, flower of violet and of water lily, the strawberry plant, the heads and flower of thistle, and ox-eye daisy, equal amounts of each, boil them in the butter of May-time, strain through a linen cloth, put in the powder of sugar, liquorice and anise, and drink it in mead or in ale or in a sweet drink, and it will open up the chest and help with the cough."
You should make a video on prohibition wine, the grape In a brick. And maybe make an improved version. It seems like fun and a really cool wine to cover.
Can you still get that? We did a video similar to it I think: ua-cam.com/video/XHtWgNBM8A8/v-deo.html&ab_channel=CitySteadingBrews
Heather tips are used to flavor a very nice Scottish Ale, brewed in Alloa (Clackmannanshire), named "Fraoch", whcih apparently is the Scottish Gaelic word for heather. I love the fragrance of heather when it is in flower, I think it would be interesting in mead too.
Re: using a full ounce of elderberry vs 3/4 ounce...if it’s worth doing it’s worth overdoing! :)
The oldest traces of mead production in the Nordic countries are from the older Bronze Age and when the Greek geographer Pytheas (334 BC) sailed to the countries around the Baltic Sea, he noted that people there produced a drink from fermented honey and grain. During the Viking Age, mead was an appreciated party drink and has a significant role in Old Norse mythology. After the 16th century, mead became less common.
Today, mead (MJÖD) producers distinguish between mead, which is made exclusively from honey and has a wine character and MÖLSKA (didn't find translation) which is brewed on honey and malt and has a beer character.
__
Mead is much older than that though... it's estimated to be thousands of years older than 334BC :)
Wish me luck. My rice is fermenting. Oh the rice really smells sweet too! In the mean time I need to finish this video.
The reason it's going backwards, on the air lock, is because once the dry items go above the liquid, they begin to dry out. Once you swirl it, they start absorbing the liquid, so it creates a suction.
Note: I can't back any of this up because we're going back 20ish years here and I'm quite certain I lost that book in one of my moves.
The first time I heard about mead was in a book of ancient Scottish and Irish cooking, no idea when it was published but it was already old by the time I got it, and its because of this that I thought for the years to come that mead was generally "carbonated" and a traditionally Irish drink. I remember fermentation only being a few days and it being described as foamy when poured and yes there was definitely heather in the recipe.
The first time that I tasted mead was a commercial bottle that a relative brought back from Ireland, which I also think had heather in it, was still and INCREDIBLY sweet.
So yeah, I still associate mead with Ireland to a degree.
I have this book called "Celtic Folklore Cooking" and it has a recipe for mead with a passage from a 17th Century cookbook. Has some other information too if you ever want to look into it! Also, this recipe sounds delicious!
This episode reminds me of this book, Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers: The Secrets of Ancient Fermentation by Stephen Harrod Buhner.
Great book! There's actually a copy here next to me tonight. Getting ready for my first try at some mead.
Oh I knew I was excited for this but now that I know where to get heather I'm even more excited! I didn't know they were called Heather tips instead I was searching for whole heather flower which is way more difficult to find and expensive. This recipe seems very similar to a mead made by an Irish pagan coven I had the pleasure of meeting and drink with a few years ago. They wouldn't share their exact recipe with me but based on how I know traditional mead tastes and how theirs tasted I'm guessing this recipe will be pretty close. Definitely going to have to try this and play with it.
I wonder if it would be a better to make a strong tea with the herbs and use that as the lion's share of the water. That way you can control the strength of the flavors, especially the heather, because while it's a wonderful flavor it can go quite bitter.
I'm still on the quest to make a clone of Moniack Mead, which is a Scottish highland mead, and the first mead I ever had. To me the flavors were sort of a sweet carmel heather, but I can't find much information on what's in Moniack Mead.
Looking forward to the next chapter in this brew! ❤️❤️
Making a tea would limit the nutrients we got from the whole flowers. But yes, you can do it that way too.
I've had the air lock bubble backwards to! It's a real head scratcher. I did some research and the general consensus is barometric pressure. When your inside is warmer than your out side . As well as the added fermintation gasses It can do funny things. It's not a vacuum cause it doesn't empty the bubbler in the batch it just bubbles backwards.
It's a partial vacuum or it wouldn't suck in air :) But yeah, it's pressure changes due to a lot of factors.
I had been looking at an Irish mead, and now this pops up.
That means our installed microphones are working!
JK...
@@CitySteadingBrews awesome, so next you will make up an experimental Chinese mead.
Awesome stuff - if you are stuck for something new to try you should have a go at Buckfast (a very popular, controversial and highly-caffeinated fortified tonic wine from the UK). I had a go at it by adding boiled down syrup from 3L of coke, adding to homemade wine and then fortifying to 15% with brandy.
What you might find interesting is that it tastes oxidised so it might be a fun challenge to achieve that in a controlled fashion since you have been talking about trying to spoil brews lately.
All the best, Tom
Thanks for the idea, but... I'm not brewing with Coke, lol.
I think the back flow in the airlock is could be caused because of Bernoulli's principle- an increase in the speed of a fluid causes a decrease in pressure. Swirling causes the air inside to move (because it is technically a fluid) causing a decrease in pressure. It may also cool the air a little also causing a pressure decrease.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernoulli%27s_principle
As a chemical engineering undergrad, I can tell you from my studies that higher fluid velocity in a container drops the internal air pressure. It's much the same concept as when you hold 2 pieces of paper parallel to eachother, and blow parallel between them. The effect of this example experiment makes the papers get drawn in together as you blow between them. It is the drop in pressure from blowing between the papers that creates a push on the papers from the outside. That is why when you shake your container, the air lock reverses. It's because of that drop in air pressure caused by a velocity of fluid.
So why does this not happens all the time when they shake the container like why only couple of time we see this I have seen them shaking the container many time in there other videos and reverse flow never happened
@@yashbhaskar3951 probably not enough change in internal pressure for outside pressure to force it's way down. I dont know, would have to take measurements on that sort of thing. The concept is based off bernoulli's principle.
I think your reverse gas issue comes from the c02 being resubmerged in the liquid. to expand on this you had c02 trapped in the flowers in the headspace trying to get out the airlock(creating positive pressure,) when you swirled it all around the c02 remixed and carbonated the mead (this would all be on the minor scale) but i think it would be enough to influence the pressure and create a slight vacuum inside the vessel.
I think you should add the yeast hulls during your honey mixing stage to really get it mixed in and less clumps.
Keep in mind fresh elderflower and heather tips are quite different in aroma and taste to dried. Fresh elderflower is VERY floral, it's very easy to overpower your beverage if you use the same amount as if it were dry. First time I used fresh elderflower I used a recipe for dried, and it was overpowering the point of being sickening. Heather to me doesn't have a huge amount of flavour or aroma, what it does do is add tannins or similar that gives body and maybe helps preserve it.
As for the authenticity of this, heather and elderflower would have 100% been used, it's very abundant here in Ireland. As for raisins, perhaps but it wouldn't have been common (especially for common folk, it would be more of a monastery and upper-class thing to have grapes and wine). Lemons would have been rare and expensive and not all that fresh or flavourful by the time it got to Ireland (they don't readily grow here, they would have come from France). Common folk wouldn't have had lemons till as late as the 1920's, the Irish people were very poor till the English left...
Other common berries and fruit that could have been used would be: blackberries, bilberry, rowan berry, elderberry, rosehips, sloe berries, apple and pears. Parts of Ireland were famous for cider in ancient times, and they added honey and herbs to it.
Common herbs would be: ground ivy, yarrow, bog myrtle, meadowsweet and mugwort. There are probably dozens of other plants and herbs that would have been used that are lost to time.
I can also say that the Kinsale Meads are quite good! The dry Atlantic Mead is definitely my favourite, they also do seasonal or once off varieties.
We too that into account when figuring quantities :)
Thanks for the video, I've been looking into making traditional "медовуху" (Russian mead) myself and I would think that Irish version would be also made the same way: 2/3 of honey 1/3 juice (by weight) put in the barrel for 7-14 days in the warm place and then put for 10-20 years in a cold place/dirt (that would be awesome to dig one of them barrels now). Later they started to add yeast to the same amount of must but it still had to age 10 years to taste the "same" . I think this is when they started to experiment with hops, flour...etc to make it faster and taste alike.
While some may have aged mead that long.... that was not the norm, I assure you. A year or two is all that is needed, even with wild yeast. We've done a few on our show.
My guess on the air flowing backward. The herbs were dried and because it is absorbing water, there is a negative pressure due to the less space being taken up. And when you brought up the answer to my question about sanitization of fruits, I felt like I was in grade school again.
Found this interesting, I too have been digging around for the history of mead in certain cultures.
I have a theory but can't really substantiate with anything other than asterix and oblix cartoons (the magic potion they drank)
My theory is that some mead was drank before a battle to try and dampen the anxiety of the warriors. I.e. give them what we call Dutch courage. However, given the other sideffects of drinking too much they'd put herbal stimulants in to counter those affects and give them the rage and bloodlust. I think there is evidence to back this with the norse berserker!
But I could be talking a lot of rubbish! Just my theory
Cool theory.
Speaking of the Black Currants, I'm very soon to be starting a batch of spiced Black Currant Mead using Allspice, Cloves, and Cinnamon.
Half pack or full pack, that is the question. LOL thanks guys great video.
Just bottled mine after a year in conditioning. It came out a nice golden color with a nice flavor, a bit of a bitter finish though. Great video guys thanks.
I've never heard of Irish mead thanks for education
I’m fluent in ‘Bryan.’ It may not be the same as ‘Brian,’ but it’s probably DARN CLOSE! 😂 Can’t wait time see how this one turns out. 😎
Newbie to mead making and love your vids. Great to see you digging beyond the tourist propaganda. Although it would have probably been popular during the viking/ medieval era, I had also heard that it may have come to Ireland from trading with france & spain and the vikings may have discovered it here. It only seems to have recently started gaining popularity again in the last decade or so with homebrewers. I'm guessing shows like vikings & game of thrones being filmed here have helped fuel the revival. Kinsale mead is delicious
Fairly certain the Vikings may have brought it to Ireland, not the other way around. Mead has been made for something like 10,000 years so no one knows where it started for sure. Earliest records are the Isle of Crete.
Have you tried Blaan. I just started a batch. This is next on my brewing agenda.
Blaand. Nope, but I have heard good things. Still sounds wrong to me though, lol.
I don't know how traditional it would be, but would a lavender mead be possible? I have already really enjoyed lavender as both a unique flavour, but also as an aid for sleep. I was wondering if you'd ever try making one? I'd love to see the process, as I'm very new to brewing. I'm currently just setting up my very first honey mead with the help of a friend of mine. He suggested your channel and I'm thoroughly enjoying watching all of your videos. I love how you break down everything, and share you experiences, it's really helpful for a beginner but also if you're wanting to try something different but not wanting to risk doing a homemade recipe.
@John Smith Food grade lavender is quite easy to get, I use it to make cookies and bread on a regular basis. That's the reason I ask about adding it directly into the brewing process, and whether it would work or add odd flavours.
Lavender tastes like soap to me... I just can't brew with it for that reason.
I would say the backward pressure is caused by you swirling and submerging the herbs. The herbs are all the way up into the neck and when you swirl the jug the herbs sink in the water causing a little vacuum in the airspace.
The vortex caused by the swirling causes a negative pressure environment which would cause the liquid in the bunge to move to the wrong side.
I’m very excited to see how this turns out.
Have you considered making a one of the bottles from this batch into a “fortified mead”, using an Irish Whisky...?
We have not.... I would think the whiskey would overpower it.
I do love how at 6.36 you went to put the paper down and picked them right back up so at 6.46 you can toss one for the glass break sound (one of my favs. & I miss brew talks where you have a bunch of them!) Followed by the rest of them at 6.58 & another glass shatter!
I am kinda curious about what you found in the rest of your research?
I'm watching this again after the bottling video and some discussion in the comments, I wanted to hear your recipe & how you got to it again.
I was wondering if Irish Moss would be good to add to the recipe you made?
Yeah, the first time (that got cut out) the paper came right back into the frame.
More research? Turned up very little. My belief is either mead was so common no one felt a need to write down a recipe or there is no real traditional mead from Ireland. That's not to say they didn't drink it. We know they did, but there was perhaps not an official authentic recipe or style.
i am thinking of making this one again, but wanted your input i was thinking of adding an ounce or two of Ginger to this. How do you think that would turn out far as taste. i watched the tasting and making of both of your meads separately and i like both of their taste, and was wondering about adding the ginger??
A quick check of The Google lead to "mead was often infused with hazelnuts" and not much more specific. This stuck out to me since I don't remember seeing anything nut based in your current videos. I may have missed something though. It will be a fun attempt if nothing else. I am curious to the taste of heather and the elderflowers. Heather smells great although it usually reminds me of Scotland and not Ireland. Good luck! :)
I never found anything about hazelnuts... hmmm.
Bunratty was the first mead I had. That's what got me started. They tell you at the banquet that it is elderflower. It does not taste the same as the imported Meade. I'm sure different cheaper ingredients are used for the exports. The website says it is wine back sweetened with honey. It is semi sweet. I may try this next.
Wine sweetened with honey isn't mead... very different 😀we all start somewhere though! ua-cam.com/video/64SmasjmwwQ/v-deo.htmlsi=33JfPfvADegYRMB3
Rose hips (or a strong rose hip tea) would probably be a more authentic acid source for this (instead of lemon). This looks like a great recipe, I am thinking a mead with Elderflower, Meadowsweet flower, Heather tips, and Rose hips, would probably be pretty authentic!
I made mine in a wide mouth gallon jar. Used a blow off tube.
I could swear I'd heard mead being mentioned in the tales of Celtic heroes like Cú Chulainn, Fionn mac Cumhaill, and Lugh. But you know what your interpretation makes sense.
Now I’m intrigued. And I had a bit of luck searching on Celtic mead and Druid mead. No recipes per se, but lots of talk about “traditional flavors.” The most popular seems to be heather, but the most interesting that I saw was an infusion with hazelnuts (billed as “the nut that gives you wisdom.”) That would be an interesting flavor combination.
You're the second to mention hazelnuts. Maybe I skipped it due to nuts being hard on fermentation, but... I don't recall seeing them mentioned.
Hello! Do I need the yeast hulls? If I don’t have them can I use something like Fermaid O? Thanks for all the info!
You can leave them out entirely or use Fermaid O
Oh, thank you, Brian, for the “half-ass, whole-ass” comment! 😊 I say something quite similar and thought I was the only one 🤣 Glad I’m not alone 😉
You are so welcome!
Would using a small bag with a large (sanitized) glass weight help to keep your herbs submerged? It would necessitate a larger wide mouth vessel to accommodate the additional displacement and retrieval requirement, but might allow for the more hands-off methodology.
It would keep them submerged but also compacted so they wouldn't be able to brew as effectively.
this seems cool I might try one down the road 👌and just thinking out loud here but there's this book elderscrolls cookbook and they have mead recipes in there that somewhat mimic Norse mead I haven't been able to get my hands on it but one of them is blackbriar mead and the very simple recipe is 6 ounces of crushed blackberries
1 to 2 table spoons of dried rose hips
1 and a half teaspoon of ground clove
1 cinnamon stick and apparently a dash of salt but some some reason it doesn't say amount of honey or what honey soooo Yeahhh😬😂
ive got that book. i itried honning brew and black briars meads, but i was not pleased with the result. I did use a SAISON yeast, soooo there may be the issue. otherwise the meads were ok, just not as good as i hoped. but hey learning and experimentation
Yeah, it's a book based off a video game.... I've heard many of the recipes aren't all that great.
Thought on why this specific brew is back sucking on the airlock... Herbs took up so much room and when you swirled that room needed to fill with something (hence back pressure on the airlock).
The only thing I have every heard about Irish mead is that they used heather honey. I think you guys are really on the right track with the heather.
speaking of metheglins, the only one I've made thus far has been with live mint. Came to 9%. I've been thinking of making another one with a more... Italian profile. What would you think of a Basil+Anise combination? Maybe some Thyme as well?
I always think about a basil or thyme mead, then think... would that be gross? I wouldn't use anise myself as Derica and I both don't really like licorice flavors. I may try a basil mead just for fun sometime. If it's horrible, can just cook with it.
28:30 I think it's the cap settling
Hiya have a question with the mixing could you use a blender to mix the honey and yeast hulls?
You could but it’s overkill.
Halloween special soon? something spooky to brew along with would be cool