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Tugwell Creek Honey Farm & Meadery

Bob Liptrot -Meadmaker-keeping bees since age 7 -Masters degree in Entomology -making mead for over 30 years

Introducing…

HISTORY OF MEAD

• oldest fermented beverage - Neolithic period• festivals and religious drink• Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Ethiopians, Scandinavians, Assyrian,

Incas, Aztec• aphrodisiac• life, wisdom, courage and strength• origins of the word Honeymoon • popular until the 18th century

The "Man of Bicorp" holding onto lianas to gather honey from a beehive as depicted on an 8000-year-old cave painting near Valencia, Spain

The Origin of Recipes

• As early as the 1700’s• why we have chosen particular recipes.

A 9,000 year history of mead

*fermented beverages confirmed from residue on pottery shards

*research conducted by archeochemist Dr. Patrick McGovern, Penn State U.

*Neolithic village site of Jiahn, Henan province, N. China

*Compounds identified by G & L chromatography-mass spectometry, infrared spectometry & stable isotope analysis

*main compounds included rice, honey and hawthorn fruit

Prehistoric meads at Jiahu paved the way for proto-historic second millennium cereal based alcohols of Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties 1250-1000 BC

*liquid samples found in 3000 year old bronze jars

*rice and millet wines

A 9,000 year history of mead

Proto-historic alcohols in china were known as Jui and Chang*produced by mold saccharification (breakdown of carbohydrates in grain to simple fermentable sugars)*yeast then enters the process adventitiously starting fermentation

Parallel prehistorical and proto-historical mead evolution*resinated mead wine inside two jars excavated at Hajji Firuz, Iran 5400 BC*earliest confirmed barley beer excavated at Godin Tepe, Iran 3500-3100 BC

Recent historical evidence of mead*Egyptian examples of honey and or mead*5th dynasty Ne-Woser-Re at Abusis*18th dynasty vizier Rekhmire at Thebes

A 9,000 year history of mead

*the Hochdorf tomb from around 540-520 BC Celtic/Greek

-brass cauldron 104cm dia. X 80cm h. 500 l. vol.

-nine drinking horns 5.5 l. vol. each

Old English references

*tales of King Arthur 5th-6th century

*old English epic poem Beowulf 8th century

*Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”

14th century

Mead in brief decline*approx. 1500-1600 AD with the introduction of sugar cane from India and the new world

The recent history of mead

*enjoying a comeback as an offshoot of the wine and ale industries

*aprox.200 plus meaderies in N. America

*receiving publicity from movies books etc.

QUALITIES TO LOOK FOR 

-Mead . . . ranges from very dry to very sweet

-Some products are ale like

-Some are fortified

-Others like white or red wines

-Fruit, herbs, vegetables or spices can be added

-If it is fermented with honey, it is mead

 -higher fruit and honey content-intensify flavour

Names relate to the ingredientsHydromel - means water honey in Greek

-French name for meadMelomel - Honey wine using fruit

-depending on fruit base, more specific names Metheglin –originated from folk medicine

-derived from Welsh (meddyglyn)- (meddyg) healing + (llyn) liquor

The Origin of Mead Names

The Origin of Mead Names

Great Mead - aged several years

Short Mead - meant to age quickly

Sac Mead –derived name from fortified sherry-bore nickname “Sack” in England-derived from Welsh (meddyglyn)- (meddyg) healing + (llyn) liquor

Braggot- -Welsh origin (bragawd)

Sac Mead - 20-25% more honey and water (Sauterne-like)

Melomel - Honey wine using fruit excluding apples or grapes

 Metheglin - Honey wine made with any herbs, spices

 

VARIETIES OF MEAD 

 Cyser - Honey wine made with apple cider or fresh apple

juice Hydromel - Light honey wine 10% alcohol or less

- May include any ingredients from other categories

 

VARIETIES OF MEAD

VARIETIES OF MEADHippocras - Honey wine made with grape juice and spices

Traditional Mead - Honey and water fermented together

Bracket or Braggot - Honey wine made with malts and grains

 

 

Pyment - Honey wine made with grapes/grape juice Morat - Honey, water, and mulberries  Tej -Honey wine made with Gesho

-spontaneous fermentation  

VARIETIES OF MEAD

OTHER MEAD VARIANTS

Acerglyn- maple syrup and honeyBochet- made with caramelized honeyBraggot- honey, hops and or malts of grainBlack mead- blackcurrants and honeyCapsicumel- addition of chili peppers to meadCyser- apple juice and honeyHydromel- light low alcohol meadMelomel- fruit juice added to honey

Metheglin- herbs and or spices added to meadMorat- mulberries blended with honeyOmphacomel- honey blended with verjuiceOxymel- wine vinegar and honeyPyment- honey with red or white grape juiceRhodomel- rose hips, petals or rose attar and honey

ETHNIC VARIANTS

Balche- Native Mexican meadCzworniak- Light Polish style meadChouchenn- Traditional mead from BrittanyDandaghare- A mead of NepalMedovina- Eastern European variants of traditional regional

meadsMedovukha- Eastern Slavic variants of local meadsMyod - Traditional Russian meads available in three

major varieties

ETHNIC VARIANTS

Midus- Lithuanian term for mead infused with herbs and fruit, sometimes distilled

Pitarrilla- Ancient Mayan mead using wild honey and balche tree bark

Poltorak- Aged or great style Polish meadSima- Low alcohol lemon flavoued Finnish meadTej- Ethiopian meads fermented with wild yeasts,

gesho root and or grainsTrojniak- Classic Polish mead

OUR PHILOSOPHY

-Our meads -primarily from our own honey and berries or from

Southern Vancouver Island

-not certified organic

-bees forage on wild plants of S. Vancouver Island

-all fruit is unsprayed - sulphites- far less than in grape wines

What does Vertically Integrated Mean?

• Keeping your own beesFill up boxes naturally

• Source of honey• Mountains, clean• Blossoms, Fireweed, Blackberry• Non-agricultural• Non-genetically modified• 25K radius

• Handling raw product• Preference of style• Amount of honey used• Strong sense of aromatics, complexities

HOW TO SERVE MEAD

Temperature- -serve at cellar temperature Storage- -once opened, will keep for up to 2 weeks-fruit based meads –treated like high quality grape wine Cellaring--straight honey meads will cellar up to 20 years-some fruit meads become more sherry like -sweeter meads more Sauterne like 

Pairing –

-fruit meads pair well with spicy foods

-like a dry sherry, with a cheese course

-pastas and light meats

-sweet meads are good with dessert

Where To Find Tugwell Creek Meads?GREATER VICTORIA: SOOKE: TOFINO:

Beacon Landing Liquor Store Buffy’s Liquor Store Clayoquot Wilderness Resort

Cascadia Beer and Wine - Quadra Street Castle Beer and Wine Long Beach Lodge

Cascadia Beer and Wine - Hatley Park Markus’s Wharfside Maquinna Liquor Store

The Cask & Keg Liquor Store Seventeen Mile Liquor Store SALTSPRING ISLAND:

Fairmont Empress Hotel Sooke Harbour House Fulford Inn Beer and Wine Store, Fulford

Four Mile Liquor Store Stone Pipe Grill Harbour House Beer & Wine, Ganges

Hillside Liquor Store MALAHAT / COWICHAN VALLEY: The Local Liquor Store, Ganges

Hotel Grand Pacific Beverly Corners Liquor Store Upper Ganges Liquor Store, Ganges Road

Laurel Point Hotel Bistro La Pommeraie VANCOUVER:

Liquor Depot Malahat Mountain Inn Liberty Wine Merchants – Granville Island

Liquor Express - Tillicum Mall, Keating The Honeypot Liquor Store Liberty Wine Merchants – Point Grey

Liquor Plus - Douglas Best Western Cowichan Valley Inn Liberty Wine Merchants – Park & Tillford

Liquor Plus - Saanich Centre NANAIMO / NORTHEAST ISLAND: Raincity Grill

Liquor Plus - Royal Oak Coast Discovery Inn, Campbell River Salt Tasting Room

Liquor Plus - Cobble Hill & Duncan Crossroads Liquor Depot, Nanaimo Burgoo Restaurants

Loghouse Pub Beer and Wine Store Ladysmith Liquor Depot Regional Tasting Lounge

The Marina Restaurant Landlubber Pub Liquor Store, Nanaimo

The Penny Farthing The Village Liquor Store, Parksville

Spinnakers Beer & Wine - James Bay Wellington Liquor Store, Nanaimo

Spinnakers Beer & Wine - Vic West Wheatsheaf Beer and Wine, Nanaimo

Spinnakers Pub

The Strath Beer and Wine Store