Polish mead

At first I want to welcome all of You that loves mead. I wonder if there is anoyone here in that forum that ever tried Polish mead? Especially those stronger ones called "półtorak" and "dwójniak"

PolishNoblesman said:

At first I want to welcome all of You that loves mead. I wonder if there is anoyone here in that forum that ever tried Polish mead? Especially those stronger ones called "półtorak" and "dwójniak"

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Welcome to HBT.

I'm going to suggest that you look over at the Gotmead forums, because there have been a number of threads about the traditional type Polish meads there, including one where I posted a poor translation of the Polish State specifications of the types/styles.

There is a fair amount of speculation about how they might be actually made, because of possible issues with "normal" technique that just wouldn't work e.g. poltorak, from memory is 2 parts honey 1 part water (or is it the other way round ?). Either way, it would give a must/mixture that would be very hard to ferment in the usual way.

I don't know whether that's of any help.

You are right about poltorak - 2 units of honey and 1 unit of water but there is also a mead called trojniak here in Poland in which is 1 unit of honey and 2 units of water. But I prefer dwojniak and poltorak as an usual decendent on Polish Nobles. If You want I will try to translate some recipes for You.

PolishNoblesman said:

You are right about poltorak - 2 units of honey and 1 unit of water but there is also a mead called trojniak here in Poland in which is 1 unit of honey and 2 units of water. But I prefer dwojniak and poltorak as an usual decendent on Polish Nobles. If You want I will try to translate some recipes for You.

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Here's the link to what I ended up posting on my blog when I was thinking about having a go at making some (I still haven't got round to it - word of the month ? "procrastinate").

Anyway, initially I thought about trying a Czwórniak, as that would be more within my ability. Yet some further digging, has lead me to probably put off any attempt. I'm not a fan of very sweet meads, yet speaking with a colleague (who's family are in Stargard), that "proper" Polish meads aren't just sweet, they tend to be very sweet. This was backed up by a friend from Gotmead who's in Jelenia Gora. So I suspect I'll just carry on as I am, and only try proper Polish meads, if or when I get the chance to visit Poland (on my list of places to visit/see).

I do seem to recall that there are some Polish language brewing forums as well, but I don't have a link as when I tried to look at them I was hoping that they might have been set up with a translation facility - they weren't. Yet it might be worth checking out, as there could be some good mead info there that could help.

I've tried several of the Polish meads and have found them to be very well done.

summersolstice said:

I've tried several of the Polish meads and have found them to be very well done.

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Undoubtedly so. The Polish type meads seem to have a very high reputation. It's just that I tried 4 commercially produced meads here 3 or 4 years ago, as part of my personal learning curve.

All four, when measured, had a final gravity (as sold) between 1.035 and 1.042, I found all four pleasant tasting, but "cloyingly sweet".

Sure that puts them into the "dessert mead" category, but it seems that is too sweet for my preference.

I'll have to see if I can arrange to either find a bottle here, or to see if my colleague can find me some when he next goes home, so I can try a "proper" Polish mead.

Indeed..... poltorak and dwojniak are very sweet meads especially poltorak but trojniak and czworniak are not so sweet and I think You would like those. Sure that Polish meads had very high reputation and I'm sure still are but in my opinion becouse of many different yet still nice tastes. Meads hops-flavoured, juices from many differents fruits or berries replacing part of the water. That is what i like in meads.

Would be nice if Polish Nobleman would actually respond to attempted contacts

Sorry to resurrect an ancient thread but I've just discovered these meads myself.

Does anyone know where the heck you can buy them? I'm in England. I can't seem to find Poltorak anywhere except Jadwiga as part of 3X 250ml polish mead boxes.

When I look online all I seem to find (except the aforementioned boxed sets) is American websites selling the stuff. It's driving me crazy.

I also can't see Lubelsky Poltorak anywhere EVEN in boxed sets...

Orchid Hills Winery in Maryland makes and sells Polish style meads, they put a lot of work into making them authentic. While sweet they are also aged in oak barrels and everything is so well balanced the sweetness is not cloying. They have a cyser style and even a capsicumel. WVMJ