Elixir From the Honey Pot

Honey wine, otherwise known as mead, has been around since antiquity. Although a scene of men clad in tunics and tights singing verses to the accompaniment of the lute is now only fashionable on hanging tapestry, the feasting hall beverage of choice is enjoying a renaissance. “There is now a meadery in every state of the Union,” said Scott Pirtle, whose family-owned winery in Weston, Mo., has produced mead since opening in 1978. In its purest form, mead is just wine made from honey, water and yeast. And while funkier meads are on the market these days, mead-makers who stick with the three basic ingredients can still wind up with starkly different results. One important factor is the makeup of that sweet honey pot. “Honey takes on the flavor of wherever the hive is and what the bees eat,” said Dwight Crevelt, co-owner and winemaker from 7C’s Winery in Walnut Grove, Mo. Crevelt keeps five varieties of local honey (basswood, orange blossom, gladiola, clover and wildflower) in stock, of which he went through 1,200 pounds last year. Because some varieties are hard to find, Crevelt joined the Ozark Beekeepers Association and the Missouri Beekeepers Association to network with area apiarists. They supply him with enough honey to produce the winery’s line of nine meads. The brewing team at Schlafly recently took the mead leap, making this soul-juice for public consumption for the first time. By early December, the brewery’s sparkling blackberry mead was on tap at The Tap Room. Schlafly assistant brewer Auggie Altenbaumer noted, however, that letting the mead sit a couple more months could improve the flavor. “The thing with meads, they tend to get better as they age. … Because they are so big and high in alcohol, it takes a while for [meads] to mellow out and get their stride.” Aging mead for a cocktail is what bartender Justin Cardwell of BC’s Kitchen had in mind when he tasted a bottle of 14-year-old Irish mead. “It was finally oxidized and I loved the flavor,” he said. Inspired by the trendy technique of barrel-aging cocktails, Cardwell barrel-aged five bottles of locally distilled JJ Neukomm Whiskey with an equal amount of Burraty Irish Mead. After six weeks, he removed the blend and bottled it for use in his original cocktail, The Spicy Bear. To make this warm-your-insides cocktail, Cardwell shakes together the barrel-aged concoction with a tart house-made shrub (essentially a fruit syrup with a vinegar base) made with apple cider vinegar, Jonathan apples, Missouri wildflower honey, and aromatics like sage, thyme, peppercorn and cinnamon. “I wanted what a bear would come after,” explained Cardwell of his desired flavor profile. Better come after this honey pot elixir before other bipedal beasts gorge on it – or one cloak-wearing, wand-carrying wizard, of course.