Mead

Many of us now enjoy unusual alcoholic beverage concoctions since the advent of the craft beer and cocktail movements. What we may not realize is that fellow humans have been carrying on like this for millennia, and quite likely for millions of years earlier during hominid times. Indeed, according to ever-accumulating archaeological and scientific evidence, extreme or hybrid fermented beverages—with natural products of all kinds ranging from fruits and cereals, tubers and tree resins, to honey and spices—were the overwhelming favorites of our ancestors. If rich and heady brews appealed to their senses and imaginative faculties, underlain by similar genetic heritages, it’s no wonder that they entice us. And we now have the archaeological, botanical, and chemical tools to rediscover