Metheglin Mead

Metheglin Mead

Thoughts:

I started my batch in April, bottled in May, and tried it at the end of August, about 5 months later. At this point, it’s ever so slightly fizzy when first cracked open, and a beautiful light golden color.

It smells like honey.

The flavor is somewhat herbal, but in a good, kitchen-not-medicinal way. I could pick up hints of the sage and rosemary, in particular, while the other herbs and grasses add depth and complexity. The flavor is long and changeable, with just a smidge of acidity.

I’m going to need to learn better descriptors for alcohol. For now, suffice to say that this is wonderful, although should be consumed with caution, tasty as it is. :)

Why it should be in the Next Book:

I could envision this mead being one of many made by the Beesburys, of Honeyholt. I could also see it as a mead from either a meadowy place in the reach, or perhaps even somewhere in the Vale. Or, since metheglin was originally a medicinal mead, it would be well suited to a sept, because of the joint healing/brewing skills of monks and septons.

Get the recipe on the brew blog, Game of Brews!

Mead Kits

Elderberry Mead, with kit

For those of you looking for an easier approach to meads, let me recommend the kits sold by Ambrosia Farm. I tried out their Elderberry mead kit, and was delighted with the result! It produces a short mead, similar to what was enjoyed in the 1600s, and can be found in cookbooks like The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Opened.

All you need in addition to the kit is 2 lb. honey and a gallon of water. You can stop the fermentation at your desired sweetness level simply by putting it in the fridge.

I loved the flavor and sweetness of my batch after about 6 days. Light, with light floral tones and heavier fruity ones, it was a wonderful and easy brew for the last warm summer evenings of the year. As it sat and aged a few more days at a time, the sweetness decreased, and was replaced with more of an alcoholic kick. It’s a rough kind of mead, but will definitely do the trick! ;)

Fictional Brewing!

Brew-mania!

In honor of a successful move to a new apartment, and the unpacking of the kitchen, I’m set to brew again!

In addition to brewing something from Game of Thrones, I’d love to explore more boozy goodness from other fictional worlds. I’m giving this poll a full month, at the end of which I’ll make the top two reader picks, then post the recipes. Have a favorite fictional alcohol that’s not on the list? Add it!

Brewing!

Brewing Projects from April

Having mostly settled into the new apartment, I’m ready to get back to brewing!

As with many such projects, it’s a lot more fun in a group. I’ve got a long list of various brews I’m planning to try sooner or later, and these are at the top of my list. Pick up to three of your favorites in the next week, and I’ll get to work!

And while the new brew is aging, I’ll be cracking open a few of my previous bottles. If they’re as delicious as I’m expecting, then you’ll have the recipes in no time.

Update: As of Feb. 2013, all brewing recipes will be posted on IatC’s sister blog, Game of Brews.

And if that’s not enough for you, check out the other fictional brew options over at Food Through the Pages! Ent-draught, anyone? :)

[poll id=”7″]

Mutton Chops sauced with Honey and Cloves

“Such food Bran had never seen; course after course after course, so much that he could not manage more than a bite or two of each dish. There were great joints of aurochs roasted with leeks, venison pies chunky with carrots, bacon, and mushrooms, mutton chops sauced in honey and cloves…” -A Clash of Kings

Lamb Chops sauced with Honey and Cloves

Thoughts:

I sort of winged this particular dish. Having such great results with the mead marinade that I used for the Robert Baratheon meal, I decided to try a similar approach with this dish.

Sometimes a dish doesn’t quite live up to my expectations.

The results, while tasty, were not as mind-boggling as the former instance. The sauce was nice, but lacked a really strong honey-clove flavor. A variation on this sauce, perhaps with some butter and white wine instead of the mead, could be lovely, and is something I’ll probably try: I hate being defeated by a meal.

Honestly, I think that literally pouring some good honey and ground cloves over a nice cut of lamb will give you as rewarding a dish as any more complicated version. Keep the pinch of cinnamon, though: it helps bring out the bite of the clove.

Any suggestions?

Continue reading →

It’s good to be the King… Robert Baratheon’s Ideal Meal

No wonder King Robert is so large, and there’s little question why the crown was six million gold dragons in debt.

Cheese.

And ale. And venison, mead, bacon, wine, tarts, and a plethora of other tasty, tasty foodstuffs. This meal left two of us utterly stuffed. The roasted veg were all soft and delicious, slightly caramelized from cooking in duck fat and cider. The venison was simply mindblowing. I have no words. The desserts were a wonderful conclusion, and proof of my theory that dessert occupies a different space in the stomach than does dinner. Sweet and delicious, we managed several of each before succumbing to a sensory overload. The honeycakes (forthcoming!) were absolutely divine, though. The Menu

Got Mead?

Our thoughts:

First of all, we LOVE mead. Like, would keep our own bees so we could make our own mead kind-of-love.

Mead comes in a wider variety than you might expect. All are honey-based, but that’s usually where the similarities end. Some meads are sweet and thick, like after dinner liquors; others are drier and spicier. Some meads, although still honey based, acquire their primary flavors from fermented fruits, or the casks in which they are aged. As such, you can find meads flavored with apples, pears, peaches, ginger root, whiskey casks, or rum casks.

Mead can be served any time of day, on its own, or with a meal. Most meads are best served at room temperature, but some of the sweeter, lighter varieties are also nice slightly chilled.

Our Recommendations:

Lurgashall English Mead is an excellent introduction to the beverage. It has a simple sweet honey flavor that is full bodied and easy to enjoy. Lurgashall’s other meads are also very good and easy to for a beginner. Typically, they cost around $21 a bottle in the US, and 8-10 pounds in the UK.

One of our personal favorites is Lurgashall Tower of London, which is aged in scotch barrels. The taste starts with spiced honey, has a hint of the best scotch flavors, then finishes with straight honey.

If you are feeling more adventurous consider anything by Dansk, especially their Viking Blood. This is a rich, serious, hearty mead that scotch drinkers will like. Another favorite is The GI. Dansk Mjod, which has a lovely ginger flavor. These are high quality and cost around $25.

A word to the wise where fruity meads are concerned: Some, especially the cheap ones, are reminiscent of cough syrup — too rich, and too sweet. The Redstone brand is fairly safe, although you are probably safest getting a straight honey mead that almost everyone will love. That said, I recently had a Honey Garden blueberry mead that was out of this world. Also, B. Nektar’s Wildberry mead is what humans taste like to vampires: intoxicatingly delicious.

Iqhilika is a South African mead that comes in bizarre flavors, such as coffee and fig. Again, interesting to try, but probably too big a risk for newcomers to the world of mead.

Overall, I highly recommend the Viking Blood, the Lurgashall, and the Honey Garden/B. Nektar if you are opting for something fruitier.

AVOID Chaucer’s mead; it’s horrible. Shame, because it has a great name and a pretty label. Unfortunately, Chaucer’s is the mead your local liquor store is most likely to carry. Don’t buy it, even if it is your only option.