Making Mead Creates a Buzz Among Foodies

Mead, that honey-based alcoholic drink last popular around King Arthur’s Round Table, is making a comeback—well, sort of, Nicholas Day reports in Slate. Meaderies are springing up around the US, publishers have printed a spate of how-to books, and the Internet is rife with mead-making sites that include step-by-step instructions, illustrations and links galore.

But mead, which even advocates acknowledge is as old as dirt, isn’t likely to give Miller Lite a run for its money. Aside from its image problem—even among the faithful at Renaissance fairs the drink is treated like it doesn’t quite belong—mead is, well, dull. Honey’s lack of acidity is a buzz kill, Day concludes. (More mead stories.)