Mead for Me

Nothing like a hot, sweet, spicy alcoholic drink to celebrate winter :)

Honey wine. The name alone does it for me. (But then again, I have a soft corner for the sweeter end of the wine scale, so that's hardly surprising.)

I got my first taste of honey wine - or mead - more than four years ago in the little Russian town of Suzdal, a few hours out of Moscow. 

Suzdal - site of my introduction to honey wine

Suzdal did mead-tasting in style! It had an entire hall bang in the centre of town dedicated to it - complete with long log wood tables, stained glass windows and servers dressed in suitably serving-wench-like attire. All it needed to complete the mead-tasting-tableau in my mind were a few Vikings slapping down mugs of the stuff and platters piled high with chicken drumsticks stripped clean. 

Ok... I'll admit... my overactive imagination may be running a little away with itself :)

Still, the mead tasting hall left an impression on my mind... and a lingering taste for the stuff in my mouth. 

Suzdal's colourful mead-tasting hall definitely magnified the happy effects of downing 10 cups of honey wine

So when I found a stall selling mead at the very festive Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park in London a couple of weeks ago, I was first in line! 

The stuff on sale was mulled mead. All the better in my opinion... nothing quite like a hot, sweet, spicy alcoholic drink to take the edge of a chilly winter's evening :)

I was all ready to part with my pounds having already downed a little taster cup when the server placed another cup in front of me containing - the rather intriguing sounding - Viking Blood.

Viking Blood... my new mead love!

Viking Blood is mulled mead (hence the Viking connection) tinged with cherry (hence the red = blood connection) and I'm pretty sure it's inventive name accounts for a good chunk of people having a go at trying it.

But even without the creative marketing, I think Viking Blood would be a winner.

Mead on its own can have a bit of a cloyingly sweet aftertaste. I remember the  mead-tasting hall in Suzdal serving up its honey wine laced with a number of different  ingredients including pepper and juniper berries, and the flavoured mead tasted a lot nicer than the plain variety.

10 varieties of flavoured mead in Suzdal... something for everyone

The spices and tartness of the cherry brings the same advantages to the Viking Blood. I could easily have gotten through a few more cups of it... I may have to make like a vampire and hunt down a Viking or two this winter to get my fill :)

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