Everything we know about honey wine
35 guides and tools, from the five-minute explainer to a full mead recipe. Start anywhere.
Buying
Which bottle, which producer, and how to get it to your door.
Best honey wine, by style
Our picks for dry, semi-sweet, sparkling, gift and splurge bottles.
BuyingBee d'Vine honey wine: the full guide
Who makes it, how it is made, what each bottle costs and who it suits.
BuyingEvery bottle compared
Specs, sweetness, honey source and price for the whole lineup in one table.
BuyingWines that taste like honey
Sauternes, Tokaji, late harvest Riesling and the other grape wines closest to mead.
BuyingShop wine for honey wine fans
Dessert, sweet and sparkling wines, gifts and clubs from our partner wine shops.
BuyingWhere to buy honey wine
Ordering online, finding mead near you and how alcohol shipping works.
BuyingThe honey wine from Shark Tank
What happened in the tank, whether the deal closed and where the company is now.
Basics
What honey wine is, how it tastes and the numbers on the label.
What is honey wine?
Possibly the oldest drink there is, explained in five minutes.
BasicsHoney wine vs mead
Same drink, two names. Here is why both exist and when each is used.
BasicsMead vs wine vs beer
Honey instead of grapes or grain: how mead differs in strength, taste, tannin and gluten.
BasicsWhat does honey wine taste like?
Spoiler: not like a spoonful of honey. A flavor map from dry to sweet.
BasicsAlcohol, calories, carbs and gluten
The numbers, with a comparison to grape wine and beer.
BasicsHow to serve and store honey wine
Temperature, glassware, how long it lasts and whether it goes bad.
Styles
Dry, sweet, still, sparkling: how to tell them apart.
Sweet vs dry honey wine
How to read a label and pick the sweetness you will actually enjoy.
StylesTypes of mead: every style explained
Melomel, cyser, metheglin, braggot, bochet, sack and more, with a recipe for each.
StylesSparkling honey wine
How mead gets its bubbles and which bottles to pop.
Culture
Nine thousand years of history, the living tradition of Ethiopian tej, and the numbers behind the modern revival.
Ethiopian honey wine (tej)
The national drink of Ethiopia: gesho, the berele flask and where to find it in the US.
CultureMead industry statistics
Market size, meaderies, honey supply and search demand, with sources you can cite.
CultureThe history of honey wine
From 9,000-year-old pottery in China to Viking halls and the modern revival.
Make it
Recipes, ratios, yeast, equipment and timing for home mead makers.
How to make honey wine at home
A reliable one-gallon mead recipe with the reasoning behind each step.
Make itHow much honey per gallon of mead?
A calculator and a cheat sheet for dry, semi-sweet and sweet batches.
Make itMead recipes
Fruit, spiced and specialty meads, each for one gallon with a one-click scaler.
Make itBest yeast for mead (and nutrients)
71B vs D47 vs EC-1118, and the feeding schedule that avoids rocket fuel.
Make itMead making kit and equipment
What you need for one gallon or five, what kits leave out and what to skip.
Make itHow long does mead take to ferment?
Racking, clearing, stabilizing, backsweetening, bottling and aging, with a timeline by style.
Make itHow to backsweeten mead
Stabilize first, then sweeten: doses, a honey chart for 1 and 5 gallons and a bench trial.
Make itAdding fruit to mead
How much fruit per gallon, primary or secondary, and how long to leave it in.
Make itPectic enzyme in mead
How much per gallon, when to add it and how to fix a pectin haze.
Make itBest honey for mead
Clover, orange blossom, wildflower, tupelo and more: what each one does in the glass.
Tools
Calculators for brewing and for serving.
Mead calculator
ABV from gravity, a TOSNA nutrient schedule and how much honey to backsweeten.
ToolsHow much does a gallon of honey weigh?
About 12 lb. A converter and charts for cups, quarts and buckets, plus the price per gallon.
ToolsHoney wine party calculator
How many bottles for your dinner, tasting or toast, and how many glasses per bottle.
Food & drink
What to eat with it and what to mix it with.
Honey wine food pairing
Cheese, spice, barbecue, brunch and dessert, matched by style.
Food & drinkWhat wine goes with honey glazed ham?
Seven pairings that handle sweet, salty and smoky at once.
Food & drinkHoney wine cocktails
Six easy drinks, from a two-ingredient spritz to mulled mead.