Brewing Education: Different Types of Mead

In this installment of Brewing Education we will be looking at the different types of mead, what they are called, and how they are classified. There are roughly 21 primary categories of mead and then countless sub-categories that we can take a look at. In this article we will go over the categories that are acknowledged in tasting competitions.

The first category is Traditional Mead which is just the basic water, honey, and yeast, just your basic pure mead. These are graded on their sweetness which is broken down into three categories:

Dry: This means all of the sugars were fermented and there is near to no sweetness in the mead.

Semi-Sweet: This is when a mead has residual sugars left behind after the fermentation process, giving a slight sweetness to the taste of the mead. Most individuals prefer mead at this level (there is a specific gravity range that determines if a mead falls under this label).

Sweet: These meads have a large amount of sugars left after fermentation, and are typically under the same category as desert wines. Meads at this level tend to have a very strong honey flavor similar to eating a spoonful of honey.

The next category is Fruit Mead or Melomel which, just as it sounds is the inclusion of fruit to ferment and flavor a mead. The categories for the Fruit Mead section are as follows:

Cyser: This is a mead that uses primarily apples as their fruit base and/or apple juice instead of water in their recipe. This is very similar to mixing a cider and a mead together.

Pyment: Is a mead that uses grapes or grape juice during its fermentation. It can also refer to a grape wine that has honey added to it.

Berry Mead: These meads are the kind that use berries during their primary fermentation/conditioning. Essentially any fruit that has a name ending with "berry" is under this category.

Stone Fruit: Pitted fruits (ie: plums, cherries, peaches, etc.) are used in this kind of mead to infuse it with flavor.

The last category is Spiced Mead which includes the introduction of spices, herbs, and/or vegetables in the same way that the previous melomels included fruits. This category contains the following examples:

Capsicumel: This refers to mead that is flavored using chili peppers. Knowing how to properly balance flavors and sweetness is key to making a tasty capsicumel.

Mulled Mead: Typically a mead served warm over the winter holidays and contain spices infused into it such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice (these are also known as Metheglin which are served cold).

Rhodomel: This is a type of mead coined by the Romans which is flavored by incorporating rose and/or flower petals/parts in the creation of the mead.

Lastly all meads can be carbonated or not, and do have different categories of carbonation on which they are classified. There are three levels of classification which are:

Flat/Still: As the classification implies this is a normal, non-carbonated, mead but can also includes meads with very very light amount of bubbles.

Effervescent/Petillant: This is referring to a mead with a medium amount of carbonation.

Sparkling: This level of carbonation is similar to carbonated water or a soft drink, or something akin to champagne.

Of course there are a few more specialized types of mead not listed here and there are many a Meathier (mead maker) who are creating new concoctions which tend to fall under the "Experimental Mead" category of competitions such as those who use coffee to make mead. These are just the most common terms used to refer to differentiation of mead. This is also a good way to showcase the diversity of mead and how many different combinations you could make.

Our next installment will have information on what Yeast is, and what to pay attention to when picking a yeast to brew with. See you all then!

Stay safe and remember to love one another!

~ The Forge Meadery