Make Mead Like a Viking 10th Anniversary Edition: Traditional Techniques for Brewing Natural, Wild-Fermented, Honey-Based Wines and Beers - Paperback

by Jereme Zimmerman (Author)

New 10th Anniversary Edition!

"A great guide . . . full of practical information and fascinating lore."--Sandor Ellix Katz, author of The Art of Fermentation

A complete, practical, and entertaining guide to using the best ingredients and minimal equipment to create flavorful brews--including wildcrafted meads, bragots, t'ej, grog, honey beers, and more!

Ancient societies brewed flavorful and healing meads, ales, and wines for millennia using only intuition, storytelling, and knowledge passed down through generations--no fancy, expensive equipment or degrees in chemistry needed. In Make Mead Like a Viking, homesteader, fermentation enthusiast, and self-described "Appalachian Yeti Viking" Jereme Zimmerman summons the bryggjemann of the ancient Norse to demonstrate how homebrewing mead--arguably the world's oldest fermented alcoholic beverage--can be not only uncomplicated but fun.

Armed with wild-yeast-bearing totem sticks, readers will learn techniques for brewing sweet, semi-sweet, and dry meads, melomels (fruit meads), metheglins (spiced meads), Ethiopian t'ej, flower and herbal meads, braggots, honey beers, country wines, and even Viking grog, opening the Mead Hall doors to further experimentation in fermentation and flavor.

Whether you've been intimidated by modern homebrewing's cost or seeming complexity in the past--and its focus on the use of unnatural chemicals--or are boldly looking to expand your current brewing and fermentation practices, Zimmerman's welcoming style and spirit will usher you into exciting new territory. Grounded in history and mythology, but--like Odin's ever-seeking eye--focusing continually on the future of self-sufficient food culture, Make Mead Like a Viking is a practical and entertaining guide for the ages.

Author Biography

Jereme Zimmerman grew up on his parents' northern Kentucky goat farm, Twin Meadows, where he was also homeschooled. After graduating from Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, he moved to the Pacific Northwest, where he immersed himself in the world of homebrewing. As the world's only peace-loving, green-living Appalachian Yeti Viking, Zimmerman writes, blogs, and speaks regularly on fermentation, mead-making, homesteading, and good eating. He is a regular contributor to various publications and websites, including New Pioneer and Backwoods Home magazines. He writes for Earthineer.com as "RedHeadedYeti." He currently lives in Berea with his wife, Jenna, and daughters, Sadie and Maisie, where he practices urban homesteading and cavorts with farmers, authors, and fellow sustainable-living enthusiasts.