If you’re a fan of re-creating historical recipes then you’ll love this book! At the bottom you can find a link for it if you’re interested in adding this baby to your homebrew library, as well as a link to the author’s website.

There are 105 recipes to choose from, and while many of them share similarities, the one I chose was quite unique! For one, the use of fruit was uncommon at the time, most recipes are metheglin with lemon and a variety of herbs and spices.

I did my best to follow the recipe as close as possible, though at this time folks fermented and aged in a wooden barrel rather than glass.

Laura D. Angotti’s website: http://mysteryofmead.com/

Bookshop.org Affiliate Link: https://bookshop.org/shop/faewoodmead For books that I’ve enjoyed & reviewed (or will be reviewing) Laura D. Angotti’s website: http://www.mysteryofmead.com Wellcome Library: Wellcomecollection.org

Interesting notes: Everything was put in a boil together to remove impurities – including the honey. Also, egg whites were often added as a clarifier, and THEY WORK.

Primary:
Soaked 1lb Granny Smith & another apple (no note of the type) & followed boiling instructions with other ingredients: 2.5 cups honey, 2 egg whites, 1 crushed nutmeg, 2 bay leaves.
Pitched hydrated Safale 05 yeast on slice of toasted baguette.

Secondary:
Rack
Added 2 tsp French Brandy per 375 ml Bottle

I did not balance or stabilize in order to follow the historical method. Because I did not stabilize I could not back sweeten, and while at the time they may have drunk this while it was still fermenting a bit – so it would be a bit sweeter and sparkling – the only way to achieve that would be to stabilize, sweeten, then keg.