Maine Mead Works award-winning Mead.
Dave Patterson photo
Imagine if you will, a time before beer. I know, scary, but stick with me. Before humans were leaving bread and water to spontaneously ferment with wild yeast in pottery jars to make ancient beer, there was another beverage that satiated human desire for alcoholic beverages. We’re talking mead.
Mead is the oldest fermented alcoholic beverage known to humans—there are accounts of mead being produced as far back as 20,000 years ago.
Mead is a wine-like drink derived from honey, water and yeast. Ancient Greeks guzzled it. It’s referred to in some of Western Literature’s oldest texts like “The Odyssey” and “Beowulf.” And it’s known as the drink of the gods.
If I were writing this column for an Ancient Athens newspaper, it would most likely be a mead column, not a beer column.
So what has inspired the Beer Muse to turn his sights on mead this week? This Saturday is National Mead Day, and Maine Mead Works in Portland’s East End is having an open house with tours, beekeeping demonstrations, and, most importantly, plenty of tastings of their award winning line of meads.
Ben Alexander founded Maine Mead Works in 2007 after spending time in South Africa studying mead making with Dr. Garth Cambray. From Cambray, Alexander learned the process of continuous fermentation in which a honey and water mixture is slowly pumped through two stainless steel columns containing yeast. This innovative brewing process results in a dry, refined mead.
I tend to find most meads too sweet and earthy; however, Maine Mead Works products have tasting notes that compare more to wine than your typical sugary meads.
Maine Mead Works uses the same mead base for all of their beverages, so their line of meads have similar tasting notes and are all 12.5 percent alcohol by volume.
Their Dry Mead is a great place to start. This mead pours with golden clarity and has a light floral aroma. Since Maine Mead Works’ fermentation process is so efficient, many of the sugars are fermented out, producing a bright citrus flavor in the Dry Mead. The finish is dry, just as you would expect from the name. Not too sweet, not too earthy. Nevertheless, underneath these nuanced flavors is a distinct honey undercurrent that lets you know you’re drinking mead.
One of their meads that caught my attention on my last visit was their Hopped Mead. As a guy with an affinity for hoppy beers, I had to try this mead made with Cascade hops. After the Hopped Mead is poured, there’s an immediate grapefruit hop aroma. I was hesitant about the combination of honey and hops; however, the citrus and pine aroma and flavor from the hops interplays beautifully with the subtle, sweet honey flavors.
In addition to their traditional wine-like meads, Maine Mead Works also brew a Ram Island Iced Tea Mead and a Ram Island Lavender Lemonade. These mead-based, carbonated beverages are insanely smooth and delicious.
On Saturday, head to Maine Mead Works and celebrate National Mead Day. Tours of the meadery will illuminate their continuous fermentation brewing process, while beekeepers will be on hand to discuss the process of going from bee to bottle.
As you raise a glass filled with well-crafted, local mead, know you’re connecting with our ancestors from over 20,000 years ago.
Cheers!
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Maine Mead Works Open House for National Mead Day
WHERE: 51 Washington Ave., Portland
WHEN: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday
MEADS: Six Meads Available for Tasting and Purchase, Along with Ram Island Iced Tea Mead and Lavender Lemonade
MY PICK: Hopped Mead made with Cascade Hops (12.5% ABV)
MORE INFO: mainemeadworks.com
OTHER BEER HAPPENINGS
Otto’s Beer and Pizza Happy Hour
225 Congress St. and 576 Congress St., Portland
4 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday
Five days a week, the two Otto locations on Congress Street run a $4 beer and pizza deal. Buy a pint of beer, get a free slice of delicious, thin-crust pizza. Here’s why I’m writing about it – the beer offerings are impressive. On my last visit to the East End Otto, I had a citrusy, crisp pint of the Otto/Rising Tide Brewing IPA collaboration Oscar Tango Tango Oscar and a pint of Allagash Saison. These are premium beers for $4 a pint and they come with a free piece of arguably the best pizza in town. You can’t beat this happy hour deal right now for delicious, affordable craft beer.