A question

[mikekn]

Wine and Cheese.
Beer and Pretzels.
Mead and ???

Comments

[danabren.livejournal.com]

Lutefisk

[mikekn]

Umm...eew!

[finnfinnegan.livejournal.com]

Fresh fruit?

[kandy-elizabet.livejournal.com]

I'd say a mild goat cheese on water crackers. Or Brie. Or Goat Brie. Something that will cut the (usually) sweetness, without overpowering the mead.

Or, if it's for the palate cleansing (where crackers are usually used in wine tasting), I'd say plain water crackers. Definately not "wine crackers" since they're often sweet.

And, yeah, Lutefisk -- eeewww...

[sskipstress.livejournal.com]

Crackers.

[loosecanon.livejournal.com]

lingonberries. Not kidding.

[marietta-sca.livejournal.com]

I would say fresh baked bread, but Aesa probably knows better :)

[loosecanon.livejournal.com]

oh! Dinner rolls would be good, as long as they arent too yeasty. Fresh biscuits?

[ladypeyton.livejournal.com]

Doritoes!

[sskipstress.livejournal.com]

is that a pug dressed as Yoda in that icon?

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

The progression isn't about palate cleansing, because cheese and pretzels don't really do that, except by contrast.

Wine and cheese are both products aged over a long time, and can be very expensive. And they taste fairly good together.

Beer and pretzels age over shorter times and are both more yeasty. They cost less. And they taste fairly good together.

So mead would need something which has some production values similar to itself, something that constrasts, and something which tastes good with it. My first reaction was "meat" because it fits two of those, and has nice alliteration as well. Cruncy artisan bread would be tasty, too, perhaps with cheeses.

If you don't want to go with amateur opinions, surely there must be commercial meaderies which have suggestions for either pairings or tastings?

[mikekn]

It's more about traditional pairings, but I like the production values idea. I could have added "Milk and Cookies" or "Vodka and Caviar" to the list as well.

The palate cleansing idea comes because we are having a tasting tonight, but it really is a separate question. From my limited research, commercial meaderies have all sorts of suggestions but nothing has be the standard.

Think of it as a poll with only one option: Other :)

[redkcolumbus.livejournal.com]

I usually treat a mead like a desert wine because they tend to be sweet, ranging from "sweet wine" to "intense cordial." Thus a variety of food stuffs goes well. I tend to go with a european desert model - cheese, nuts, some fruit, maybe some bread. In general I don't think mead goes well with meat, unless it's a lighter mead with something like a cider-braised port.

Mead is to wine as kool aid is to flavored water. Much more intense.

[ladypeyton.livejournal.com]

Are you conflating sweet with intense? I've had some dry reds that are as intense as any mead I've ever tasted (and I've tasted much more than my fair share). A correctly aged barollo or a petite syrah are good examples of wines I consider as intense, if not more intense, than mead.

[faerydusted1.livejournal.com]

vegemite!

[mikekn]

You and your vegemite fetish! ;)

[(Anonymous)]

As a couple others have said, I'm thinking a good bread here.

[mare-in-flames.livejournal.com]

Chocolate!
Herring!
Sushi!
Beans!

Obviously, I have absolutely nothing to add to this conversation, as I have never tasted mead. Still... herring. Hee. :)

[faerydusted1.livejournal.com]

Its awful stuff. X-P Any or all of the four things you've mentioned are way better.

I say go for the beer and pretzels!

[eljaydaly.livejournal.com]

Nuts and dried fruit. Anything that you'd put into a fruitcake -- the real fruitcake, not those rubbery things.

Wintery autumny things like apples.

Hell, maybe I just need to go put on a sweater.

[zgwortz.livejournal.com]

Mead and More Mead!!!

(This coming from a teetotaler... ;-)

[nicosomething.livejournal.com]

I'll second that!

[jkusters]

Mutton. :-)

JOhn.

[sskipstress.livejournal.com]

I would most like to drink mead with a meat pie or cornish pasty.

[nateprentice.livejournal.com]

Women. Preferably big-breasted.

(ducks for cover)

[aeliakirith.livejournal.com]

No, that goes with the wine (and song).

[edelweiss68.livejournal.com]

Meat pasties!

[merricke.livejournal.com]

Isn't that redundant? :P

[merricke.livejournal.com]

Chocolate covered pretzels and/or chocolate covered poundcake. Mmmm.

[lissa510.livejournal.com]

i think this posts got the most comments i've ever seen!!!

[mikekn]

Yeah, it's always the deep meaningful stuff that brings folks out :)