Author Archives: mysteryofmead

The fourth most common ingredient in historical mead recipes is rosemary. It is the most common herb, and is more than 50% more common than the next herb on the list. Rosemary is used as the only flavor addition in … Continue reading →

Continuing common historical mead ingredients. The top two ingredients in historical meads, ginger and cloves, are ahead of the third, cinnamon, by a significant margin. Cinnamon is common across all periods, but in pre-1600 recipes, cinnamon is actually the number … Continue reading →

Continuing the discussion of mead flavoring ingredients. Today’s subject is the second most common addition in historical mead recipes, cloves. There is little opportunity for confusion in what cloves are, or what form they are used in. Flower buds of … Continue reading →

On the scientific basis of historical mead making techniques. One of the topics I’ve become quite interested in, partly because it appeals to the scientific side of my though processes, and partly because I think a lot about how my … Continue reading →

Hello, its been a while. Travel and other factors have conspired to provide me an extremely busy life outside of historical drinks. To make up for it, I wanted to provide an illustration from the presentation I am preparing for … Continue reading →

The picture today is of a 6-7th century glass drinking vessel in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York. It is identified as Langobardic (the Lombards were a Germanic people in northern Italy in that time period). … Continue reading →

I have been remiss in updating here,  a situation I intend to correct over the next few days. But starting with my newest musings. My mead recipe catalog embodies the thousands of hours I have spent on my quest. Catalog … Continue reading →