Mead Styles
A comprehensive guide to mead styles, from base types and flavor direction to process and balance.
Base Types
Traditional Mead
- Honey, water, and yeast only. No added flavors.
Melomel
- The broad category for mead fermented with fruit.
Metheglin
- Mead flavored with spices or herbs (cinnamon, vanilla, hops, etc.).
Cyser
- Mead made specifically with apple juice/cider.
Pyment
- Mead made specifically with grape juice or grape must.
Braggot
- A hybrid of mead and beer (fermented with both honey and malted grain).
Acerglyn
- Mead made with honey and maple syrup.
Oxymel
- A medicinal or culinary mead made with honey and vinegar.
Bochet Mead
- Mead made using caramelized or burnt honey that is heated prior to fermentation, producing deep toffee, molasses, and roasted sugar notes.
Bochetomel
- Mead made from caramelized (bochet) honey that is subsequently fermented with fruit additions, combining thermal honey transformation with fruit fermentation.
Flavor Direction
Berry Mead
- A Melomel specifically using soft berries (raspberry, blackberry, etc.).
Stone Fruit Mead
- Using peaches, cherries, plums, or apricots.
Citrus
- Mead where citrus fruits are a primary flavor driver, contributing acidity, brightness, and aromatic peel oils.
Tropical
- Mead where tropical fruits define the dominant fruit profile, typically high-aroma, high-sugar fruits with estery complexity.
Orchard
- Mead where temperate tree fruits form the structural fruit base, typically round, mild, and ferment-stable.
Herbal
- Mead where non-woody herbs are primary flavor contributors, usually adding green, medicinal, or aromatic botanical character.
Spiced Mead
- Mead where dry spices define the dominant aromatic and flavor structure, typically warm, resinous, or baking-spice profiles.
Rhodomel
- Mead fermented with rose petals or rose hips.
Capsimel / Capsicumel
- Mead flavored with chili peppers.
Wildflower Blend
- Mead where the honey character is derived from mixed-source nectar (wildflower honey blends), producing a complex, non-monovarietal floral profile.
Smoked
- Mead where smoke is a defining sensory component, whether from smoked ingredients, wood exposure, or deliberate aromatic treatment.
Process
Barrel-Aged Mead
- Mead that is matured in wooden barrels (oak or similar) for flavor extraction and structural development.
Wild Fermented Mead
- Mead fermented using non-commercial yeast strains from the environment or raw materials.
High-Gravity Mead
- Mead fermented from a high sugar concentration must, resulting in elevated alcohol potential and dense fermentation dynamics.
Hydromel (Session Mead)
- A low-alcohol mead (usually 3%–7% ABV), often carbonated and canned.
Still Mead
- Mead that is non-carbonated and not intentionally effervescent.
Sparkling Mead
- Mead that is intentionally carbonated, either through secondary fermentation or forced carbonation.
Bottle-Conditioned Mead
- Mead that undergoes secondary fermentation in the bottle, producing natural carbonation and further aging development.
Minimal Intervention Mead
- Mead made with reduced post-fermentation manipulation, avoiding excessive adjustment of flavor, structure, or stability.
Pet-Nat Mead
- Mead made using the ancestral method, where fermentation is completed in-bottle without disgorgement, producing lightly cloudy natural carbonation.
Post-Fermentation Infused Mead
- Mead where flavoring ingredients are added after primary fermentation has completed, allowing controlled extraction without fermentation influence.
Cold-Infused Mead
- Mead flavored through low-temperature steeping of ingredients post-fermentation to extract delicate aromatic compounds without heat or fermentation activity.
Functional Mead
- Mead formulated with intentional non-flavor objectives such as medicinal, nutritional, or wellness-oriented ingredients or positioning.
Fortified
- Mead that has additional distilled spirits added after fermentation to increase alcohol content and alter structure and stability.
Balance
Dry Mead
- Mead with little to no residual sugar, resulting in a crisp, non-sweet finish where acidity, tannin, and honey aromatics are more prominent than sweetness.
Off-dry
- Mead with light residual sweetness, balanced between dryness and sweetness, where honey character is still noticeable but not dominant.
Sweet
- Mead with clear residual sugar presence, where sweetness is a defining sensory characteristic of the drinking experience.
Dessert
- Mead intentionally designed to be rich, intense, and consumed as a dessert or dessert substitute, often with high sweetness, viscosity, and flavor concentration.