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The Game of Thrones effect: mead makes a comeback

Ruby Lohman

Mead is drunk in <i>Game of Thrones</i>, where it is best served with a side of passive aggressive power struggle.
Mead is drunk in Game of Thrones, where it is best served with a side of passive aggressive power struggle.Supplied

Maybe you've heard of mead – it's that stuff they drink on Game of Thrones.

It's also the world's oldest alcoholic beverage, popular with Vikings, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, but relegated to obscure anachronism thanks to wine and beer – until now.

Mead is experiencing a small resurgence, thanks in part to the craze for 'lost arts' like pickling, craft and small-batch everything, and, yes, big and small-screen dramas like Harry Potter and Game of Thrones.

Sparkling Bee Mead.
Sparkling Bee Mead.Supplied
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Mead is made with different types of honey as a base, plus fruit (these meads are called melomels​), herbs and spices (known as methyglyns), hops and malted grain, and a seemingly endless list of other ingredients.

It's a rare-ish sighting at the pub, and if your local bottle shop stocks it there's every chance it's hidden in a cobwebbed corner.

But according to some of Australia's mead producers, sales are on the rise.

Maxwell Wines in South Australia's McLaren Vale has been making mead since the 1950s, and is now one of the largest producers in the world. Founder Ken Maxwell first started selling his mead through a local restaurant, where they served it warm, in an actual cauldron.

According to his grandson Jeremy Maxwell, mead was popular until agriculture made it easier to grow grapes and barley, and wine and beer became our tipples of choice.

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But Maxwell Wines' mead sales have grown steadily over the past 20 years, and mead now represents one-quarter of their business.

Jeremy suggests more Australians are drinking mead than we realise.

"Australians consume about 90 per cent of what we produce," he says.

While it's been a slow and steady climb for mead in Australia, Jeremy says he's noticed a lot of mead hype in the US in the past few years.

According to Quartz magazine, mead sales in the US went up 32 per cent in 2013. This increase continued in 2014, and the American Mead Makers Association recorded a rise of 42 per cent for that year. It says

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Another Australian mead producer, Thistle Meadery, started selling mead commercially about two years ago, and in that time its online sales have risen rapidly.

Owner Sue Allworden sells most product online and at medieval re-enactments, fares and markets.

"I think mead is making a bit of a comeback because of series like Vikings and Game of Thrones," says Allworden. "So now people are thinking, 'Oh, I wonder what mead tastes like'."

But mead is starting to reach an audience beyond renaissance enthusiasts, thanks to some producers introducing more modern takes: Bee Mead, for example, released Australia's first sparkling mead early last year.

Porter's Liquor in Sydney's Artarmon stocks more than 900 craft beers, and in October last year started selling mead.

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"It's a style that not a lot of people know about, but when they actually start experiencing it, they can be pretty much blown away by what's produced," says owner Richard Kelsey.

Sales aren't huge – Kelsey estimates they sell about 10 times as much cider – but he can see mead becoming popular in the future.

"There's so many flavour profiles you can have with it … And I'd say there's a mead for every food occasion, whether you're having it to start your meal or with dessert."

According to Jeremy Maxwell, mead has big potential in the Australian market, particularly among women.

"[Mead] still has a lot more room to grow," he says. "I think that interested people and early adopters are the ones looking at it now, but the general population hasn't started to understand it or know what it is yet."

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For the winter months, Jeremy recommends trying warmed, spiced mead.

"It's one of the most unique beverages you'll try," he says.

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