Hello and welcome to our June 2024 Newsletter! We had another fantastic response to our May newsletter so we’re back again for June!
Product of the Month – June 2024
Mead Of The Norns
This month, we are shining the spotlight on our amazing Aged Meads – Urd (1 year aged) and Verdandi (3 year aged). We look at the how, why and wherefores of how they came into being and why we gave them their names. However, these are the last bottles until we move them up at the end of summer. We have 12 bottles of Verdandi at the time of this newsletter so be quick if you want one!
To celebrate the 7th anniversary of releasing our “Tournament” mead for the Conwy Tournament in June 2017 and also the fact that it is two years since we released the 3 meads that represent the Norns, or Fates – Urd, Verdandi & Skuld – we are presenting these as our Product Of The Month.
They embody fate, or Wyrd, and they are the ‘what was’, ‘what is’, and ‘what is to be’. Although they are represented by a Crone (Urd) and a maiden (Verdandi), Skuld is veiled and unknown; the most feared and revered as she holds the future in the book in her hand. What Skuld says, becomes.
The Norns are above the Gods, with both the Aesir and Vanir constantly visiting them and receiving counsel from them.
Die Nornen Urd, Werdanda, Skuld, unter der Welteiche Yggdrasil
The Norns are depicted in this 1882 image by Ludwig Burger (image in public domain).
In the above image, we see the Norns sat upon the roots of Yggdrasil. The Norns constantly pour healing elixir upon it roots, whilst beneath, we have a creature representing Nidhoggr, Nidhoggr spends all his time, eating away at the roots of Yggdrasil in an attempt to bring about Ragnarok. Running around the trunk of The World Tree we have the squirrel Ratatoskr, taking the news that Veðrfölnir has told him, down to Nidhoggr. (Veðrfölnir is portrayed as either an Eagle or a Hawk, we prefer Hawk!)
In this way, we see that the Norns give the counsel to the Gods. The Hawk, sees and hears what is told or foretold by the Norns, to the Gods. The Hawk tells Ratatoskr what he remembers he heard; the squirrel tells Nidhoggr what he thinks he was told. Nidhoggr, displeased with the information he received, continues to chew on the roots to try cause Yggdrasil to fall and bring about Ragnarok.
This range of Meads started life in 2017, when we created a Mead for the Conwy Tournament. We then used the same Mead as a reward in our Angel Juicer crowdfunder. However, we were left with about 150 litres which didn’t fit within our ranges at that time. So, it got put aside as we continued production. We then repeated the recipe in 2019. This also got left, this time on the Lees (fermentation waste) for a whole 18 months, due to my stint in hospital in 2020. The recipe was repeated again in 2021 as I returned to work after four months recovering. At this time, we realised we had three Meads and, the realisation that there was approximately 2 years between each, brought the idea of a set of three aged meads. The ‘Fates’ had their way and pushed to the forefront – voila! – The Mead Of The Norns was created.
We will continue to produce this range, releasing limited quantities of each batch every two years. By doing so, we will raise the bar of Mead in the UK to its highest level, aging these meads to the ripe old age of 9 years old. As we aren’t quite there yet, we have not given names to the 7 & 9 year old versions, but Ratatoskr and Vedrfolnir are good contenders!
Gifting Ideas
June sees the return of our ‘Gift from the Gods’ taster sets plus some new products, all ideal for gifting. We have partnered with Just Bee Gorgeous again to bring you a Bee themed gifting set like the one we brought you last Christmas. Containing wax melts, candle, soap, honey, and a miniature bottle of mead – it can be given to mead novices and aficionados alike. We are also hoping to bring you a set designed for the men in your life which will contain a shaving bowl with soap and a shaving brush. Keep an eye on our social media channels for them coming into stock.
News From the Meadery
We have mainly been firefighting this month. Our van decided it needed a holiday (we know that feeling!) so went into the garage for THREE WEEKS! It’s been an interesting return to our days of Tetris to try and fit all necessary trading kit into a Citroen C3 Picasso! Luckily, we had already booked a hire van for our Thornborough Henge event as we are far too old to get up from the floor these days!
During May, we welcomed visitors from Australia and fellow meadmakers from Ourobrewos in Belgium! I think they would have had my fabulous filter machine in the back of their cars if it would’ve fitted! Much jealousy was expressed. I was partly appeased when they gifted us two bottles of their mead – I’m looking forward to trying it when we have a minute to breathe.
Our next trading events are listed below. The full list can be found here.
Friday 31st May – Sunday 2nd June, Southport Food & Drink Festival, Victoria Park, Rotten Row, Southport PR8 2BZ
Saturday 8th June – 9am to 4pm, Northwich Artisan Market, Witton St, Northwich, CW9 5DW
Saturday 15th June – Southport Artisan Market, Southport Market, Market Street, Southport, PR8 1LA
Sunday 16th June – Summer Artisan Market, St George’s Hall, Liverpool, L1 1JJ
Saturday 22nd June – 9am to 2pm, Lark Lane Farmer’s Market, Lark Lane, Aigburth, Liverpool, L17 8UP
That’s all from us for now! Don’t worry, we will be back with our next newsletter in July. If you enjoy our products or what we do then feel free to leave a positive review on Google! This helps keep us visible when people are searching for all things mead!
In the meantime, you can keep up to date with all our antics and meady goings on by checking us out on Facebook , X/Twitter , Instagram and TikTok.