Chalice Mead

Chalice Mead is a prime example of what modern mead makers have been able to accomplish. I’d describe their Traditional Mead as smooth, light, honey tasting with almost a hot whiskey finish. It’s really quite actually a fantastic tipple and one you’ll enjoy sipping by the fire on a chilly night or a summer’s evening.

History

Mead or honey wine is an alcoholic beverage created by fermenting honey with water, and sometimes with additional flavorings or fruits. It’s often referred to as the “drink of the gods” in mythology and has a rich history dating back thousands of years as it was found in the ancient Pyramids in Egypt. Mead can vary in taste from sweet to dry and may even have different levels of carbonation.

Sales of mead have grown expotentially but research shows it’s still early days and has got room to grow, unlike the current situation afflicting many of the tequila and gin bottlers where stock isn’t moving. And it appears that mead is popular across all age groups who are at least of drinking age.

There’s also a hollywood connection with mead. In fact you can bet money that in almost every episode from the HBO series Game of Thrones you’ll see one or more characters downing a generous goblet of mead.

The Flavors

Chalice Mead was born blended with natural infusions and providing the perfect balance of traditional and modern techniques, and as their website says, “each bottle is filled from the heart”.

After many attempts with a variety of ingredients (some becoming very popular and others surprisingly not so) the first 5 flavors from Chalice Mead were ‘born’ – Nettle; Chocolate; Chilli; Chilli Sting as well as the base for all their Meads being their Traditional Mead. The reported alcoholic content across all their mead flavors is 12.5%. You can find some mead brands on the market as low as 3% ABV.

Throughout the first year it was evident that people really enjoyed Chalice Mead and their team continued to experiment with other infusions finally introducing Elderflower; Hawthorn; Ginger; Caramel; and Orange. More recently they’ve added Blackberry Mead and Rhubarb Mead which have both proven to be quite the ticket. Their Christmas Mead which has infused mulled wine spices can be served hot or cold is always sold out ahead of the big holiday.

The entire assortment of Chalice Mead flavors are currently available for purchase on their website https://chalicemead.co.uk at a reasonable £17.99. As of this writing you can only purchase their products within the UK. The Chalice Mead team has established distribution all over the UK at major tourist destinations including major sites like Bath Abbey and London Tower Bridge to make it easy for locals and visitors from around the globe to get a taste of this excellent mead.

Mead as a Mixer

As mentioned earlier, Chalice Mead is a smooth tipple all on it’s own but it’s also great as a mixer to be used in place of simple syrup in a cocktail. In fact we’ve put together a lovely hot toddy recipe using Chalice Traditional Mead and we highly recommend you try it for yourself.

Hot Mead Toddy

Ingredients

• 1.5 Traditional Mead

• 1 oz Rye Whiskey

• 1 tsp Honey

• Slice of Lemon

• Slice of Fresh Ginger

• 1 Cup of Hot Water

Instructions

1. Boil the water
2. Mix Chalice Traditional Mead with a good Rye Whiskey
3. Stir in honey
4. Pour in the boiling water and stir once more
5. Garnish with a fresh slice of lemon and ginger slice

We sampled several flavors of Chalice Mead and found them all to be of high quality, smooth in flavor and providing a welcoming long lasting finish. Chalice Mead is perfect either warmed up for slow sipping on a cold winter evening or relaxing at your backyard summer bbq. Try it with your friends. You’ll be surprised how well it is received and you’ll soon add it to your own list of must-have fun tipples.