
Hi, I’m Erik. I enjoy long walks on the beach, planting battle axes in people’s skulls, an occasional Hnefatafl match, and a nice glass of mead.
Other than writing a report on Erik the Red in the 3rd grade and owning Led Zeppelin’s entire catalog, I’m not well versed in the rich traditions of Viking Age Norse culture. In addition to the oft cited raping and pillaging, a quick Google search for “viking hobbies” revealed that they also enjoyed a game called Hnefatafl, which was similar to chess. However, this week Lucas and I embarked on one of the greatest Viking traditions of all: brewing mead.
Mead is simply honey wine. I’d never brewed mead before. So for this first batch, we decided to keep things simple. Fruit? No. Eccentric spices or herbs? No. We only used 17 pounds of locally produced honey, Lalvin K1-V1116 champagne yeast, and some sort of superpowered multivitamin yeast nutrient to prevent stuck fermentation.
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