Lore:Mead

Mead (Skyrim)

Mead, mead, mead!
Wonderfully wet, sinfully sweet!
Heft your mead horns and hold your mugs high,
We want to keep drinking until we do die!

Mead, mead, mead!

It's what a body needs!
It makes us strong and wise and brave,
There's nothing better, it's what we crave!

Mead, mead, mead!

I drink it morning, noon, and eve.
I like it spiced and sweet and powerful,
I'll soon be drunk and that's quite probable,

Mead, mead, mead!
—A Drinking Song

Mead (also called Nord Mead,^[1] or Honey Wine by the Altmer^[2]) is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented honey and water, alternatively with molasses, and sometimes strained with mashed grains. It is a very popular drink that can be found primarily in the province of Skyrim, but it can also be seen across the continent of Tamriel, as brewing is the basis of any culture. Mead is very popular among the Nords of Solstheim, who usually import it from mainland Skyrim.^[3] Meaderies across the provinces have their own ingredients and recipes, mixing in their own spices and fruits like Juniper Berries.^[2]

Mead in Nordic Culture[edit]

Mead Revelers in the Rift

Voljar's Meadery (ESO)

From the words of the Nordic hunters of Thirsk, mead is considered the nectar of Shor, and is the finest drink ever to grace Nordic lips.^[4] Mead is a significant part of Nordic culture; it is heavily shared in any tavern across the province, which may be why drinking is a Nordic stereotype. Because of their common interest in the beverage, Nords formed communities around "mead halls," which in turn led to the formation of large settlements like Whiterun.^[5] Even in the Nordic afterlife of Sovngarde, the souls of the dead join their ancestors in the Hall of Valor, a great mead hall where the drink flows freely like a waterfall.^[6]^[7] Surprisingly enough, mead is the reason that pockets exist on men's clothing. Nords used hip-flasks to hold portable mead, but because they were very exposed to pickpockets, interior pockets were created.^[8] There is a period in Nordic history known as the "Neo-Meadic Era"; information regarding this time period is unknown, however.^[9]

To the people of Skyrim, drinking is a sub-culture that favors an enduring spirit. The amount of mead a Nord can drink is considered no different than their greatest game or feat, but drinking too much can lead to embarrassing results. When one is offered mead, there are times it is considered a challenge or a test, but it may also be seen as a sign of respect, to make amends or to express "no hard feelings". These offerings do not have to happen in a mead hall or town, where everybody knows your name; it is possible to wander Skyrim's boundless wilderness and come across revelers who are willing to share their celebration. In these revelries, they speak about their glorious feats of Nordic honor. But when they are not boasting of their achievements, they are singing and reveling to the tales curated by a Nordic bard, also known as a Skald.^[2]

Riften is the burgeoning capital of mead-making in Skyrim, home to its famous blackberry mead and the meaderies owned by the Black-Briar family. In the Fourth Era, the Black-Briar Meaderies were bitter rivals with the Honningbrew Meadery of Whiterun, a sentiment passed onto its consumers.^[10] The rivalry reached the point where the Black-Briar Clan enlisted the Thieves Guild to sabotage the Honningbrew Meadery with pest poison.^[11] Riften's signature mead is used when making their iconic Riftwash cheese. The cheese is washed in the blackberry mead several times and later shrouded in wax dyed by the blackberry must from the meaderies, which results in a cheese with a glossy, violet-black exterior. A misconception holds that the cheese attains its black color from the muddy and sodden waters of Lake Honrich.^[12]