Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow

Twelve participants graduated from a sold-out Irish Mead Experience held at Poppies Café in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow. The course was given by Dr Sean O’Connor, founder of Wild Atlantic Mead, teaching participants to brew mead, Ireland’s oldest drink.

During the evening, guests sampled honeys from a range of countries and regions, including the Middle East, Greece, Poland and Ireland, exploring how terroir and floral source shape the character of honey before it is even turned into mead. This was paired with a tasting of five different meads, ranging from a light 5% ABV session-strength mead up to a rich 14% ABV, showcasing a variety of flavour profiles across the mead-making spectrum.

The mead tasting was complemented by a goat’s cheese pairing presented by Lucy McDonald, giving participants a chance to explore how different mead styles work alongside cheese before making their own batch to take home.

Each participant left with their own 4.5-litre (one-gallon) batch of mead, made using the traditional method of just honey, water and yeast — the same simple recipe believed to have been used to make mead in Ireland for centuries.

“This was a great success and a really enjoyable evening,” said Dr Sean O’Connor, founder of Wild Atlantic Honey and Mead. “It’s brilliant to be able to pass on the skill of mead making to more people, so they can go home and enjoy brewing Ireland’s oldest drink for themselves.”

Part of the proceeds from the evening go towards supporting the Inishturk Native Irish Honey Bee Sanctuary, a conservation project on Inishturk Island, Co. Mayo, dedicated to protecting Ireland’s native dark honey bee, Apis mellifera mellifera.

The Enniskerry evening follows on from a successful summer Mead Making Experience on Inishturk Island, Co. Mayo — home to the Inishturk Native Irish Honey Bee Sanctuary — which was also a sellout. Both a class-only ticket and a take-home kit option are available for those who want to continue mead making at home. Details of upcoming dates are available at IrishMead.ie.