Hidromiel Valhalla; the Drink of the Gods

Hidromiel Valhalla; the Drink of the Gods

When you hear "mead" many people wonder, what exactly is that drink? It's a tasty, fermented drink made with water and honey. The curiosity of this concoction is that it is also one of the oldest drinks of all time, even before wine, and it is also said that it could be the precursor of beer.

Mead and its antiquity

Its fame was such and its diffusion so high that in antiquity it was consumed by the great majority of societies. For example, its consumption was very common in the peoples of Europe: the Saxons, Vikings, Romans, Greeks and Celts.

The Romans called it mulsum, although the liquid that they made would be rather a variant of mead, as it was grape wine but with the addition of honey.

In Mayan lands they also took mead made from their own mixture of water, honey and pieces of tree bark. This drink was so revered that among the Mayas it was considered a sacred and medicinal drink.

In addition, mead was common among soldiers and warriors. To celebrate the victory in their battles and in the celebrations with the war heroes, they raised their glasses full of this liquid. Even Julius Caesar declared mead his favorite drink.

We speak of such antiquity that, in some countries, such as Germany, archaeological excavations found bovine horns used as containers and glasses. Later they discovered that they had been used to drink mead, as they contained remains of yeasts and pollen.

The drink of the Gods

In Nordic mythology it was known as the drink of the Odin itself, of which they also said it was its only food. It was not surprising that the Nordics, in every song, gathering and celebration, apart from drinking it, mentioned their adored mead. In those songs they related that after the death of a warrior, Odin would welcome him in Valhalla, where they would drink mead for the rest of eternity.

For a reason it is called "The drink of the Gods"...