Mead in Poland

Polish meads are traditionally and legally classified into four grades (czwórniak, trójniak, dwójniak, półtorak) depending on the ratio of honey and water used in production and the resulting sweetness and alcohol content.[1] The flavor of the final product may be adjusted by adding honey to sweeten the mead, addition of herbs and spices or ethanol of agricultural origin.In winter some Poles enjoy mulled mead, which may be additionally flavoured with cloves, cinnamon, vanilla, ginger, black pepper or a slice of orange.In 996, the Sephardi Jewish traveller Ibrahim ibn Yaqub wrote that "besides food, meat and land for ploughing, the country of Mieszko I abounds in mead, which is what the Slavic wines and intoxicating drinks are called"."[b][12] The 16th-century Polish poet Sebastian Klonowic praised the "nutritious and healthy" mead of Ruthenia (then part of Poland, now in western Ukraine) as a "nectar" worthy of Olympian gods, as opposed to wine.[c][13] Notwithstanding the popular notion that mead used to be the everyday drink in Poland, it has always been a luxury good, reserved for special occasions, such as weddings, and available only to the affluent, while beer was the daily thirst quencher of the common people.[15] The oldest known recipe for mead was recorded in 1567 by the Swedish chronicler Olaus Magnus, who obtained it from a native of the Polish city of Gniezno.As well as with hops, 17th-century Polish mead was flavoured with fennel, pepper, cloves, cinnamon, anise, poppy seeds or parsley.[17][18] Around the 17th century mead started to lose popularity to wine imported from the south, especially from Hungary, and domestically produced vodka.
A stoneware bottle and a glass of półtorak mead
Early-19th-century Polish noblemen enjoying mead in a painting inspired by Pan Tadeusz . Painted by Wandalin Strzałecki in 1884.
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