Zimmerman - Make mead like a Viking : traditional techniques for brewing natural, wild-fermented, honey-based wines and beers

About the Author

Jereme Zimmerman grew up on his parents northern Kentucky goat farm, Twin Meadows, where he was also homeschooled. After graduating from Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, he moved to the Pacific Northwest, where he immersed himself in the world of homebrewing. As the worlds only peace-loving, green-living Appalachian Yeti Viking, Zimmerman writes and speaks regularly on fermentation, mead making, homesteading, and good eating. He is a regular contributor to various publications and websites, including New Pioneer and Backwoods Home magazines. He writes for Earthineer.com as RedHeadedYeti. He currently lives in Berea with his wife, Jenna, and daughters, Sadie and Maisie, where he practices urban homesteading and cavorts with farmers, authors, and fellow sustainable-living enthusiasts.

Praise for
Make Mead Like a Viking

A great guide to mead making, full of practical information and fascinating lore.

Sandor Ellix Katz , author of The Art of Fermentation and Wild Fermentation

Jereme Zimmerman has captured the wild spirit of mead quite literallyas the quintessential naturally fermented beverage of humankind from the beginning, which reached its apotheosis with the Vikings. Without compromising its mysterious allure, he brings it down to earth for all to make and enjoy.

Patrick E. McGovern , author of Ancient Wine and Uncorking the Past

This is a fun bookand fortunately, it doesnt stop there. Coupled with the fun parts is a book that is informative and detailed in everything from choosing honey all the way to what kinds of corks to use. As a beekeeper who has always had lots of good raw honey on hand, I have made mead before but only in the kind of sterile environment that Jereme Zimmerman eschews. His book opened my eyes to the possibility of returning to the much more natural and time-honored ways of brewing this fascinating beverage.

Jeffrey Hamelman , director, King Arthur Flour Bakery; author of Bread: A Bakers Book of Techniques and Recipes

Make Mead Like a Viking puts the ME back in mead: my Scandinavian heritage simply sang when reliving the history, reading the recipes, and playing the drinking games he includes. And best yet... Zimmerman encourages mead makers to keep their own bees! Theres no better way to get the best honey there is than when you, and the bees you care for, make it happen together. For me, this is the perfect marriage.

Kim Flottum , editor-in-chief, Bee Culture: The Magazine of American Beekeeping

I really delighted in this inspired and informative read. Throw caution into the mead-making wind and relish the challenge of some of the more unusual flavorings and ingredients. I now feel more like being a Viking mead maker than ever, and coming from a Celt and fourth-generation mead maker that is something! Enjoy mead and make merry men and maidens.

Sophia Fenton , director, Cornish Mead Co. Ltd.

Tradition meets modernity in this marvelous look at the ancient brewing of honey-based beverages.

Mike Faul , owner and brewmaster, Rabbits Foot Meadery

Copyright 2015 by Jereme Zimmerman.

All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all photographs by Jereme Zimmerman.

No part of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

Project Manager: Patricia Stone

Editor: Michael Metivier

Copy Editor: Laura Jorstad

Proofreader: Ben Gleason

Indexer: Shana Milkie

Designer: Melissa Jacobson

Printed in the United States of America.

First printing October, 2015

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 15 16 17 18 19

Our Commitment to Green Publishing

Chelsea Green sees publishing as a tool for cultural change and ecological stewardship. We strive to align our book manufacturing practices with our editorial mission and to reduce the impact of our business enterprise on the environment. We print our books and catalogs on chlorine-free recycled paper, using vegetable-based inks whenever possible. This book may cost slightly more because it was printed on paper that contains recycled fiber, and we hope youll agree that its worth it. Chelsea Green is a member of the Green Press Initiative ( www.greenpressinitiative.org ), a nonprofit coalition of publishers, manufacturers, and authors working to protect the worlds endangered forests and conserve natural resources. Make Mead Like a Viking was printed on paper supplied by RR Donnelley that contains at least 10% postconsumer recycled fiber.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Zimmerman, Jereme, 1976

Make mead like a viking : traditional techniques for brewing natural, wild-fermented, honey-based wines and beers/Jereme Zimmerman.

pages cm

ISBN 978-1-60358-598-9 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-60358-599-6 (ebook)

1. Mead. I. Title.

TP588.M4Z56 2015

663'.4dc23

2015023034

Chelsea Green Publishing

85 North Main Street, Suite 120

White River Junction, VT 05001

(802) 295-6300

www.chelseagreen.com

To my lovely, ever-encouraging wife, Jenna Lee, and our precocious daughters, Sadie Lee and Maisie JaneI offer my eternal love and gratitude... and my sincere apologies for having to put up with me while writing this book.

And to my father, Wayne Waldo Zimmerman, and mother, Janice Zimmermanmy tendencies toward self-sufficiency, simple living, and natural brewing are due to the solid foundation you provided. I owe you some farmwork, a debt that I have no time to pay. Its the thought that counts, right?

And finally, to the dynamic trio of Vikings and mead: Dave, Zach, and Stevemay you enjoy bountiful mead from the teats of Heidrun the goat for eternity in the halls of Valhalla.

Contents

Recipe list

Preface

When I first started on the path to brewing like a Viking, my intent was simpleto understand how the Norse and other ancient cultures got by without all the gadgets, chemicals, laboratory-bred yeast strains, and overly complex techniques that seem to pervade the modern mind-set with regard to homebrewing.

Having grown up on a Kentucky goat farmand returning to my homesteading roots later in lifeI am accustomed to living frugally and eating and drinking primarily what my family produces by working the land. My dad made wine using only ingredients he grew or got free from friends, which is a very Viking way of doing things (as long as you change got free from friends to obtained by bartering with neighboring farmsteads and plundering distant lands). The Norse had to live through long, cold winters and short summers, so they had to preserve as much of their food as possible. Since fermentation is a natural preservativeand brewing and drinking mind-altering beverages is a good way to pass the time when cramped up in a hut in the dead of wintermaking mead and other fermented beverages was integral to survival in the dark, cold wilderness of ancient Northern Europe. In the increasingly dark wilderness of modern life, where we are constantly inundated with mass-produced, homogenized products saturated in chemicals and GMOs (genetically modified organisms), we can choose to emulate the Norse and other ancient cultures by bringing a sense of wildness, mysticism, and individuality to our unique, home-crafted brews.