Beginner - beer mead?

[elephant]

Hello,

I am a complete newb ... I just made my first mead must about an hour ago. I'd like to try and replicate the "beer mead" that is served in the medieval and viking restaurants where I live (Stockholm, Sweden).

It tastes more like beer than wine. I'm guessing it's just a weak (~5%) mead with some mild carbonation (not too much). I'm wondering is there a beginner friendly method for achieving this? I tried google searching "beer mead" (I don't know what it's called in English) and came up with nothing.

If someone can point me in the right direction I would very much appreciate that!

 

[ShadesManna]

This might help you on your way:
Some Honey Beers

You could also consider making a braggot:
Braggot Info

 

[elephant]

Thanks for that info there.

As a complete newb this maybe a dumb question, but do you reckon I could just make a weak mead (say aim at 5-8% alcohol) and use 50% honey and 50% this stuff (barely malt extract)

https://www.pgw.se/muntons-maltextrakt-amber-1-5kg.html
Then carbonate it with a quarter teaspoon of honey (or sugar or whatever) in an air-tight bottle for a few weeks? Would that maybe create something like the "mead beer" I'm referring to (that nobody seems to have heard about, lol)? Maybe they are just serving braggot at those restaurants and they just call it "mead beer" because they don't know what else to call it.

 

[bernardsmith]

Why don't you ask the restaurant if you can have a look at the bottle label? That would identify the ingredients and identify the brewer /winemaker . You can then contact them directly and ask if they make a beer and a mead and blend them or they add honey to their wort or wort to their mead. Strikes me , though, that making a 5% braggot is going to be quite challenging - You adding honey to a 3-5% beer is going to double the ABV (or fail to provide any taste of the beer or the honey if you dilute this too much) so more likely they are blending a beer and a mead - if both are at 5% and you double the volume (say 4 L of beer and 4 L of mead then the final outcome is 8 liters of braggot at 5% ... But I am guessing here.

 

[elephant]

Why don't you ask the restaurant if you can have a look at the bottle label? That would identify the ingredients and identify the brewer /winemaker . You can then contact them directly and ask if they make a beer and a mead and blend them or they add honey to their wort or wort to their mead. Strikes me , though, that making a 5% braggot is going to be quite challenging - You adding honey to a 3-5% beer is going to double the ABV (or fail to provide any taste of the beer or the honey if you dilute this too much) so more likely they are blending a beer and a mead - if both are at 5% and you double the volume (say 4 L of beer and 4 L of mead then the final outcome is 8 liters of braggot at 5% ... But I am guessing here.

It might be stronger, in fact I'm pretty sure it is. I don't know why I said 5% ... I meant something "not as strong as wine". I guess it's 7-8%, I don't know. In any case, I would ask, but I can't now due to the damned coronavirus. You may have heard that we in Sweden don't do lockdowns, but that's not entirely true. We're not forced to do lockdown, but we're "strongly encouraged" to behave ourselves. Unfortunately, that means not going to a cellar bar in middle of the city for me.

In any case, I think they brew it themselves. Don't know when I'll next have to occasion to be there but I'll ask then.

 

[bernardsmith]

You might call the restaurant by phone. Even if they are not open for seating perhaps they are cooking for take out.. and so they may be happy to speak to a customer who is familiar with their fare...