Spice up the Festive Season with our 8 Mead Cocktails

Mead is thought to be the oldest alcoholic beverages known to man. The earliest meads were made from local honey, water, and yeast. Honey was among the original sweeteners for wine, even today some mead is made with grapes or other fruit.

The ancient Greeks called mead, Ambrosia, or Nectar. It was believed to be the drink of the gods and was thought to descend from the Heavens as dew, before being gathered by the bees. Because of the believed ties to the gods, the Greeks believed that mead would prolong life, and bestow health, strength, virility and re-creative powers. While the great Norse god, Odin, was said to have gained his strength by suckling Mead from a goats’ udder as an infant.

In England, there were a number of meads, flavoured with specific herbs that were used to cure any number of ailments. For example, mead made with balm was thought to aid digestion and mead made with borage was used to revive hypochondriacs and the chronically ill. The name for these spiced meads was Metheglin, which comes for the Welsh word “medcyglin”, meaning medicine.

Within many cultures, including Welsh, German and Scandinavian, mead was often consumed during wedding celebrations as a toast to the bride and groom. During medieval times, mead was a part of the marriage ritual in which after the wedding, the bride and groom were provided with enough mead to last until the next full moon. They were encouraged to consume the mead to bring good luck to their marriage, as mead was believed to promote fertility, hence the term ‘honeymoon’.

Mead is fast becoming a popular choice of drink. Mead can be consumed on its own but most recently, has been used to create modern-day cocktails with an old-fashioned twist. Here at The Knight Shop, we have created our very own mead inspired cocktail recipes, along with a neighbouring business, Aberfalls Distillery. Perfect for a cozy night or show off at upcoming Christmas gatherings with your mead creations. We will show you how some of your favourite signature cocktails can be made with medieval mead straight from the best selection in the UK.

Berserker

15ml Vanilla Mead (Click here for our Vanilla Mead)
50ml Aber Falls Coffee and Dark Chocolate Liqueur
25ml Vodka
40ml Milk
Double Espresso

The Assassin

50ml Aber Falls Rhubarb and Ginger Gin
25ml Strawberry Mead (Click here for our Strawberry Mead)
100g Chopped Strawberries
Lime Garnish
(Ice for frozen version)