Tom Gosnell, owner of London’s only Meadery, is launching his first ever Vintage Mead tonight.
Tom Gosnell told us
“I am just back from the US where Mead is buzzing. In America, Mead sales grew by 130% from 2012 and 2013, according to the American Mead Makers Association, largely due to the huge success of the TV series Game Of Thrones. Mead has come a long way from the days of monks, sorcery and enchanted castles. US Mead makers are looking to the future, and not to the past, un-hindered by our British monastic tradition of making it deep yellow, at high alcohol and outrageously sweet. The monks needed it for internal warmth and to wax the vocal chords, but central heating and a modern palate have changed all that. So, 5 years ago, I started to make a lighter, drier style more akin to a buttery Chardonnay or a Blanc de Blancs Champagne. And as it is a mere 5.5% abv, we now find it in a wide diversity of London restaurants served as an alternative to wine:
- Core by Clare Smyth – Modern British
- Bao Restaurants – Taiwanese
- Portland Restaurant – Modern European
- The Grazing Goat, Marylebone – Gastropub
- The Dairy, Clapham – Seasonal British
“London bars are cottoning on to the versatility of modern meads as well, with the likes of Nightjar, Clove Club and Bar Swift using the Mead as a complex base for all sorts of fascinating cocktails such as with lime juice and Tequila (‘Meadarita’), with lemon and Gin, or with Rum and Ginger.
“And frozen Mead granitas will be on offer at our Launch tonight, using our own Fro-Go machine to present Mead in a way those monks might not really have relished!”
Gosnells Vintage Mead 2018 is made from 100% London honey, sourced from hives in Woodberry Wetlands N16 and Lea Bridge Road E10. It has been specially brewed at the same strength as most wines, 12% abv, and presented in a beautiful wax-embossed 75cl bottle.
It will be priced at £25 and available from today on https://www.gosnells.co.uk.
