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Mead Day

Drink · The first Saturday in August

Mead Day is about mead, the old drink made by fermenting honey with water, and the many ways people pour, taste and share it.

Mead Day falls on Saturday, August 7, 2027. That is 284 days away.

Mead is wine made from honey. Mix honey with water, add yeast, give it time, and the sugars ferment into alcohol. It is one of the oldest fermented drinks people know, and it turns up in old stories and songs far more often than it turns up on restaurant menus.

The taste depends a lot on the honey. Clover honey makes a gentle, light mead. Darker honeys like buckwheat give something deeper and almost molasses-like. Meads can be dry or sweet, still or sparkling, and some are flavored. Mead made with fruit is called a melomel, and mead made with spices is called a metheglin, names that sound like characters from a fantasy novel.

The day falls on the first Saturday in August, and people mark it by opening a bottle or two. Local meaderies, where they exist, sometimes pour tastings. Home brewers compare batches. Friends set out a few styles side by side and notice how much the flavor changes from one to the next.

Serving temperature matters. Lighter and sparkling meads are usually served chilled, much like white wine, while richer, sweeter ones can open up a little closer to room temperature. Some people also warm spiced mead in colder months.

A good mead tastes clearly of where the bees spent their time, which is why two bottles from neighboring farms can taste nothing alike.

Ways to celebrate

• Try two meads made from different honeys and compare them.
• Look for a local meadery or a mead at a nearby shop.
• Learn the names of mead styles like melomel and metheglin.
• Share a tasting with adult friends and keep notes on favorites.
• Pair a sweet mead with cheese or fruit.

Dates

Categories: Drink days