Metheglin — tasting notes & food pairings

Metheglin

Metheglin is a spiced mead — honey wine fermented from honey, water and yeast and then flavoured with herbs and spices rather than fruit. Where a plain "traditional" mead or a fruited melomel leans on the honey and the orchard, metheglin turns to the spice cabinet and the herb garden: clove, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, vanilla, citrus peel, chamomile, rosemary, lavender and even hops all appear in old and modern recipes. The name comes through Welsh from meddyglyn, a "medicinal liquor", and the style carries that apothecary heritage — these were the warming, restorative, aromatic meads of the medieval hall. Pale gold to deep amber and running from bone dry to lusciously sweet, metheglin typically sits around 8 to 14 percent alcohol and smells of warm honey wrapped in baking spice, with the herbs lending a savory, tea-like or floral lift over the sweetness.

Sweet11% ABV

Pale gold to deep amber, metheglin leads with honey — floral, waxy and faintly caramelized — wrapped in the warm baking spice of clove, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg, with a savory, tea-like or floral herbal lift from the chamomile, rosemary or hops in the recipe. Body and sweetness vary widely, from a dry, light and almost cider-like sipper to a rich, honeyed dessert wine; at around 8 to 14 percent alcohol it is gently warming and finishes dry to sweet with a lingering aromatic, faintly bitter spice. Served cool or lightly mulled, drunk young and fresh or cellared for years like a wine, in the mood of mulled wine and spiced cider.