OnTap Magazine

any people have heard of mead but few have had the opportunity to taste the world's oldest fermented beverage, once heralded to be the nectar of the gods. Mead – a blend of fermented honey and water – is described in ancient Greek, Roman and even Hindu texts, and was discussed in detail by Pliny the Elder, Chaucer, and in the epic Beowulf. And of course there are many old tales of mead production in Africa. e story goes that the Khoisan stumbled across a fermented honey beverage by accident, perhaps nding a broken beehive that had lled with rainwater and spontaneously fermented. On sipping they found the bee-derived beverage to give a buzz of another kind and as far back as 15,000 years ago they began to make their own mead, a drink they called karri . Mead is prevalent in many world cultures with perhaps its most lasting in uence on modern western culture being that of the origin of the word “honeymoon”. In the 5th century, when time was observed in moon cycles, it was said that enough mead, which has purported aphrodisiac and fertility bene ts, was to be provided for a married couple for one moon cycle. THE RENAISSANCE OF MEAD Mead’s love-in has waned in modern times for many reasons, but none more impactful than its cost and technical di culty in production. e de ning characteristic of mead is that the majority of the beverage’s fermentable sugar is derived from honey. When humankind discovered that grains and grapes were able to provide su cient sugar for creating alcohol at a far lower cost and with less need for constant nutrients during fermentation, mead became a super-premium product of the rich and royalty and was seldom produced at any scale. Until now that is. Mead is having a moment. Statistics suggest that a meadery opens every three days in the USA, and it is gradually catching on elsewhere around the world. Honey still remains a luxury item and a di cult raw material to work with, so what has been the catalyst for this growth? Is it just another trend that follows craft beer, cider and gin? Is the world just always looking for the next big thing? I met up with Ernst ompson, founder of Cape Town meadery, Melaurea, which translates from Latin to “golden honey”. He makes a Méthode Cap Classique (MCC) style mead that has started to get a lot of attention. Ernst, a learned man with a well of honey and mead knowledge, works out of a humble yet impressive warehouse. He diligently turns his 750ml corked and caged champagne style bottles on his riddle rack while evangelising this ancient and noble ferment. Ernst is a ‘Mazar’, the title bestowed upon mead producers, but his core business has been propolis, a byproduct of hive building that is used as an antibiotic for animals. “I love bees and I love fermenting, so mead is a natural progression for me,” says Ernst. His MCC-style mead is complex and nishes surprisingly bone dry like a brut. e honey notes are there in aroma and avour but without its associated sweetness. e MCC method ensures its dryness through secondary fermentation in the bottle. Ernst says that his mead avour pro le has been compared to old French champagnes that take on deep complexity. It is the perfect aperitif and very di erent to the sweet honey meads I have previously sampled, which were more suited as a dessert accompaniment. AFRICAN HERITAGE “What makes mead di cult is that it lacks suitable nutrients for the yeast to continue its fermentation to completion, which leads to stuck fermentation”, Ernst says. He continues to theorise that this is the cause of many meads being sweet as producers are unable to get the yeast to work further. e nutrients added are critical to get the fermentation to run its course and Ernst adds that his are a “closely guarded secret and the end product of a Mead is having a moment M ontapmag.co.za | Winter 2019 | 37