Mead Mead Mead (, from Old English "medu") is an alcoholic beverage created by fermenting honey with water, sometimes with various fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alcoholic content ranges from about 3.5% ABV to more than 20%. The defining characteristic of mead is that the majority of the beverage's fermentable sugar is derived from honey. It may be still, carbonated, or naturally sparkling; dry, semi-sweet, or sweet. Mead was produced in ancient history throughout Europe, Africa and Asia, and has played an important role in the mythology of some peoples. In Norse mythology, for example, the Mead of Poetry was
Mead 60 CE. There is a poem attributed to the Brythonic-speaking bard Taliesin, who lived around 550 CE, called the "" or "Song of Mead". The legendary drinking, feasting and boasting of warriors in the mead hall is echoed in the mead hall "Din Eidyn" (modern day Edinburgh) as depicted in the poem "Y Gododdin", attributed to the poet Aneirin who would have been a contemporary of Taliesin. In the Old English epic poem "Beowulf", the Danish warriors drank mead. In both Insular Celtic and Germanic cultures mead was the primary heroic drink in poetry. Later, taxation and regulations governing the