Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Got Mead?

Liquor store conversation:

"Do you guys sell mead?"

"Why yes, we do.  Let me show you what we have."  We walk together to the dessert and specialty wines aisle.

"I recommend this one -- Chaucer's Mead"

"Oh really? What about that one? I like the packaging." 

"That one calls itself Meade but it's not real mead; it's a white wine flavored with honey."

"That sounds kinda fake...so what is mead?"

"Mead is fermented honey/water.  It's an ancient drink...older than wine actually...in Europe at least. The Germans call it Honigwein which means 'honey wine.'"

"I'll take the real one...fewer characters but more character...and for less money. Thank you, you've been most helpful."

110 comments:

Synova said...

Huh.

I thought it was *supposed* to be wine with honey in it.

What is port?

ampersand said...
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Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

I made mead but it was always off flavored. So I went back to beer and ale.

ampersand said...
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chickelit said...

What is port?

Port is wine whose is fermentation is interrupted by adding a distilled wine product from a different batch. The stuff added is like an Italian grappa and does two things: it kills off fermentation, leaving some sugar (sweetness) and it boosts the alcohol content. The name comes from a region in Portugal which owns the naming rights.

chickelit said...

I made mead but it was always off flavored.

I can believe it. It's an ancient brewing art. It must be yeast type dependent and all that.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I knew there was somebody we haven't heard from in a while.

Thanks pollo for juggling my recollection.

We miss you Pasta.

Palladian said...

I once tasted 3000-year-old honey from Egypt. Well, I touched my tongue against residue on the inside of a piece of pottery at Yale. It tasted vaguely sweet; I was amazed. Is sugar forever?

chickelit said...

Is sugar forever?

Usually not. Chemically stable on its own, yes, but mold eats it and mold spores are ubiquitous. I don't know what the water requirements of mold are but maybe the piece was protected somehow from air, water, and bacteria.

chickelit said...

Well, I touched my tongue against residue on the inside of a piece of pottery at Yale.

A very A. A. Milne image there, btw.

Paddy O said...

Weird. I spent about an hour yesterday evening looking online for meaderies.

Rabbit's Foot was good, I got a bottle a few years ago.

Some meades, I've learned are just white wines with honey flavor added. Apparently that's the only kinds Bevmo carries (which is now down the street from me). One of the nice aspects of California is I can order liquor through the mail. And Amazon.com sells a small selection.

I love the flavor and it's a bit of cultural recovery and, honestly, a reflection of how tired I am over the regular wine snobs.

Palladian, I heard once that honey in particular never goes bad. I don't remember where I heard that, some PBS show long ago, but it sounded authoritative and so that's been something I've assumed.

Palladian said...

Palladian, I heard once that honey in particular never goes bad. I don't remember where I heard that, some PBS show long ago, but it sounded authoritative and so that's been something I've assumed.

I have (or used to have— I don't remember if it was packed when I was evicted) a collection of honey that I had for years... ivy, chestnut, lemon blossom, acacia, manuka, etc. Most of them crystallized eventually, but I was always able to "revive" them with gentle heating.

I used to use something called "hydromel" when I made watercolor paints. It was merely a mixture of honey and water, used as a plasticizer to keep the paint from becoming too brittle.

Palladian said...

I don't know what the water requirements of mold are but maybe the piece was protected somehow from air, water, and bacteria.

I believe it spent most of its years in a desert tomb, followed by a hundred years or so in a drawer at Yale. There were dried lemons from the same tomb, but I didn't taste them.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Palladian, honey keeps indefinitely. Like you said, even when crystalized, it comes back with gentle heating. Ancient Egyptian honey has been found to be still edible. So that residue on the pot was real and from some work a bee did thousands of years earlier (pretty cool stuff).

Palladian said...

Ancient Egyptian honey has been found to be still edible. So that residue on the pot was real and from some work a bee did thousands of years earlier (pretty cool stuff).

Yes, I found that very moving in a weird way. Also when I discovered that 3000-year-old myrrh still smelled like myrrh.

bagoh20 said...

Speaking of dogs getting lucky: If anyone remembers that thread where I described pulling a dog off of death row at the pound and bringing him into our rescue, That guy, Nelson (Named after Mandella who died that day) just got adopted tonight by the Co-Executive Producer of American Idol and his family in the Hollywood Hills. From death row and only hours from execution to rich pampered Hollywood pet, just like that!

Due to our location we adopt a lot of dogs to celebrities. Just from dogs I've personally fostered at my house one went to this A.I. guy, one to Alan Ladd Jr, and a Pit Bull to Terri Polo of "Meet the Fockers" (Google her, guys, you will thank me). I know there were a few other famous ones too that I can't remember. I've fostered over 70 dogs at my house so far.

Palladian said...

Will someone in the Hollywood Hills adopt me?

bagoh20 said...

Can you lick your own crotch? That's how we separate out the imposters, but if you can do it, you're in.

Palladian said...

I prefer to lick other's crotches.

bagoh20 said...

An interesting "read":

http://the-classic-liberal.com/why-bad-men-rule-with-teri-polo/

Palladian said...

Does that qualify as a desirable female?

bagoh20 said...

Yes. And in the process of adopting a dog to her, I got to visit her at her home (alone) and even got a hug (standard procedure). I'll never wash that shirt.

bagoh20 said...

She was a playboy centerfold in I think 2005.

Palladian said...

Women have such an easy job.

bagoh20 said...

You know, I was just thinking that myself. Under the right conditions, they can't help being exciting, but if you think it's easy, you try looking like that. Then I'd adopt you myself, and wash and groom you every day.

The Dude said...

Think of Van Morrison and you can then remember the honey that does not crystalize (according to some).

She's as sweet as Tupelo honey.

My cousin lives in Tupelo. More than that I cannot say.

Unknown said...

They travel w/ their product around the states, but I don't know if you can find it where you are, or not. Check out Redstone Meadery. That's Dave. He and his wife Madoka run the place and they make fantastic Mead.

ndspinelli said...

Sixty, Ever see the flick, Ule's Gold? That song was part of the soundtrack and it was about a beekeeper who talked often about his Tupelo. A dark movie, but I liked it.

The Dude said...

Haven't seen it, Spins, and as it turns out, I would probably actively resist seeing it due to the cast. Plot sounds sucky, too.

chickelit said...

@Sixty: Jane is not her brother's keeper and he seemed earnest enough in "Ule's Gold." Some even gave him the ultimate comparative compliment. Hint: think GAF talking viewmasters.

bagoh20 said...

I think "Tupelo Honey" is the first song I ever learned to play on the guitar - really easy. Since then, I have learned more than one song per decade. I know that seems impossible, but you just need to apply yourself.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Palladian said...


...I touched my tongue against residue on the inside of a piece of pottery at Yale. It tasted vaguely sweet; I was amazed. Is sugar forever?

I don't know about sugar, but lead poisoning is. Be careful about licking old pottery. ( Although I think lead in pottery was primarily from the glaze. )

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Then again, the sweet taste might have been leftover from something eaten by one of the probably hundreds of other people who have licked that piece of pottery since it was discovered.

Have you had all of your shots?

President-Mom-Jeans said...

I don't care for mead. I prefer my alcohol to be stronger, with greater complexity, and not requiring the support of sugar(mama).

The Dude said...

LOL @ PMJ!

Trooper York said...

Wait a minute.

This post implies that you would put Mead in your mouth.

Ewwwwwwwwwwww!

President-Mom-Jeans said...
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President-Mom-Jeans said...

Nah Trooper, I never have put mead in my mouth.

Can't afford it you know, I don't have a taxpayer funded salary and pension.

I will be sticking to my bourbons.

sakredkow said...

I really liked Meade's advise a few posts ago on how to advise young on a career. You know, starting a lawn maintenance business, retiring rich. I meant to say something then.

He was really meant to be less of a righty than he is, IMO.

The Dude said...
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The Dude said...
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sakredkow said...

I don't care what he's accomplished for himself - I have no idea.

His advise was really good. It's a starting point for a really good conversation with young people. Followed by "Now here's some of the things that can go wrong..."

Trooper York said...

Nothing say's good advice like erasing the tape.

You know who taught me that?

Nixon.

Trooper York said...

I know he was your hero phx.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I do have agree with PHX to say that Meade's advice on starting a yardwork (for example) business is right on the money.

0ver 30 years ago, my husband (I didn't know him then) moved to this area. He was basically starting over, creating a new life for himself at the age of 30. Starting from scratch with the only things he owned being a small pick up truck, some plumbing and maintenance tools that he could carry in a small tool box and the clothing on his back and only having a couple of people in the area that knew him.

You start small. Build a reputation as a good person to do business with. Reliable. Honest. Hard working. Affordable. Gradually add to the 'tools of the trade'. Ask for referrals. Never let your customers down. Be prepared to work LONG hours.

Today he/we are the proud owners of two businesses and provide work referrals to 3 to 5 other guys. (No employees). We have hundreds of long term clients. Always giving a hand UP to those young guys who might be in a similar position that he was 30 years ago and who are willing to work hard with the same worth ethic that he has.

You CAN start small and build something. It isn't easy because the government is always in the way to trip you up. But young people need to be encouraged to try.

chickelit said...

Thanks, phx and DBQ!

sakredkow said...

I know he was your hero phx.

Gotta tell you, Trooper, Meade would probably hate this b/c I don't think he or AA have any use for me at all, but anytime there's a mob against someone, like there is against Meade here, I go with the underdog.

That's even if he DESERVES a mob against him.

I really just can't abide a mob against someone.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Oh geez, PHX. The form of power matters. Meadesey's got access to more internet clout and presence than anyone here with his wife's cyber-lemonade stand. The fact that he pissed off at least 2/3rds of his regulars with a horribly sloppy and ungracious banning process doesn't make him an "underdog". It makes him an ungrateful douchebag.

And a grifter.

If he was being stabbed that would be a different story. In this case he's just rightly facing the music of an orchestra of his own making. Sometimes there's such a thing as karma.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I didn't know mold would attack longstanding honey. I know that, for some reason, it's a nice antimicrobial, but I had no idea if it has specifically anti fungal properties. Probably so - I think it's an osmotic property of some sort.

sakredkow said...

Sometimes there's such a thing as karma.

I'm just not that judgey judgey about people. It never really matters to me what they've done.

But *universal opinion* Yeeesh!

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Speaking of honey. We just bought a big jar of Coffee Berry honey from a local beekeeper. It is hands down the BEST honey I have ever tasted !!!! They also have Manzanita and other types of honey including Star Thistle honey.

If you ever get the chance....Coffee Berry honey, get some.

sakredkow said...

Coffee Berry honey? That doesn't even come up on google!

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Coffee Berry plants

Maybe it is just a specialty of this local beekeeping family. They take their bee boxes down to lower elevations in certain times of the year. In any case. Awesome.

ken in tx said...

Mead needs to be conditioned (aged) in the bottle longer than beer. I once threw out most of a batch because of the off-taste mentioned above. About six months later, I found a few bottles I had over looked before. The result was delicious, sort of like a very dry champagne. I regretted throwing out the other bottles.

Honey does not normally spoil because it contains natural peroxide. That is also why the ancients found it useful in treating wounds and burns.

BTW, I think beer brewing grew out of mead making in that after agriculture came to Northern Europe, people found that they could make their own honey-like stuff by boiling down sprouted barley (malt) into a syrup. Short step from there to making beer with it.

A home brewer and former beekeeper.

chickelit said...

R&B wrote: ...and his wife's cyber-lemonade stand.

LOL! I was thinking more this but Lucy looks more like Inga. But definitely the pulling away the football thing.

sakredkow said...

I mean seriously...Meade bans a bunch of people from his wife's web site and I'm supposed to join a mob denouncing him as a douche bag?

What has that got to do with hurting anybody? What has that got to do with me??

sakredkow said...

Karma for banning people you don't like from you wife's web site?? Naaaahhhh...there's no such thing!

chickelit said...

Honey does not normally spoil because it contains natural peroxide.

This piqued my interest ken, thanks. It's even cooler than that. Honey makes hydrogen peroxide using glucose oxidase, but only when water and O2 are present, which are the conditions needed for bacteria to grow and feed on it. Honey is also naturally acidic which inhibits bacteria.

link

chickelit said...

A home brewer and former beekeeper.

My stepfather grew up on a beekeeper/farm outside of Madison. During WW II, sugar was rationed but their honey got them and many others through sweetly.

Trooper York said...

See I knew you would stick for Nixon. Thanks phx.

I mean after all there was a mob after and what did he really do? Listen to other peoples conversations? Sic the IRS on his enemies?

You know like what is going on right now?

You are what I call a principled lib.

Thanks buddy.

Trooper York said...

I don't believe in Karma either.

sakredkow said...

Well, here YOU guys are the mob

sakredkow said...

I'm gonna write a song...You are the Mob, I am the Moby.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Karma for banning people you don't like from you wife's web site?? Naaaahhhh...there's no such thing!

Karma for being a vindictive dick who is willing to use vulnerable, hurting people, no matter what the cost to THEM on a personal level, to prove a point and to just basically be a bully? Karma for being so self absorbed that you don't care who you harm? Karma for being a manipulative force of disruption if not actual evil? .... yes.....Karma. Actually. Negative Karma points.

deborah said...

phx, sometimes it's not what you say, but how you say it. Meade's biggest fault, IMO, is the self-righteous scolding he indulges in and seems to relish.

I think until fairly recently he was anti-gay as a life-style, and only since he met Althouse has he changed his view. Maybe it's just the zeal of the newly converted.

It would be nice if one of these days he could stop by and shoot the shit, and those who don't care for him could remain silent, and try and let by-gones be by-gones. The water under the bridge is turgid, and I don't know if that will ever be possible. I really can't tell if Meade misses the old days when they were all friends, or if he gets off on being a tool.

And the people from here who go over there and say overtly hostile things should expect to be deleted. But if direct-and-scathing stuff is being deleted, that is being thin-skinned on the part of Meadhouse.

Dust Bunny Queen said...
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deborah said...

'Night.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

self-righteous scolding he indulges in and seems to relish

AKA: Sanctimonious prick. He doesn't mean what he says. It is all for effect and show: to try to draw people into contrived conversations wherein he can then attempt to do a "gottcha" routine and feel superior. Typical sociopathic manipulative behaviour.

Also taking advantage of the 'useful idiots' who sycophantically go along with the game.

deborah said...

Before he started going out with Althouse, didn't everyone think he was a great guy?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...
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Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Oh for Chrissake, PHX. He berated a homeless man for failing to complete a previously anticipated business transaction.

Meade is not a good person. At least, he's not a good person when he decides cruelty to others is a worthwhile price to pay for his own self-righteousness. Which is interesting, given his lack of much of any talent in the whole mess that constitutes the story of how all of us got here and came to know each other.

Don't you have any morals? Any standards? Is all human behavior and any scurrilous action acceptable if you can relativize it enough?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

He didn't just ban commenters, either. He cut off the entire community of commenters who made his wife's website worth anything in the first place from being able to have regular commenting access. Her blog was never very well-balanced on its own and relied on comments just as zany as the ideas for her own crazy blog posts. The funny thing is, she assumed them to be serious.

Then that whole gang migrated over here, set up there own shop, and continued with the best traditions of what had existed over there. At which point, he shows up to insult everyone and leave, after throwing his marbles on the floor.

The funny thing is, he also pretended to (or maybe seriously did) have some kind of role in encouraging Lem to start this blog in the first place.

And then there's the irony that he was a commenter who happened to intrigue Blondie Althouse until they dated and married. Which wouldn't be so horrendous in itself if he didn't prove to become the most boring house-husband and witless blog co-host as a result.

Context, man. History. Learn it.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

And when I say "assumed", I mean that she assumed her own extremely bad ideas to be serious.

The commenters, OTOH, at least had the integrity and presence of mind to know better than than to take anything on the blog too seriously and to instead be as purposely ridiculous as possible as often as possible.

The TOPPERs are themselves just ruthless. And humorless. It was a sad scene.

deborah said...

Ritmo, it was she who turned off the comments. Whether in a fit of pique, or premeditatedly is not known. Or how much of a hand he had in encouraging her.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

It's always a bad idea to kick a dick, Trooper. Especially one's own dick.

sakredkow said...

Oh for Chrissake, PHX. He berated a homeless man for failing to complete a previously anticipated business transaction.

Yeah I thought that was pretty horrible. I hope he's sorry.

sakredkow said...

Meade is not a good person.

Boy, is there a list of people here who are not good persons. What a list.

sakredkow said...

Don't you have any morals? Any standards? Is all human behavior and any scurrilous action acceptable if you can relativize it enough?

I don't relativize it at all. Each thing is horrible in and of itself.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

It hardly matters, deb. They pretty much became a "unit" lol and the psychological dynamic was plain. She'd only banned in extreme and somewhat warranted instances in the past, but then got to becoming a bit capricious later. I think whether she asked or he initiated some kind of ingratiation to her is beside the point. They ultimately said they agreed and while I don't mind demanding fascistly "on-topic" responses on a serious blog, she was riffing and being silly as often as she could - but without the humor that her commenters had. That's a bad way to go about it.

Ultimately she just wanted to police everything instead of making the competent judgement calls that any blog purporting to be as serious as hers is just going to have to have to make, if it has any responsibility.

It's just a weird situation. Too narcissistic to admit her commenters made the place fun, too witless to understand that her blog was hardly serious enough to lack comments. So I took "their" decision for the irony that it was and moved on. They were like Talladega Nights. Just burned out on nonsensically bad decisions.

You guys are better. ;-)

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I hope he's sorry.

Hope in one hand and s#*t in the other. Well, you know the old saying. If not. Look it up.



sakredkow said...

I don't mean to get any of Meade's haters hating me. I got enough problems.

I just don't take seriously as a bad guy, not a real bad guy. Seems kind of like a pretend world here, IYAM.

sakredkow said...

It's not like Meade ever did anything for me. That I know of.

sakredkow said...

"take MEADE seriously as a bad guy..."

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I hope he's sorry.

You can hope all you want. I myself require evidence. And I don't wait forever for it.

Boy, is there a list of people here who are not good persons. What a list.

Some of them at least try or at least aim at knowing right from wrong and righteousness from rectitude.

I don't relativize it at all. Each thing is horrible in and of itself.

Quantification helps. Some things (I assume we mean human actions) are worse than others. Actually, they're endlessly rank-able. The futile alternative is to judge all human existence to be either all bad, all good, or all meaningless and not worth pursuing. That's a prescription for Hell on Earth. Civilization's way better, but it requires some thought as to what constitutes civilized behavior.

Meade has proven that he has other priorities than civilized behavior. No need for you to justify them, let him try to justify them on his own.

sakredkow said...

You know what Bob Dylans says..

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Bob Dylan just wrote things that sounded cool when put into song form. Like Mr. Tambourine Man, for instance.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I know I took your point a little too far, Deb - and agree that she probably made the decision to turn them off (she has ultimate control), but I have an itching suspicion that she hard a lot of subtle whining from him first about how hard it was to play town policeman and how "distracting" the commenters were from her awesome limelight.

deborah said...

Quite likely, Ritmo. I think Meade is actually a pretty nice guy, but the power of being the new sheriff in town went to his head. Oh well, for the most part Althouse has her well-regulated polite blog, and we get to be the semi-civilized wild-west show.

'Night!

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Nighty night

sakredkow said...
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MamaM said...

It would be nice if one of these days he could stop by and shoot the shit, and those who don't care for him could remain silent, and try and let by-gones be by-gones.

Nice would not be my way of describing that behavior. In my world, people who remain silent and try and let bygones be bygones after someone who's previously behaved in an offensive, bullying, or inappropriate and hurtful way toward others(without apology or recognition of offense) shows up to shoot the shit afresh, are known as enablers.

Trooper York said...

Little Debbie just wants to be Yolanda Foster.

Everything you need to learn about life you can learn from Reality TV. Just sayn'

The Dude said...
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deborah said...

I get what you are saying MamaM. I just meant it in the way that the people who truly loathe him, and who have said it over and over, so we get it already, would let sleeping dogs lie, maybe Meade could join back in. But if people are expecting an apology, that's highly unlikely. 'Sides, let's see some apologies to Althouse for things she did not deserve. If we were to go all the way back, who started it? I'm actually wondering.

deborah said...

Better watch it, Twinkie, or MamaM is going to give you a lesson in giving people nicknames :)

deborah said...

Sixty, do you know for a fact he left a wife for Althouse?

chickelit said...
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sakredkow said...

'Sides, let's see some apologies to Althouse for things she did not deserve. If we were to go all the way back, who started it? I'm actually wondering.

It would be like trying to hold people accountable for all the wrongs done in the Middle East before we move forward.

sakredkow said...
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The Dude said...

I know that was not very bigamy to focus on one huge character flaw when there are so many to choose from.

But hey, even Hitler was able to convince a german woman to marry him, so there you go.

deborah said...

Thanks for not answering the question I asked, Sixty. Jeeze.

Chick, I cannot imagine Althouse saying that on her blog. If true, I'm flabbergasted.

The Dude said...

Glad I could be of service, deborah.

deborah said...

You were not of service.

chickelit said...

Very sweet song, Paddy. And very on topic!

chickelit said...

Oops, I put that last comment in the wrong thread. It belongs in the banjo thread.

sakredkow said...

Hey.

deborah said...

Hey yourself.

deborah said...

Sixty:
"Hey, all I know is what I read on the internet. And yes, he was, according to his current "wife"."

Link?

sakredkow said...

You leaving? You staying? It may not be your problem but you might want to consider my attachment issues!

deborah said...

phx, staying. And now that I know of your attachment issues, I think I made the right decision :)

How would you feel about doing a guest post about something you'd feel comfortable defending to the hilt?