Brewing Traditional Viking-Style Mead: Natural Wild-Fermented Honey Wines and Beers

Jody Brin: Purchased as a gift. Book arrived quickly and safely:)

Canada on Mar 23, 2023

Kindle Customer: The author's love of the subject bleeds through the whole book and the 'do what you feel' approach is good for someone with brewing experience looking to develop their own style. However, if you're looking for a beginner's step-by-step guide perhaps start elsewhere.
Also, need to translate between US quarts, gallons & bushels (!) and whatever your local measurement system is.

United Kingdom on Mar 08, 2023

Motorato: The history and detail is top notch. I due recommend it if you are starting in home brewing.

United Kingdom on Oct 25, 2021

default_character: I bought Zimmerman's book early on, but didn't really look at it until recently. I'm still a newby and made a couple of batches so far using other instructions I found on the internet last spring; these were more step-by-painstaking-step, strictly following prescribed regimen/procedures, and were about as much as I could handle without getting overwhelmed by the science of it all. I just wanted to try and see if I could make some mead without it being horrible.

I eventually got scared off by all of the chemicals other mead makers added to their brew and wanted to find a different approach; it never made sense that the ancients had access to these chemicals - how did they make mead without them? I only very recently started carefully looking at the viking book again (sorry! lol), and was struck by the laid-back attitude this author has, making the process less stressful and more enjoyable. I also appreciated his section called "Thoughts on Enjoying Alcohol in Moderation." He has a lot of interesting comments that made me think, including "...taking the time to slowly drink and truly enjoy a beverage that has been fashioned with care -- particularly in the company of others...

United States on Oct 24, 2021

ConstantGardener: This is a great book.

Everything you need to get started all the way through to mastering the process and creating your own concoctions is in here. I really liked how it was structured with both history and folklore/mythology to beef it out.

Also comes with a number of recipes for meads, metheglins, bragots, t'ej... all sorts of stuff that you can make with honey.

8/10!

United Kingdom on Feb 21, 2021

Kevin: I won't lie I was very hesitant to buy this one due to the popularity of the term viking. But with the information in here definitely geared towards an American audience it's not a bad read at all very knowledgeable. Most of the book actually is recipes and how to. I understand the author tried putting his spin on the spiritual and ritualistic making a mead but that is something for the individual to find out for themselves. That being said it can be very hard to put that into words.

United States on Feb 14, 2021

Patricia Morales: The book itself was an entertaining read into Viking mythology related to mead, history of Mead and related boozy drinks. Good thing I enjoy reading all things history. I purchased the book because I wanted to delve into Mead making, which this book certainly delves into, with some detailed information and some not quite so detailed. He gave many choices, options and ideas to allow the brand new, soon-to-be-mead-maker to decide what is best. I am wayyyy too new at this to figure what is best for me. There are some places in the book that are gems when it comes to the actual "how-to" but, mostly, at least for now, I'm probably just as confused as I was before reading the book. It will take another read-through, searching online, finding others who know a bit more about this than I do before I will give it a go.
Or, I can just throw in some honey and water together, and see what happens!!!

United States on Jul 12, 2019

Dorian MV: Me encantó! El libro tiene suficiente información para iniciar. Hay muchos otros libros con decenas y decenas de recetas, pero este libro es muy bueno para encontrar la inspiración e iniciarse en el mundo de homebrewing.
Tal como dice el título, hacer aguamiel como vikingo, puedes hacer aguamiel/vino/cerveza de una forma tan técnica, profesional, con mucho dinero invertido en instrumentos y artilugios, o puedes hacerlo como los humanos lo han hecho por miles de años: con lo que tienes a la mano. Y no por eso ser poco higiénico, basta con seguir sencillas recomendaciones para evitar contaminar la bebida y tener una buena fermentación.
Después de leer esto y encontrar la inspiración, entonces pueden explorar muchos otros libros con recetas más complejas y con muchos otros estilos.

Mexico on Jan 03, 2019

Frank: I am also new to brewing mead. I can highly recommend the book make mead like a viking by Jeremy Zimmerman. Not only is it well written, with some interesting bits on the vikings, it includes details on how to make a staggering vatiety of meads. It is easy to follow and well worth the price tag. I came across an old blog Jeremy did and I sent him an email asking for some advice. He was super helpful and insightful. I subsequently bought the book and am very glad I did. You need to be a chemist to get involved in brewing. I was put off brewing beer because it seemed to be such complicated process. Mead can be brewed as simply or complicated as you like. This book is good not only for people new to brewing, but is also great for those interested in the vikings and gaining insight into their life that is often excluded. This book is also great for anyone looking to try brewing like our ancestors did

United States on Mar 25, 2018

Ry Meyer: This book balances cleanliness with practicality, which sounds right if you want to make mead "like a Viking." Interesting background on myth and legend, the culture of "the Vikings," and history give this book a helpful context to the theme. It includes herbal and fruit notes as mead additives you may not find elsewhere, at least not as presented here. Its a unique, practical, and natural approach to mead-making. But, the author--who admits he is not (yet) a beekeeper--assumes his Viking approach will also translate to bee-keeping. As a beekeeper and mead-maker, here is the truth: if your mead goes bad, oh well. If your bees all die, you've been bad. Beekeeping is a minor part of this book, but it's in there. Make mead like a Viking. But treat your bees like a modern person, know what you're doing, and give them medicine if they need it. Five stars for the mead topic, minus one for the bad info on bees.

United States on Feb 27, 2017