In 2016 there was neither store with mead nor special store with honey in Prague. If you want to buy wine you find hundreds of wine shops in town, but if you wanted mead there was no place to go. In some supermarkets you can still buy something that is called "mead" but is not mead, in many pubs unfortunetely including the most famous ones, you also get suger aromatized something called "mead". I dicided to change it! Czech republic has one the longest tradition in mead making and respectful and also proud revival of mead was needed. And for me it is nice to do this business although I still quite hard work.

The fermented honey represents the oldest form of alcohol known to mankind. Production of mead is documented in the oldest cultures. It is such an ancient beverage that the word root "Medhu" occurs in most Indo-European languages within words meaning mead, honey, sweet, intoxication, inebriation etc. In Europe, Bohemia was the biggest mead exporter from 10th to 12th century. Because of more expensive production, mead has been gradually substituted by wine and beer and lately by destilates. Modern production inspired the oldest recipes started in 90's after the fall of Communism era. Many small producers were founded and now there are about 50 commercial meaderies in such small country like Czech republic is.

Mead is sometimes called honeywine and this word is easier to understand for people who knows nothing about mead. In Czech language mead i called "medovina" or "medove vino" (honeywine). Our customers are looking for high quality products made from natural honey without any cheap substitutes. We specialized in all honey products and beverages inluding raw honey, honey cosmetics and all beverages with honey. If you don‘t want to drink an alcohol or you come here with children you can enjoy varieties of herbal honey lemonades and taste honeys. Otherwise you must taste mead!

Ok. Let‘s drink! The trip of mead tasting is quite long because of very different types of mead. Tasting should begin with drier meads and continues to sweeter meads, very similar to tasting wines. But mead it is more complex.

We always start the tasting with so called natural or classical meads which are only fermented from honey and water without any other ingrediences. In Czech countries, beekeepers almost always use nectar honeys for making mead. But special meads are fermented from variental honeys which are made by bees from nectar of single source - specific flower or tree. For example acacia honey, linden honey, sunflower h. Etc. Special meads are fermented from forest honey (honeydew honey). Varietal honey meads are very rare and searched by sommeliers.

After tasting of classical meads, which have the most intensive taste of honey, we continue with metheglins. These are meads made with addition of spices or herbs. In the beginning we enjoy samples with only one ingredience added. Very famous are meads with cinamon, almond or walnuts which are maturated in mead after fermentation. But it was traditional too combine many different spices or herbs. The exact receipt is always hold by producer and it is their secret.

The most interesting is Old Bohemian mead with 21 spices and herbs which is also aged in oak barrels.

But it doesn‘t end! Mead has the wide definition. We can combine honey with fruit juices and make a drink which stays between classical mead and fruit wine. It is then called melomel. We can combine honey with apple juice and make cyser. We can use wine grapes and then we get clara or pyment.

And there are other types of mead, like braggot, mead made with malt and hops, so it is on a half way from mead to beer. With very interesting aroma and bitter-sweet taste.

If aging mead in oak barrels or aging more than 3 years, then we call it archive mead. Producers buy new barrels or used barrels after another alcohol: whiskey, rum etc., after few years in used barrel, the aromas merge together.

The second level after tasting mead are honey liqueurs and third level so called „medovec“. Medovec is a destilate from mead, it contains more than 40% of alcohol.

On a little side branch of honey beverages are honey ciders and honey beers. You can also enjoy them is our store.

The most highest level of mead experience is not based of percentage of alcohol but on story behind it. When you make a really high quality mead, and add sugar and champaigne yeast to every bottle and keep it fermenting inside, in few years you get the most premium mead product, sparkling mead „champagne mead“. The bottles are very expensive (more than €40) but it is the ceremonial drink for extraordinal occasions.

If you want to take a short tasting of mead which consist of 5 samples it takes about 15-20 minutes, if you want to taste complete week's tasting set, you have to spend at least about 30 minutes. But you can prolong experience with another 10 samples set. We always have prepared about 20 different types of mead.

You can bottles of mead from volume od 100ml to 0.75 litres and we can do bubble wrapping for its safety travel. Inside EU we ship, so if interested in bying more bottles home, this can be better choise.

If any questions just write us to info@meadmuseum.com

We will be happy to welcome you and mead you here
Jiri Poucek

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