Mead isn’t one drink — it’s a whole family. Every style starts with honey, then takes a different path. Here’s a quick map of the most important ones, so you can find the door that’s right for you.
Traditional
The classic: honey, water, yeast. Nothing else. A traditional mead is all about the honey itself — its origin, its character, its season. If you want to taste what mead truly is, start here.
Melomel — mead with fruit
Add fruit to the ferment and you get a melomel. Cherries, blackberries, peaches, citrus — the fruit lifts and brightens the honey. These are some of the most approachable meads for newcomers, vivid in both color and flavor.
Cyser — mead meets apple
A cyser is mead made with apples or apple juice. Think of it as the warm handshake between mead and cider: crisp, orchard-fresh, and dangerously easy to love in the fall.
Pyment — mead meets grape
A pyment brings grapes into the picture, blurring the line between mead and wine. Rich and structured, it’s a natural bridge for wine drinkers stepping into honey wine for the first time.
Metheglin — mead with spice
Add spices or herbs and you have a metheglin — vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, chamomile, hops. The Welsh word means “medicine,” a nod to mead’s old reputation. Today it’s simply about warmth and aroma.
Braggot — mead meets malt
A braggot is brewed with both honey and grain, sitting somewhere between mead and beer. Full-bodied and complex, it’s where the two oldest drinks shake hands.
Session vs. sack: a question of strength
Beyond ingredients, meads are described by strength. A session mead is light and sociable. A sack mead is bold and slow-sipped. Most of the joy is in finding where on that spectrum you like to live.
Not sure where to start? Our palate quiz points you to a style in about a minute — or see the mead we’re crafting.