What is Honey Wine?
Honey wine is typically known as mead. Mead is alcohol made from fermenting honey. If a winemaker blends honey into a grape based wine, this can also be called "honey wine". Although grape-based wines sweetened with honey are not mead.
Honey wine (mead) is one of the oldest alcohols ever created with origins as far back as 5,000 years in Asia and Africa. Mead was commonly found in ancient cultures across the world until the demand for alcohol became too high. Beer and grape based wines were easier to procure supplies for. The Vikings are most well known for drinking mead. Tej is another form of honey wine from Ethiopia.
What is honey wine (mead) good for?
Mead may offer anti-oxidants, anti-inflammatory benefits, help with upper respiratory tract infections, offer allergens and help with gastrointestinal issues. This is due to honey wine being made by fermenting honey. Honey is known to have several health benefits that should be present in the mead as long as the mead maker did not boil the honey during fermentation.
Honey wine is also gluten free, naturally!
What does honey wine (mead) taste like?
The flavor of mead is unique to mead, but if we were to compare to a wine, it's most comparable to a Moscato. Meads can be made traditionally (just honey) or include fruit and or spices which can alter the flavor. Mead can also be sweet or dry, which will change the mouth feel, sweeter meads typically have more leftover honey giving it more "legs" or a thicker mouth feel. We recommend trying some meads so you can see for yourself!
Where can you buy honey wine?
Since honey wine (mead) is considered a wine, you can buy mead online direct from a meadery or you can see if your local liquor store carries mead. Mead is typically sold in bottles and cans. You can buy mead online from many award-winning meaderies. If you're ready to try? Order Mead from Batch Mead, a small batch craft mead producer in Temecula, CA.
