Medovukha: what it is, history and varieties
Medovukha - one of the oldest, most delicious and healthy alcoholic beverages invented by mankind. As a rule, mead has a strength that ranges from 1-16 proof.
The lower degree level is inherent in the non-alcoholic variety of the drink, while the upper one is occupied by the strong mead. It is interesting to note that mead is gaining degrees both due to the length of the aging period and the increase in the content of pure honey in it, as well as due to various ingredients that enhance the fermentation process.
Medovukha is considered to be a classic mead, which consists of honey, yeast, spring or artesian water and, in some cases, sugar. But it was not always so...
Medovukha in ancient Russia
Honey alcohol was known to many early Indo-European communities, as well as to some non-Indo-European proto-ethnic groups (for example, the ancestors of modern Ethiopians) at least since the Late Neolithic period.
In the early Middle Ages, the drink spread throughout Europe: from the British Isles to the Ural Mountains.
The lands inhabited by the Eastern Slavs are no exception. From time immemorial, a honey drink has been consumed here, which has received a quite logical and expected name: drinking honey.
It was prepared by the so-called attitude: aging in buried oak barrels of water and honey solution, to which various red berries were added, usually cherries, raspberries or strawberries (the latter were responsible for the fermentation process)...
In fact, it was a mead made from fermented honey without the use of yeast. The aging period of such a drink could range from five to twenty to sixty years or more. It is clear that with such an excessive cooking time, ancient Russian honey could not be used as an everyday drink.
Before the baptism of Rus, its use had a pronounced ritual character. The light sweet nectar made from healing honey, which, according to our ancestors, was brought by winged bees from the heavenly honey rivers, was supposed to help establish a sacred connection between man and the transcendent worlds of the gods and the dead.
Accordingly, the drinking of honey brew was accompanied by such significant events in life as religious celebrations, marriages, the birth of new community members, or the departure of relatives to the country of the deceased...
Starting in the XI century, the drink associated with pagan rituals gradually lost its significance. The mass production of cheaper beer, the spread of more refined wine, and, finally, the emergence of much stronger vodka led to the fact that by the end of the 16th and early 17th centuries, drinking honey was finally relegated to the background.
Even the practice of mead-making introduced in the early II millennium, which made it possible to accelerate its production tenfold, could not save the drink from oblivion.
The harsh economic realities, multiplied by the struggle against pagan vestiges, gradually but steadily turned the sacred Slavic drink into a historical treasure.
Thus, between the patriarchal mead in oak barrels and the modern mead in kegs lies an unusual time interval of almost half a millennium.
During this time, the good old drinking honey managed to survive several centuries of oblivion, a short return to life on the wave of romanticism and Slavophilism of the XIX century, a real but very short-lived boom during the NEP (in fact, it was then that the drink finally got its current somewhat vulgar name) and, finally, a new unprecedented surge in popularity observed today.
How is mead made
Today's honey brew, in the vast majority of cases, is the heir to not archaic - staged, but later - boiled honeys. As a rule, it is prepared in three stages.
11 recipes for mead at home.
Boiling
You cannot boil honey, but you can heat it to 50-60 degrees and cook it depending on the recipe. At the same time, various additional herbal ingredients can be added to the base substance during heat treatment.
Among such ingredients are temperate berries: viburnum, blueberries, currants, strawberries, strawberries, raspberries, rowan, cranberries, cherries (pitted) or even rose hips; various spices: cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, vanilla, pepper, ginger, almonds; as well as some other herbal ingredients: hops (the famous mead with hops), oregano, sweet clover, valerian root, orange and lemon zest, linden blossom, juniper berries, St. John's wort, rose petals, violet root, mint and, surprisingly, pine buds.
Moreover, it is even allowed to replace the water component of the drink with other liquids (for example, there is an incomparable mead made with birch sap).
Fermentation
The boiled liquid is cooled to a temperature of 25-30°C, after which yeast is added to it.
Next, the resulting substance is fermented for about six days in a warm, dark place.
Note: even if you use hops, you still have to add yeast, otherwise you will get sour mead.
The only exception to the rule may be a drink with the addition of freshly harvested hop cones.
Refrigeration
The fermented honey brew is carefully filtered and brought to the desired condition in a dark, but now cold place.
It takes about a month, after which you can safely start tasting.
Of course, you can try to make good old-fashioned stewed honey and even buy a real oak barrel for this occasion.
But before you decide to do this, think carefully about whether you have the patience not to touch the drink for at least three to five years, if not three to five months. If so, go ahead and do it!
And in order to avoid problems with yeast-free fermentation, it would be better if your first drink is cherry mead.
Varieties of mead
Find out the difference benefit and harm the benefits of mead for human health.
In addition to the division of honey alcohol into still and boiled, there are several other criteria for its classification.
With and without honey
Drinks can be made with or without the addition of honey. The first option is very common in Suzdal of the mead tradition.
By the level of honey content
Medovuhs are divided into quadruple (1/4 honey to 3/4 water), triple (1/3 honey to 2/3 water), double (50/50 ratio) and half (2/3 honey to 1/3 water).
At the same time, the strength of the brew increases in direct proportion to the amount of honey contained in it.
By the duration of aging
Also responsible for increasing the strength of. Honey drinks are divided into young, ordinary, strong and aged (in this case, it is not about the method of fermentation, but about the period of aging).
By its composition
Drinking meads are divided into natural meads (and if you are on a diet, a drink that does not even contain sugar is optimal for you; such mead, whose calorie content is only 87.31 kilocalories per 100 grams, will cover only 4% of your daily requirement), intoxicating meads (or herbal meads, for example: Monastery mead with hops and brewed black tea), spicy (split) and berry (or, if you prefer, fruit and berry; yes, there is apple mead: a highly enjoyable drink with apple juice).
There is also a classification based on the presence or absence of ethyl alcohol in the finished product. But such a typology is fundamentally wrong, because fortified honey substances are a completely different alcohol.
Mead in other drinks
All about Suzdal mead.
In addition to being consumed in its pure form, honey brew is often a component of other alcoholic beverages.
First of all, we mean various variations on the theme: vodka + mead. As a rule, in this case, we are talking either about a fortified honey drink or a slightly sweetened white one. However, sometimes there are also more or less artistic solutions, for example: a forty-degree bitter tincture called Honey Buckwheat Mead with honey aroma.
There are also combinations based on the formula: mead + beer. First of all, this is the so-called perevar (not to be confused with sbitnen, which once had the same name). As a result of brewing together, beer and mead form a a beer drink, which is characterized by a peculiar, not unpleasant taste.
In addition, there is a similar decoct in which beer is replaced by bread kvass. And it is called a wedding.
And, finally, mead and whipped cream... If you are not alien to the spirit of experimentation, try making an alcoholic sour by adding honey mash instead of regular honey. I am sure that in this case, one of the oldest alcoholic beverages on earth will be at its best.
Update: 26.03.2016
Category: Other alcohol