A Special Buzz: Herbal Mead Hand Crafted the Natural Way

Imagine drinking sunshine. Imagine drinking the four elements. Water, Earth, Fire, and Air coming together – the magic of nature in a glass. Your favorite herbs, spices, and fruits provide flavor directly from Mother Earth. The energy of the plants moves through you, balancing and healing. No preservatives, chemical additives, dyes, or sweeteners involved. No confusing labels and unknown ingredients. The drink of the Gods, gently crafted by human hands. This is the potential of natural mead.

Experiencing mead and other fermented drinks in this way is available for those who wish to seek it out. Fermentation occurs spontaneously in nature. All that winemakers, meadmakers, and brewers need to do is to guide the process and support what wants to happen naturally. When alcohol is fermented in this way, the taste, the buzz, and the vibes are unmatched.

When I mention mead, people often seem confused. “Meat?” and a quizzical look is perhaps the most common response. So, in case you’re wondering, mead is the alcoholic beverage created when honey is fermented into wine. Considered by many to be the oldest alcoholic drink in the world, it is said that honey wine was made in northern China, Africa, India, and Greece many thousands of years ago. Indeed, the enjoyment of fermented beverages has been a part of the human experience since ancient times. It was monks and church officials in many communities who dedicated themselves to the art of fermentation, crafting some of the most revered bottles of beer and wine in history. An excellent vintage fermented with intention honors God. And, at certain times in history, alcohol helped our ancestors stay alive when there was no access to safe drinking water. Mead is mentioned in books, poems, and songs. Perhaps its biggest claim to fame is that the Vikings drank it in celebration and with their Gods in the halls of Valhalla.

There is a growing community of producers offering small batches of natural alcohols. People who are craftsmen and artists who respect the product and their customers. This is across wine, beer, and spirits. Trust me, finding them is well worth the effort! I am one of those people. On my homestead, I craft extremely small batch mead, which will be for sale soon.

Over the past 12 years, I have been a professional winemaker. When it came time to move on from corporate life, I dove deeply into the process of fermenting alcohol at home for myself. What joy I found in making those initial batches! The process I use is so natural and simple that I was able to continue making mead for myself in a travel trailer and out in the forest during my time living on the road.

There are so many reasons to make fermented alcoholic beverages yourself!Grocery stores and online retailers are full of products with unpronounceable ingredients, preservatives, chemicals, sweeteners and other additives. Alcoholic beverages are no exception! In fact, it isn’t even required for alcohol producers to list their ingredients on labels. When you make your own natural fermentations, you know exactly what is in them. Other reasons include pride in craftsmanship, the ability to customize flavor, and saving money. For me, one of the biggest reasons is self-sufficiency. The life I am building on my homestead is centered around being able to provide for myself and my family from the land, in connection with nature, with my own hands. Being able to produce my own alcohol to drink is a beautiful part of that. One day, I intend to raise the honey bees that will provide the base ingredient of my mead. But until then, I am happy to support a local honey farm.

As I was beginning my journey with honey fermentation, I was also being drawn down my plant path. The world of herbs, flowers, and trees was opening up to me like never before. I was drawn in deeper and deeper as I began to see the healing and therapeutic wisdom of these plants. In herbalism, there are many ways to extract potent healing and energetic compounds from the leaves, seeds, fruits, flowers, and roots of plants. Three common substrates for extraction used by herbalists are honey, water, and alcohol. Which is exactly the components of natural mead! I don’t think that is a coincidence. My intuition is that, in moderation, mead is an excellent way to benefit from plants. And honey itself is known to be a potent natural healer. It is with this intention that I am developing my understanding of the whole plant medicine technique in herbalism and connecting this to the ancient craft of fermentation. What a fun and delicious way to incorporate healing plants into life!

Mead is, in my opinion, the best option for homemade alcohol. I have a free PDF guide to making your own natural mead on the Wilson’s Big Mountain Mead Instagram. If you’re intrigued by the possibilities, head on over and download it from the link in bio! While you’re there, give us a follow to watch our family meadery activities, and to be in the know when we are able to offer our high quality, natural mead for sale!

Cheers!

Wilson’s Big Mountain Mead on IG

(WilsonsBigMountainMead.com coming soon)