Talking Fake Mead and Real Mead with Nidhoggr!
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- čas přidán 30. 11. 2023
- Did you know that tens of thousands of tonnes of fake honey are imported into the UK every year?
Oh. Well I didn't.
But my mates at Nidhoggr Mead did, and they've even started a petition to protect mead as a heritage product. A bit like champagne, Melton Mowbray pork pies, Welsh leeks, or Breton onions, you'd have to make mead with honey, water, and yeast.
Ok, it's a sponsored video, but there are some jolly interesting things going on in the world of fermented honey! And I for one learnt a thing or two about the sinister practices of Big Honey (didn't know that was a thing either tbh), and why it's not something the bees would want to be happening.
And you get to see me in a beard net. So enjoy that!
Sponsored by this lot: www.nidhoggrmead.com and use code welshviking10 for 10% off!
Petition: www.change.org/p/protect-the-...
Find me elsewhere:
Business email: jade@scarletragemedia.com
Patreon: / jimmyjohnson
Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/thewelshviking
My actual website: www.welshviking.com
Insta: @littlewelshviking
Letters, parcels, packages?
The Welsh Viking,
PO Box 821,
YORK,
YO1 0PY,
UK
Editing software: DaVinci Resolve 17
Camera: Panasonic Lumix G7
Mic: RØDE Wireless GO II and Takstar SGC 598
Intro: @Anttimation - Zábava
Environment Scientist here: domesticated honey bees overall are not endangered, wild bees are. And honey bees sometimes even push wild bees out of an area.
Really helping bees would require more native plants and flowers (and not these green deserts lots of gardens are today) and especially less insecticides.
Nevertheless: keeping bees is not bad, so keep on
Jimmy just casually mentions his mother is a beekeeper, and my first thought is: How about a series on Viking beekeeping and other animal husbandry practices, eh?
Oh, it’s on the list! Just getting some fantastic medieval beekeeping kit!
@@TheWelshVikingOoooo ! Will they "BEE" the woven hives !?
U.K. is amazing for woven & fiber stuff ! 😍
TWO videos in one week??? Thou art MOST benevolent, Jimmy
To those actually curious about the problem facing bees well…The reality is a bit more complex than a single issue. Hi, beekkeeper here 👋. While bees are farmed, and wild bees do still exist, the problems faced by apiaries and wild bees are in fact the same. In several areas (at least around North America to which I’m most familia) have had their bee populations decimated. Not just by man made troubles but also climate shift and natural pests including the Varroa mite, also known as varroa destructor. The mite is a wide spread issue and a massive problem due to being a major vector in the spread of basically every disease a bee can get. Not to mention secondary and tertiary stressors that can crop up as a colony is slow but steadily put under stress. It’s not a single source pressure causing bees to struggle and that’s what makes it such an important issue.
I wasn’t aware that fake honey was so huge though that literally millions of pounds of it are being sold. That’s kind of terrifying. Honey is one of the only natural substances that doesn’t go spoil (unless or until subject to a specific heat). Simple syrup (sugar dissolved in water) is not anywhere near shelf stable and if you treat that like honey, a lot of people could get very sick.
Thank you for sharing Jimmy!
I can't drink alcohol (instant migraine) but about 35 years ago i knew some mead makers. In order to increase the alcohol percentage they put their mead out side in the winter and skimmed of the ice and saved that portion for us non drinkers. It was lovely. Note this was in Edmonton Alberta so outside was at least -20c .
I am glad they are trying to get mead properly defined and a protected term. Commercial mead locally is great for cooking but that is about it.
Cool!!!!!! Thanks for sharing this!
My paternal grandfather kept bees, until he moved to the desert. He always encouraged us to eat honey, to help honey producers and bees. Born in the late 1800’s, he was a man ahead of his time. So was his Dad (my great grandfather), who wouldn’t let them drain the wetland on his farm. He donated that area to the university when he sold the farm, on condition it remain protected. It still is, and there’s a plaque saying so. ♥️
My younger brother made mead while he was living in a dorm at university! He gave me a bottle for Christmas and it was so delicious. He stored it on the ledge outside his window.
When I was 16, I found an ancient greek recipe in a book so I started making some in my closet.... I haven't stopped, it's just not hidden anymore lol
I had no idea that fake mead and fake honey were a thing. Mind is still reeling from that. But I think it's time to find some local honey and make more mead. We haven't made any since we moved.
Fake honey is a pain for me. I use it in some of my home remedies (not for anything serious mind you - just stuff like a sore throat, coughs, or on dry cracked skin to reduce the odds of infection and moisturize the skin all at the same time) and the fake stuff doesn't work the same...
That line delivery of 'why is your mead pink?!' was perfect! 🤣💜
That's crazy that it can be that adulterated and still be considered mead. I hope that the petition works. The school that my son went to had a couple of beehives and sold off their honey as a school fundraiser. So good.
I only ever buy local honey. I’m lucky enough to live in an area where bees are common and so is local honey.
I actually did know about honey being cut with other things. Corn syrup etc. A lot of olive oil has a similar problem in the us.
Thank you for the video Jimmy! I always love when you hop over to do a video with Nidhoggr Mead! ❤
I've heard of faux honey being sold along with faux truffle oil , olive oil and saffron. thats why I buy local honey so I can support local and save bees
As a home mead maker myself I wholeheartedly agree with all of this.
And we have Welsh Black bees here too. We have hives (no bees this year, that's work in progress. 320 metres in North Wales is apparently the edge of a even a Welsh bees endurance)
My uncle (when he was alive), made mead from the deep woods honey my grandpap had from his bees. This deep woods honey is made by regular bees that only rely on goldenseal plants that my grandpap also farmed on his 50-acre woodland farm.
I love how you ended the video saying that you can't answer questions about exporting and to ask him 😂 The whole video I was thinking, "I'd love to buy some but I live in the US and when I checked last year they couldn't export to the US."
Though finding out that there is fake mead is really annoying. I have what i thought was mead and just read the bottle closer and saw it was labeled as "honey wine". I guess I'm going to have to start making my own mead.
I looked it up in French law, and it would seem we have protections regarding mead !
"Aucune boisson ne peut être détenue, transportée en vue de la vente, mise en vente ou vendue sous le nom d'"hydromel", que si elle provient exclusivement de la fermentation d'une solution de miel dans l'eau potable." after a 2001 decree, which itself replaces an identical 1911 decree.
“White wine base-“
Me and my roommate both: oh nasty! Gross!
Me: *crying in mead brewer*
They had a stall at Cardiff xmas market a few weeks ago, and we bought one of each flavour! The sour cherry is very nice!
I had no idea honey & mead was counterfeited. Tyvm
I'd bet the West has more counterfeits than China - it's an artificial society about to go bye-bye. Read the bible once and prep for the hidden manna... the Son is back
We had a few hives and were members of the local society. Until my husband had an anaphylactic reaction to a bee sting that went through the protective layers and straight into the vein in his wrist. While he was in A&E he had a secondary reaction and had to be rushed into the resusc unit as his BP crashed. When I got home from the hospital, I called the society’s chairman and he came out the following morning to collect the hives. It’s a pity. We were supplying honey to several local shops and beeswax furniture polish to a local antique furniture shop.
The best mead I ever made was, according to friends, the rose petal mead. I had to serve that in tiny portions. It was lethally drinkable :) I do believe I have, somewhere, a few bottles of chocolate mead (aka “liquid sex”) that I made around a decade ago!
I’m sure you were pissed off when your mic fell over your lens, but, seriously, your edits to cover worked splendidly!
Nidhoggr ships to the US, folks! FYI. LOVELY mead!
Honey has been counterfeited for years, it makes sense that this is a problem for mead-makers. My issue is: if it's too cheap, it's easy to think it's fake, but if it's expensive… who tells me it's the real thing? 😵💫
One "test" you can apply is to turn the jar upside down to check the viscosity of the honey. The air bubble should travel slowly up the honey. If it moves quickly up the bottle, there is a good chance the honey has been adulterated. Here in the US, it's often cut with corn syrup. I buy mine from a small company that has their own hives and produces a variety of products. If the honey they offer isn't their own, they tell you where it's from.
I also buy from a meadery that brews their own. I've bought mead from wine shops and occasionally wondered how it was made. One bottle was so sweet, it was like drinking soda pop. It was good, but not one I'd want to buy again.
I had to go look up fake honey. As a fan of Mead and honey in my coffee , I thought what a nightmare.
Ok. I know this isn't the point of the video. But beekeeping often doesn't help the bees that bed the most help in a place which are usually solitary native bees.
I know it's not the point. But it's important to me that people understand that and understand that a lot of studies are done on honeybees, which are often less sensitive than native bees, so its very important to be aware of.
Sorry. You hit a topic I have to rant and share info about
Knowing your native ecology is important. European honey bees are actually a non-native invasive species North America.
Having only just found the glory of proper mead, this makes me so happy.
My local meadery just expanded and I can not wait to visit them again.
7:06 - very professional; looks like you’re someone in witness protection giving a tv interview. 😜
Got a bottle of limited edition cherry mead from their stall at Megacon. Tastes amazing.
It really does sound like the best thing ever ❤
Even tho' you said this was filmed "the other month", it's a bit triggering to sit here when it's 14 below freezing outside, watching you guys wearing t-shirts outside down near Jorvik, drinking norse-ish mead. Can't wait for raiding season in a few months time!
I do consider Methyglyn and Melomel to fall under the mead umbrella. I add fruits and herbs and spices to my meads sometimes for flavor Joy.
Is that why most commercial mead tastes so bad compared to what I make at home? I’ve never liked it and i couldn’t ever figure out why.
*still crying*
I LOVE Nidhogger mead, we got some in the York Christmas Market & it’s SO GOOD! The elderflower one is SO SO SO GOOD!
Anglesey Black Bees?! We get Welsh Black Beef from an Anglesey Farmer, I had no idea there was a matching bee! My late neighbour had a beehive and we have a couple of very precious jars of her honey hoarded away for special occasions, it's like nothing else. Do you happen to know where one could buy a jar of the Black Bee honey?
BRB, buying mead...
Possibly from the Anglesey Beekeeeping Association? Otherwise I’m not too sure
Ugh faux mead and faux honey. Knew about fake honey, didn't quite put it together with fake mead. Also potentially dangerous for peeps w/food sensitivity.
Random curiosity question: thoughts on sparkling mead? (my thought is ew)
As a pirate reenactor turned pirate historian.....I suddenly want to start a rum distillery.....there is a license up for grabs in my town.....stop giving me ideas.
Do it.
Dead man's fingers have a great business model...
@@michellebyrom6551 thank you for introducing me. I wish PA wasn't still stuck in early post prohibition era when it comes to marketing, I just looked them up and love them already.
Doo eeet!
In the U. S. and note I want to make mead. We actually have a local mead maker and my father-in-law has bee hives ❤
You could have put the petition in the description here Jimmy my man, I had to go google it to sign. Plus though, meant I could share it on my insta so my pals could sign it too.
completely agree mead for sale should be clearly defined, it is hard to go past a good mead or melomel or the odd metheglin, ive always preferred to get to know and buy from local apiaries the honey is so good, unfortunately we have had issues with varroa mite over here now.
I'm not sure I've ever seen you in a tshirt.... 🤯
By "drink accordingly" I assume you mean to guzzle 15% mead.
Just don't guzzle too much in one go - always guzzle with caution folks!
I'm lucky enough to have a friend who makes mead. And I also know mead (nordic kind, not too sweet), it's wonderful!
Maybe because the honey is local...
"Everyone should keep bees in their backyard."
This was actually a thing at one point, wasn't it? The details are vague in my head, but broadly speaking wasn't it pretty common amongst "medieval" folk to keep bees as part of their farming?
Thing to consider about "safe the bees"
Honey bees are farm animals and definitely not risked to die out, furthermore they are nieche competition to wild bees
I know where I'm getting my mead from. Congratulations to both Jimmy and his friend on 3 years! This just seems like a hang out and chat between friends, glad we got an invite to this hang out.
Got some mead from here following this video. Disappointed - it was like sugared water, with the barest hint of mead or flavour
@@davidburrell8599 I have to agree. It's not a bad mead at all, it's nice for one glass but any more and my teeth actually hurt. It was far too sweet for me, I like my mead to have a lot of depth. My personal favs are from Apothecary mead and Lancashire mead and also Celtic Mead (aka Shire honey.) They all have meads that balance sweetness with bitterness making a very quaffable drink. Of course everyone has their own favs. I applaud Nidhoggr for their petition to stop cheap wine with honey being termed mead.
This is what I want to learn over honey-laced coffee in the morning 😊
They’ve sold out of the gift sets, so your video is working 😊 Bought a bottle of the ginger for Yuletide. Thanks for this, Jimmy, have a merry one!! X
Excellent fallen mic shot and best wishes to get the laws changed!
Melomel….honey and fruit. Yes it’s pedantic, but hell, the name is there, we might as well use it.
Just out of interest, just HOW many tastings did you have of that melomel/mead Jimmy? 😮😅🎉
Congratulations and Happy Birthday Pete!!! Thanks Jimmy, didn't realize there was "fake" honey, yuck. Take care, be well
Cheers! Sadly unable to enjoy that gorgeous looking mead, being in the US, but we're fortunate to have White Winter Winery close by in northern Wisconsin. They also produce award-winning REAL mead using local honey. I keep hoping for them to make a metheglin variety (from the Welsh "medclyglin"!) which uses herbs and spices. Enjoy your tipple, Jimmy! Skål!
Okay, I didn't know these things either.
Will have to look up if mead has proper legislature here in Czechia.
Maybe look into environmental protections for insects including wild bees, the EU isn't good enough on the subject
@@fionafiona1146 I think that's a bit too far on the deep end to fit into my life right now. Environmental activism requires more energy than I can supply. Anyone who can is welcome to it, of course.
@@beth12svist I have had surprising success with emailing my MEPs and local governments (Reinland Pfalz) but the federal government of Germany isn't particularly responsive, not even when it's about publicly held lands that could be cheaper to maintain with less pesticides and mowing.
Seasonal "insect friendly" meadows on traffic islands and at roadsides are relatively easy to implement, if people in power care (or know about it)
You needn't bother if that's not how things work but emailing your MEP or whatever you could do to reach local government might be worth a try
@@fionafiona1146 E-mailing requires:
Figuring out where to e-mail
Figuring out what the issue is in the first place
Figuring out how to phrase it and what I want to ask them to do
I've had three months of nightshifts every other week.
Figuring out all of the above and being polite and to-the-point about it is currently way above my mental capacity. Also, overall it requires time I need to spend on, quite frankly, keeping myself fed and catching up on my sleep deprivation.
As I said, I don't have the energy, whoever does is welcome to it.
@@fionafiona1146 P.S. Especially because, no offense, if I do direct my energy to a cause, it's currently different ones. There are too many causes for one sleep-deprived person to direct their energy to all.
Met the Nidhoggr guys at an event nerar my home 2 years agao. They do make very good mead.
I live in western Oregon, USA, home to lots of fruit and hazelnut growers and vegetable and seed farmers, as well as massive stands of feral blackberries. Thus, also lots of bees, so we have lovely local honey. My favorite is meadowfoam, which tastes and smells like toasted marshmallow, but better.
I can't wait for this to get to my local Morrisons!
Boo-hiss! To the fake honey and fake mead!
Now you have me worried the 4 bottles of Jack ratt traditional mead is not mead. I got for Christmas Lyme Bay
i'm guessing you edited this video while still in Canada because the petition page location field was set to Halifax haha
I had no idea so many meads weren't meads. Always meant to make some but never got round to it... Time to go get a beehive so I can make sure it's real honey!
To mis quote a film. I have a need, a need for mead. Sorry couldnt resist. My inlaws years a go bought me a lindisfarne mead sold from a local hotel one of them worked at. Took a taste and went "WTF, yuck". Read the bottle and low and behold it was white wine musk with added honey.
Oooh, good idea, just in time for Christmas.
Wishing Nidhogger many orders and continued success :)
This is like that scene from norsemen when they said "meads not mead any more"
I get my honey locally from an Apple orchard or directly from beekeepers.
I bought some Nidhoggr mead for my husband for Yule a couple of years ago. Definitely recommend it!
Wonderful video! Im curious as to how Vikings stored their mead, was it in wooden kegs or clay pots? As to fake honey, it's horrible! Corn syrup is nothing like the gift of the bee!
What a super cool episode, Jimmy! Thank you!
I'm up late here in Florida and who do I see? Jimmy, teaching me how to make mead! Oh, and how important it is to save the bees! What fun! 🎉 Thanks for the edutainment here at midnight! 😊
I can't remember the source, but a while back I read that humanity consumes about five times as much honey as it produces. Cheers?
Well Jimmy, if you ever need to sensor sometime, you now know that with a very simple microphone placement you can achieve that.
Was extremely surprised there is no laws about what can be sold as mead. having friends that keep honey bees... hearing that it is so often counterfeited is astonishing.
I’m always happy to learn more about mead, as someone who makes it. Great video, and always glad to see extra videos!
I bought husband creature one of their new cute sample sets for his birthday. It's hands down the best mead that I've ever had. We used to do larping and found a good brand of mead made in England. This was 22 years ago now.
I haven't drank anything now in almost 13 years due to medications that I'm on. If it had been a full bottle I'd have been like a coconut crab with a knife and everyone would have had to fight me for it! I ended up having half a glass and it went down far far to easily. The last time we had mead was when I was carried off by two vikings at a larp. Ending up in their tent and the mead was flowing the singing and guitars were going and I think people passing around nefarious cigarettes(not my thing) but what a fun night.
I've ordered husband creature 3 large bottles for his xmas pressie and it's all your fault! In the best possible way. Traditional, rhubarb and apple and the Sour Cherry. You're a very naughty man Jimmy. And this is very good mead. 😃😃😃😃
Rhubarb and apple mead sounds delightful. You should get commission for writing good advertising copy. Happy New Year.
@@michellebyrom6551 Thank you so much for your kind words!
The product is just amazing. And yes I loved the rhubarb and apple one (I may have been very naughty and drank most of that bottle over the last several nights, which is bad with gabapentin, but because it's such high quality I didn't feel like I was going to die the next day. Just made sure I drank loads of extra water).
My husband loves the Sour Cherry most. My favourite of the flavoured ones is the Elderflower, they've managed to keep that wonder delicate flavour. But the original is just so good too.
I hope that the company keeps on doing well, as this kind of quality deserves to keep on growing.
Man I really want to try this! Alas being so bloody far away in Australia 😂😭
same :(
I signed. Hope you get to your 1000 by the end of today in the US. Then goes for the 10,000 goal. Long live authenticity.
I seldom laugh on cue. ( I often laugh when it is not socially well timed.) But.............when the mic accident happened, I laughed. Out loud. :)
Yes! Also didn't know that.
I'd love to keep bees, but I'm allergic to stings.
Big fan of Nidhoggr. Their elderflower mead is fabulous. It's also great added as a shot to a glass of DMC Brewery's Cyser.
Elderflower? Omg. Died and gone to heaven.
Would love to give this a taste but the shipping is more than the mead for me! 😢
This was very informative. Very shocked to learn about the truth behind counterfeit honey and mead not always actually being genuine mead
Okay other than the shit comment, I am 100% for backyard bees! There is absolutely nothing in the world that comes close to tasting your own garden through glorious honey.
Jimmy and mead! Hurray🎉
Another video in one week!! I'm blessed! 😇😍
That's as bad as olive oil containing no olives and barely any edible oil of any kind
Thanks about the heads up about the fake honey. I use local honey, but if that’s going on in the UK then it’s probably going on in the US. 😢
Definitely going on in the US. I know a lot of honey sold in supermarkets is cut with corn syrup, but it usually says so on the label. If in doubt, turn the (unopened 😆) bottle upside down to check the viscosity using the air bubble. Unadulterated honey is thick, so the bubble moves relatively slowly.
Ironic that it's going to Morrisons as that's where I found my first *mead* and I'm well aware it's not really mead
like lindisfarne mead is honey wine and not mead a good mead should be smooth as hell
Integrity mead! Great!
Comedic microphone was excellent 👌
Comedic microphone was honestly way more comedic than I had expected, so yes, excellent.
This was so meant to be! Saw this video this morning and low and behold you guys have a stall at the Cardiff Christmas Market! I've just got myself a bottle of the ginger mead and it is amazing!
Omg, that thumbnail is hilarious 😂😂😂. I don't have time to watch it yet, but wanted to comment and like anyway.
I love mead and wish it was...taken more seriously isn't the right phrasing but it gets the idea across. At some point I will buy mead from these lovely chaps! Not NEARLY enough good mead in my neck of the woods.
Sweet video!
I know this isn't related with this video, but your intro is fire!
By the way, you're the best!
All credit to @anttimation
@@TheWelshViking The legend responded!!!
@@TheWelshViking you're the best content creator, I love your videos, I especially like the homebrew videos!
Can confirm: Nidhoggr mead is lush :)
heads up jimmy! the link doesnt actually link up to the website, its plaintext
I would argue beekeepers aren't looking after the important biodiversity of native bees but their revenue still goes to shared causes like reducing pesticide use that harms all insects including honey bees
I made some cordial from elderberries, honey and cloves in autumn 2021. Kept it in my fridge. Irs just come into its own. The cloves are now interesting, not overpowering. Goes great in a hot toddy with Plymouth sloe gin. Other wintry mixtures too. Worth trying elderberry mead as a Christmas special.
I had no idea that much honey was imported and I had NO CLUE that it was being counterfeited! Also, super boo for calling things mead that are not mead! 😠
Save the bees!
I got a taster set for my Dad at ARM 😊
Don't know why more mead isnt available in the US. Dead easy to make and I thought it tasted good
Try farmers markets. I can get it there and at the liquor store in my area.
Check around your area/state. I am VERY lucky to have two local mead producers…. 🥰