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
Black drink traditionally limited to only adult men. The ritual name "Asi Yahola" or "Black Drink Singer" is corrupted into English as "Osceola"). Among the Timucua, a type of black drink was called "cacina" by the Spanish. The preparation and consumption of the drink were strictly limited to the community council house. Women (other than an occasional female chief) were normally excluded from the council house except for activities such as dances, but did prepare the "cacina". In 1678 a bedridden "cacica" (a female chief) was given permission to brew and consume "cacina" in her house, on the condition that no one