Getting messy on mead: Medieval booze has made a comeback

The drink of your great-great-great-great grandparents is huge again thanks to Live Action Roleplay

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It’s 1am in the club and you’re getting the round in, surely the last thing you’d ever order are bottles of mead for the boys.

But thanks to LARPers (Live Action Roleplayers) and Game of Thrones, the 17 per cent proof historical booze made from honey is apparently making a comeback.

And supermarkets are even stocking it just for us.

The Cornish Mead Company reckon sales have gone up by 15 per cent since the bloodthirsty sex filled American drama first aired over here, and we’re necking over 50,000 litres a year.

Deputy Manager at Asda Derby Paul Crosby said: “We’re putting mead back on the shelves in response to customer demand.

“Who’s to say whether medieval drinks are back in fashion, but there’s certainly a mead for it.”

Home-brewed mead, made by Nottingham legends

Forget moonshine or homemade beer which leaves you in a mindless state which is worse than a comedown, some thrifty students are brewing their own mead.

Nottingham University Live Action Roleplayer Ivan said: “It’s very easy to make yourself at home – you can pick up the equipment to do it cheaply.

“Recently I made a batch of a ciser, a mead with half the water replaced with apple juice. It turned out very well, drier than most meads but a good flavour.”

But the mead we’re chugging today couldn’t be more different from the medieval beverage, it comes in a range of flavours from cherry to elderberry.

Trevor Halliday who runs Essex based roleplaying group ELEMENT said: “Mead and ale are probably the drinks of choice that are the most ‘in character’ at LARP events – it touches the inner viking in us all.

“It sits nicely in a game setting and does not get challenged by the purists or the newer players as a drink that is apart of the whole culture.”