Mead "pyment". Mulled mead is a popular drink at Christmas time, where mead is flavored with spices (and sometimes various fruits) and warmed, traditionally by having a hot poker plunged into it. Some meads retain some measure of the sweetness of the original honey, and some may even be considered as dessert wines. Drier meads are also available, and some producers offer sparkling meads. There are faux-meads, which are actually wines with honey added after fermentation as a sweetener and flavoring. Historically, meads were fermented with wild yeasts and bacteria (as noted in the recipe quoted above) residing on the skins
Lindisfarne Mead contains pure natural water from an artesian well and grape juice. Lindisfarne Mead has its roots in medieval days, when monks inhabited the island of Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island. The belief was that if the soul was in God's keeping, the body must be fortified with Lindisfarne mead. However, more recent production of Lindisfarne Mead started in 1962, and now the mead and preserves made are sold throughout the UK and elsewhere. St Aidan's Winery has a showroom that first opened for visitors in 1968, offering free sampling daily and stocking speciality food and drink. It also has