It’s made of honey.
Since I’m doing Beorn’s Hall this week, I decided to brew a batch of mead. I do this in five-gallon batches. This is ten pounds of honey, water, and wine yeast — I use champagne yeast because it tolerates a high degree of alcohol.
4 comments:
The root, meaning "honey," whether actual honey or sweet malt, is found throughout the Indo-European languages. The Russian name Medved, "bear" is from the same. The bear, like the wolf, was considered a sacred tribal symbol and its name was taboo in some contexts. Hence he was known only as the honey-eater.
So it has a connection with Bjorn and bears at quite a deep level.
Nice. Just out of curiosity, why the high degree of alcohol?
I ask because I was talking to a local brewer recently, one who typically makes his beers 8% or higher ABV. He said it was tied in with the flavors he wanted to bring out. Fair enough, and his beverages are quite tasty.
Yes, I like a dry mead, so I want the yeast to tolerate enough alcohol to use up all the sugar. Chaucer’s Mead, by contrast, is very sweet (and sold with mulling spices, as I recall), better suited to dessert than ordinarily use.
Makes sense. Thanks.
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