Mead Day

Categories:: Food & Beverage
Tags:: Beer Drinking Historical
Where:: United States
Date change rule:: First Saturday of August
Holiday emoji:: 🍯

Mead Day toasts the ancient fermented honey beverage every first Saturday of August. Dive into its rich history, explore diverse varieties, and learn how to craft or savor this unique drink. Raise a glass to tradition and discover your new favorite honey wine.

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Expected Mead Day Deals

While we await official 2027 promotions, history shows that Mead Day brings exciting deals from craft meaderies and beverage retailers. Expect discounts on bottles from renowned producers like B. Nektar and Schramm’s Mead, alongside tasting events at local breweries and specialty shops. Homebrewing supply stores such as Northern Brewer and MoreBeer! often offer sales on honey, yeast, and equipment for aspiring mead makers. Look for special releases from craft meaderies like Groennfell Meadery, Superstition Meadery, and Moonlight Meadery. We will update this page with confirmed live deals as August 7 approaches.

Platform Guide for Mead Day

TikTok

Tag @www.nationaltoday.com and use #MeadDay. Film a mead tasting, show off a homebrewing setup, or share a recipe incorporating mead.

Instagram

Tag @nationaltoday_ and use #MeadDay. Post photos of your favorite mead, a mead cocktail, or a visit to a local meadery.

Facebook

Mention National Today (facebook.com/nationaltoday) and use #MeadDay. Share your Mead Day celebrations, ask for recommendations, or discuss the history of mead.

Mead Day Hero

Ken Schramm

Ken Schramm is widely recognized as a pivotal figure in the modern mead-making resurgence. His influential book, "The Compleat Meadmaker," published in 2003, provided comprehensive guidance and inspiration for countless homebrewers and commercial meaderies, elevating the craft from obscurity to a respected art form. He co-founded Schramm's Mead, producing some of the world's most acclaimed meads.

History of Mead Day

Mead Day is celebrated by mead enthusiasts and brewers. Mead has been brewed across the ancient civilizations in Europe, Africa, and Asia for thousands of years and is still popular today. This alcoholic beverage is made by fermenting honey with water and other ingredients as desired.

Evidence of mead brewing has been found in pottery from northern China, as well as ceramic containers in Europe. Mead was also known to be by the people living in Ancient India and Ancient Greece.

The process of making mead is similar to the process of making wine. Wine yeast can be easily used to make mead, and honey ferments at around the same temperatures as grape juice set aside for wine.

Unlike wine, mead involves a process of primary and secondary fermentation. The first fermentation happens fairly quickly. Then, when the process starts slowing down, the mead is moved into another container through the process of racking. Racking involves moving alcoholic beverages from one container to another using gravity rather than a pump, so the beverage is undisturbed. The second, slower fermentation happens in the second container.

The primary fermentation takes place over a month to two months, after which the mead is left in the second container to age over a period of six to nine months. The fermentation time is influenced by the quality of honey, the composition of the honey, the other ingredients used in the recipe, and the temperature of the surrounding environment.

Mead Day timeline

7000 B.C.

Mead is Made in Northern China

Remains of honey, rice, and organic compounds produced due to fermentation are found on pottery fragments from ancient China.

1700 B.C.

Mead is Mentioned in the Rigveda

Mead is named ‘Soma’ in the “Rigveda,” one of the ancient books of the Vedic religion and modern-day Hinduism.

500

‘Song of Mead’ is written

The Welsh bard Taliesin writes a poem about a great feast and feasting hall in the poem ‘Song of Mead.’

2002

Mead Day is Instituted

The American Homebrewers association set aside the first Saturday of August to officially celebrate mead.

How Businesses Can Celebrate Mead Day

Local breweries, wineries, and craft beverage shops can host Mead Day tasting events, offering flights of different mead styles or special discounts on bottles. Restaurants could feature mead pairings with their menus or create unique mead cocktails. Homebrewing supply stores can run promotions on honey, yeast, and mead-making kits to encourage new enthusiasts to try their hand at crafting this ancient drink.

Mead Day FAQs

When is Mead Day?

Mead Day 2026 falls on Saturday, August 1, inviting enthusiasts to celebrate the ancient honey wine. This annual observance is a perfect opportunity to explore the diverse world of mead.

How popular is mead today?

Mead has seen a significant resurgence in popularity, especially within the craft beverage movement. The American Mead Makers Association reported over 500 commercial meaderies in the U.S. in 2023, a substantial increase from just a few decades ago.

What is mead made from?

Mead is primarily made from fermenting honey with water, a process that can be traced back thousands of years. This simple base allows for a wide range of variations, with fruits, spices, and grains often added for complex flavors.

Is mead stronger than beer or wine?

Mead’s alcohol content can vary widely, typically ranging from 3.5% ABV for session meads to over 20% ABV for stronger varieties. This means it can be lighter than some beers or significantly stronger than most wines, depending on the specific recipe.

How to Celebrate Mead Day

Drink some mead
The best way to celebrate Mead Day is to head over to your local brewery and drink a glass or two of mead. Bottoms up!
Brew some mead
Mead, like wine, is easy to brew at home. Get some good quality honey and yeast, and get to brewing!
Organize a feast
Mead is traditionally associated with feasting. Put together a potluck feast with your friends and family, and make sure to serve mead with your food!

5 Important Facts About Mead

Mead was loved in Ancient Greece
During the Golden Age of Ancient Greece between 500 B.C. to 350 B.C., mead was said to be the preferred drink in the entire country.
The oldest recipe from 60 A.D.
A naturalist called Columella, who was Hispanic-Roman, wrote down a recipe for mead in his agricultural book, “De Re Rustica.”
Mead became obscure for a while
When taxation was introduced on alcoholic beverages, commercial mead became an obscure drink until very recently.
There are several types of mead
Mead can even be distilled to have the alcoholic percentage of a liqueur, in which case it might be called a whiskey.
Home meaderies made it popular in America
In the U.S., mead was introduced to the general public by small home meaderies and, eventually, commercial meaderies were established.

Why We Love Mead Day

Mead is delicious
Sweet, semi-sweet, fizzy, or flat — we love mead in all its forms and love the opportunity to celebrate it.
We want to drink mead
Finding mead isn’t easy, so with a day set aside to celebrate mead, we have an excuse to hunt down the best meaderies in our area.
More people should try mead
Mead is still an obscure drink, and we want people to know that people still brew and drink mead today!