An early revival of mead

In the 21st century, mead seems to be as popular as it has been in a thousand years. Throughout Europe and North America, there are many meaderies producing quality enough mead.

But this trend is relatively recent, and seems to be in part driven by the perception of mead as a "Viking" beverage (for instance, a Danish meadery sells their mead in the US as "Viking Blood"), or otherwise the drink of choice of some pretty hardcore people (like most any Germanic group in the Migration era). Mead never seemed to have this popularity before then, and in many parts seems to have been forgotten or been considered a drink for old women.

So with a POD of 1800, can mead be associated with Romanticist revivals throughout Germany, Britain, Scandinavia, and elsewhere in Northern Europe? Can this cultural association (mead has a prominent place in Germanic mythology and legend) build a strong mead-making tradition which lasts into the 21st century? To what degree can mead supplant wine, which historically had taken over the market for mead from England to Russia? And in the United States, might maple syrup-derived "mead" (technically acerglyn, but produced exactly like mead with maple syrup instead of honey) be able to gain a place in the international market?
 
Now we're talking about a worthwhile OP,

Your revival might be a bit too ambitious. Maybe something more limited to Germany, Britain, or Scandinavia?
 
Now we're talking about a worthwhile OP,

Your revival might be a bit too ambitious. Maybe something more limited to Germany, Britain, or Scandinavia?

Those are key regions (and the United States/Canada with their Anglo culture). But Poland, Russia, and other Slavic countries had mead traditions and prominently drank mead since wine was often imported from elsewhere. I imagine that by the late 19th century, mead has a place in fine dining in these regions, although less than wine. The United States and Canada might have maple mead which they drink as a local substitute. In general mead would be drank at certain times, in preference to wine at those times, although other times it would be directly competing against wine.

One thing I can see mead supplanting in general is port wine and similar products. An obvious niche for mead is as a dessert wine, since mead and port can be rather similar tasting. Perhaps port wine ends up a niche, and mead overtakes it in popularity. Although I don't know if you can age a barrel of mead 20-30 years like a port and thus have that bit of prestige, although the best meads for feasts and finery were aged at least a few years.

There's also beer-like meads which are on the market nowadays which have relatively low alcohol content (below 10% ABV) and have a bit of a beer-esque fizz. These could potentially be of interest to people in the 19th century, although of course anything honey-based (like mead) will be more expensive than a beer or cider.
 
If you want more popular mead, maybe it would be better to keep up its popularity after the early middle ages instead of trying to revive it eight hundred years later. Maybe some French king could somehow get a taste, decide he like the stuff, and set up a meadery to supply his court. France was probably the most culturally prestigious Catholic state during this period, so having mead take off there could lead to it spreading to other parts of Christendom too.
 
If you want more popular mead, maybe it would be better to keep up its popularity after the early middle ages instead of trying to revive it eight hundred years later. Maybe some French king could somehow get a taste, decide he like the stuff, and set up a meadery to supply his court. France was probably the most culturally prestigious Catholic state during this period, so having mead take off there could lead to it spreading to other parts of Christendom too.

True, but France is very nice for wine. And beekeeping is somewhat expensive. But I guess this could serve the role which port wine and other dessert wine did OTL.

I just think 19th century romanticism is a perfect opportunity to revive the popularity of mead in Europe. This is the era Norse legend once again becomes popular in Germany and Scandinavia, and it doesn't seem out of the question someone might be able to have their mead carve out a place in the market in this era.
 
Mead is somewhat more difficult to make than beer and cider.
It will need promotion from the state and association as a coveted luxury item.
Perhaps a AngloDanish union under a Scandinavian monarch revives it as a pannational drink of the aristocracy?
How did Champagne change from an inferior fizzy wine to a luxury item?
 
So, Mead remained popular in the Slavic lands? What was its status in the 19th century? I ask, because from 1850 onwards, there was a massive migration of Poles and other Slavs to the United States and other Anglophone nations. Is there any possibility that Mead might migrate to the United States along with them? It would certainly be a niche drink and associated with an immigrant, working class, community, so its unlikely to become popular with the Upper Classes. However, if it can stick around, he it might see a growth in popularity in the 1960s and 1970s during the ethnic revivals of that era.
 
If you want more popular mead, maybe it would be better to keep up its popularity after the early middle ages instead of trying to revive it eight hundred years later. Maybe some French king could somehow get a taste, decide he like the stuff, and set up a meadery to supply his court. France was probably the most culturally prestigious Catholic state during this period, so having mead take off there could lead to it spreading to other parts of Christendom too.

Mead's popularity stuck around in Scandinavia longer than France didn't it?
 
Mead is somewhat more difficult to make than beer and cider.
It will need promotion from the state and association as a coveted luxury item.
Perhaps a AngloDanish union under a Scandinavian monarch revives it as a pannational drink of the aristocracy?
How did Champagne change from an inferior fizzy wine to a luxury item?

It certainly is, and mead seems to have been associated with the aristocracy and other elites in Europe. It is more difficult to produce than wine, although you can keep bees and produce honey in regions where grapevines can't grow.

So, Mead remained popular in the Slavic lands? What was its status in the 19th century? I ask, because from 1850 onwards, there was a massive migration of Poles and other Slavs to the United States and other Anglophone nations. Is there any possibility that Mead might migrate to the United States along with them? It would certainly be a niche drink and associated with an immigrant, working class, community, so its unlikely to become popular with the Upper Classes. However, if it can stick around, he it might see a growth in popularity in the 1960s and 1970s during the ethnic revivals of that era.

From what I know, it wasn't very important in the 19th century in Slavic lands. Mead stayed relevant for longer because importing wine (which people wanted) was more difficult than it was in Germany (for instance), but by the 19th century mead wasn't too important.
 
How about during the US Prohibition, the laws in question had a loophole that allows Meade to be produced. Although there are efforts to correct this oversight once its noticed, they aren't passed in time to prevent Meade to become forever associated with the Roaring 20s and the Jazz lifestyle :)

This isn't as farfetched as you would think, since the original Prohibition laws made an exception for ciders (the Prohibitionists didn't want to risk offended the rural farming wing of their movement). Although I suspect Meade would be exempt due to an oversight or else the concerted lobbying by a hobbyist.
 
The whole thing with port still intrigues me. Maybe a more unstable Portugal would help. Early 20th century Portugal was rather unstable. And chaos in Portugal affected the Portuguese wine industry (including port wines). If you had something happen in Portugal in the mid-late 19th century to disrupt the flow of port, and for that matter, involve all of Iberia so you can't have Spanish sherry, etc. be substituted, would that then get the mead flowing? The late 19th century is the era when you could have some inspirations for it. Maybe a Scandinavian gets the idea to make a meadery in the spirit of romanticism (Viking romanticism was everywhere at the time), which ends up becoming a huge product in Denmark-Norway or Sweden. Or perhaps in Slavic Europe, which had an extensive mead tradition which seems to have enjoyed popularity longer than in other parts of Europe. Or even in the United States where the Scandinavian American community (who weren't just in the Midwest BTW) can "show off their heritage" with beekeeping and the resulting meadmaking, although we'd have to prevent Prohibition lest this revival die out along with many other unique American alcohol traditions.

IIRC, mead was also popular because it was derived from neither grape nor grain...

Isn't that an Islamic concept where a Muslim can justify drinking based on certain loopholes? I guess in an Islamic Europe you can have people believing that, although such an idea has been looked down upon by many Muslim theologians, and not to mentions the endless amount of Muslims who never cared and drank wine and other alcoholic drinks regardless (i.e. Caliph Selim the Sot). Christianity doesn't have such a restriction, although the Bible criticises drunkenness.

Isn't that just honey flavoured not fermented from honey?

I think so, but it might speak to the potential popularity of such a concept.
 
The whole thing with port still intrigues me. Maybe a more unstable Portugal would help. Early 20th century Portugal was rather unstable. And chaos in Portugal affected the Portuguese wine industry (including port wines). If you had something happen in Portugal in the mid-late 19th century to disrupt the flow of port, and for that matter, involve all of Iberia so you can't have Spanish sherry, etc. be substituted, would that then get the mead flowing? The late 19th century is the era when you could have some inspirations for it. Maybe a Scandinavian gets the idea to make a meadery in the spirit of romanticism (Viking romanticism was everywhere at the time), which ends up becoming a huge product in Denmark-Norway or Sweden. Or perhaps in Slavic Europe, which had an extensive mead tradition which seems to have enjoyed popularity longer than in other parts of Europe. Or even in the United States where the Scandinavian American community (who weren't just in the Midwest BTW) can "show off their heritage" with beekeeping and the resulting meadmaking, although we'd have to prevent Prohibition lest this revival die out along with many other unique American alcohol traditions.

I really like this idea - have it be revived as part of the Romantic Movement in Scandinavia and Germany - and then spreading to Eastern Europe. I could definitely see it being tied up with the nationalist movement in Germany and elsewhere. If you can manage it soon enough possibly mead becomes associated with the Revolution of 1848 (which will still fail, of course - mead is good, but its not so good as to lead to a successful revolutionary movement :p). This could easily lead a few of the mead producers to emigrate after the failure of the revolution and bring their knowledge to the United States. In this timeline, Milwaukee might be equally known for its mead production, as well as its beer.

Now, switching to the United States, things get a bit more interesting. I'm not sure how popular Mead would be with the newly arriving Norwegian population in the United States (in OTL, many were evangelical Lutherans who were strong prohibitionists. Unlike most other recent immigrants, Norwegian Lutherans actually had pretty close relationships with American Protestants. However, I could see enough enjoying it, so that it gets a foothold.), but it could definitely become popular amongst the Swedes and Finns. Now, Wisconsin and Minnesota are actually pretty good land for honey production, and you've got the lumber boom about to occur in the Northwoods. Although Mead would certainly be a strange drink for many of the lumberjacks, its not entirely unlikely they don't take a liking to it (seriously, from my research, lumberjacks would drink about anything!), and if the local honey production picks up, it could well be a cheap regional drink.

So, yeah, the Upper Midwest just became the mead-belt of the United States :D
 
You mean mead won't imbue the common German man with the powers of Odin? Impossible!

But anyway, for the American Scandinavians, that's indeed interesting. Milwaukee had a lot of breweries ("Milwaukee Brewers", the baseball club) along with other German-American industries. Plus a lot of Scandinavian Americans lived in the region too. That includes Finnish Americans, in the Upper Peninsula and New England. Both regions are great for mead production. You could have New England be known for mead production as much as maple syrup. Even with Prohibition, it means a lot more beekeeping in those parts. Otherwise, another interesting part of the alcohol industry. Maybe Big Tobacco acquires many meaderies like they have several wineries to diversify. If mead is no bigger than port is in the United States, it wouldn't be too challenging for outside industries to acquire all major American meaderies.
 
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