Where To Go Next for Thursday, September 11

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Thursday, September 11, 2008

Mead, Anyone?

Back in the old days (the really old, like 1700-1100 BC), mead was the drink du jour. Typically, mead is a fermented beverage made from honey, greatly favored by Shakespeare's clown Sir John Falstaff and first mentioned 3,500 years ago in the ancient scriptures of what was later known as Hinduism. Even the gold-rich Aztecs were known to savor a bit of the golden brew.

Favored by the serious drinkers of ancient Greece, it was honored by having its own drinking hall in the revered Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf, around 700 AD.

Eclipsed today by ales, scotch, vodka, wine and countless cocktail concoctions, mead is nevertheless consumed with some gusto by the Welsh, the Scots and even the English.

Plus a growing cadre of mead masters in the United States, Canada, Poland, and Slovakia. They have their own competitions and celebrations - the International Mead Festival, held every year in or near Denver, Colorado, claims to be the largest and most prestigious mead fest in the world. Both professional (meadery-brewed) and amateur (home-brewed) meads are judged. See www.meadfest.com.

The mythology of mead now lives on in Tennessee's Anderson County: Shady Grove Meadery opened October 27, 2007 in a new location outside Lake City, TN. With short trip vacations by car becoming ever more necessary, Shady Grove might be a good stopover or weekend destination.

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