Drinks of Skyrim : Mead

Drinks of Skyrim: Mead By Eorlund Quick-Arrow

Ask any Nord what their favourite drink is and they will probably begin to tell you of the wonders of cold mead on a cold day or cold mead after a fight or cold mead first thing in the morning. Basically Nords like mead, but many foreigners don't truly understand mead or its importance to us. But fear not, I, Eorlund Quick - Arrow am here to teach you all about Skyrim’s favourite drink.

Most people know that mead is made from honey however, it is not as simple as that. The amount of honey and type of yeast used can have an enormous effect on the finished product. It is not a simple matter of lumping all the ingredients into a cask and then leaving them until the Dragon comes to eat the world. It is a long and difficult process and this is why we treat our brewmasters with such respect. Alas I will not teach you how to make mead in this book, it is better left to the experts, foreign made mead usually tastes like swill anyway.

Nords have been drinking mead for thousands of years, mead was drank by our forefathers in Atmora, there were great mead halls in lost Saarthal and today it retains its popularity. The most important part of the mead is the honey and so the bees are vital to the whole process. Bees are a sacred animal of Kyne and in some areas are protected by law. Many Nords keep a small number of bees to provide them with a sweetener for food. Most meaderies either keep bees themselves or have links to a particular apiary, for example Black-Briar mead is sourced from the Goldenglow Estate. The bees that make the honey must be well looked after and the flowers they pollinate must be carefully chosen, many beekeepers have their bees blessed by a priestess of Kyne each year.

And best of all there is a mead for everyone. There are more types of mead than there are pompous Altmer. There are the famous brands of mead like Black-Briar, Honningbrew and Voljar or the famous spiced meads of Markarth. Almost anything can be added to mead for flavouring, in Falkreath they add Juniper berries, in parts of Eastmarch they go so far as to add giant's toe (it must always be the big toe from the right foot or else Kyne shall strike down whoever drinks it) or Voljar’s Buzzed Mead which contains a live bee released when the bottle is opened. Any variety of berries, flowers or spices may be added to create unlimited possibilities, truly mead is the drink of the Gods.