Drinking Like a Viking: The Beat Asia Tries La Mesa Mead
Made by fermenting honey and mixing that with water, mead is an ancient drink that many consider the easiest alcohol to make – you can even make one at home, given you have several pounds of honey. Yes, pounds, about 14 pounds for a standard five-gallon batch. We don’t know about you, but we’ll stick to drinking mead and leave the making to the professionals.
At the Mead Festival, “Mead & Honey Flow,” at GolfX Sports Hub, La Mesa Mead and CoffeexMead treated everyone to free-flow mead, several choice cocktails incorporating the alcohol, artisanal honey for sale from Larry's Honey, and a sword fight exhibition in partnership with Blood & Iron and Forge Martial Fitness.
Throughout the night, DJ Ron Bernardino kept the party going with energetic music while some tried their golfing skills at the indoor virtual golf pods. Some guests even brought their own equipment, while others enjoyed exclusive discounted rates during the event. Mead and golf? Why not! Let’s just pretend that we didn’t keep “hitting fat” when we gave it a shot. For the purposes of this article, let’s say we were pro-golfers in the making (*wink*).
The night’s main focus, however, was the mead. First up, they served traditional mead. As expected, it was incredibly sweet, a taste familiar with mead lovers. Still, the drink was surprisingly smooth and lighter than previous meads we’ve encountered.
Later in the night, La Mesa Mead Co-Founder Vanessa del Rosario had everyone sample a prototype recipe – one that has 400% more honey than their current recipe. Definitely sweeter than their available offering, it was closer to meads we’ve had in the past and a lot of guests agreed that it’s more authentic. We, for one, can’t wait for this drink when it finally comes out!
At the event, La Mesa also served their specialty mead using locally-sourced honey. President and Co-Founder King del Rosario revealed that their business actually started because of their mutual fascination with bees and their contribution to the environment.
“Without bees and thousands of other pollinators, it would not be long before our ecosystem [collapses]. Bees pollinate our native trees here in the Philippines (they particularly love Narra) and flowering plants. This supports other insects, which then support birds, bats, mammals, and everything up the food chain with food and shelter,” they say on Coffeexmead's website.
Eventually, the two siblings decided to launch a local honey business but eventually realized that the Philippines is primarily a sugar market. While plenty of customers seek artisanal and locally-produced honey, they decided to create mead to maximize their supply, King explained to The Beat Asia during the event. Plus, this initiative also helps other micro-honey farmers by centralizing their supply into creating mead products.
Of course, they also considered other Filipino honey-based drinks, such as "Bais" (which is called “Filipino mead”) made by the Mandaya and Dibabawon from northeastern Mindanao. There’s another from Visayas called “Kabawaran” made out of honey and Kabawaran tree paste. Considering mead’s global popularity, and given the fact it’s been around for thousands of years, it was an obvious choice for the pair – but perhaps we can expect La Mesa Mead’s versions of the Bais and Kabawaran someday? We’re crossing our fingers!
At the event, however, we were spoilt for choice. Aside from La Mesa, they also served another brand, CoffeexMead. King explained that they put together two Filipino favorites to produce this brand because…well, why not? Think of it as the espresso martini’s second cousin – same components of coffee and alcohol but different taste and vibe. This one packed a punch and while it wouldn’t be our first choice of a mead variant, it was still a strong contender as the night progressed.
They also served three mead cocktails: Meadgroni, Mead Colada, and Honeycomb Meadgeolli. For their Meadgroni, they mixed La Mesa Mead with Tanqueray Gin, Campari, Sweet Vermouth, raw honey, and a slice of orange. Typical negronis we’ve had in the past always leaned heavier on its bitterness, but their take on the classic cocktail tipped the scales towards the drink’s sweeter notes. Still, it was a nicely balanced version of an iconic drink that can easily be replicated if you already have the ingredients for a negroni – just grab a bottle of La Mesa Mead to try it their way!
The Mead Colada, on the other hand, was made with La Mesa Mead, Bacardi Rum, pineapple juice, coconut cream, raw honey, and cherry (plus a cute parasol!). If you prefer creamy, tropical drinks then this one is right up your alley – and since there’s pineapple and coconut, it’s practically a fruit smoothie right?
Our personal favorite that night was the Honeycomb Meadgeolli. Their take on the Korean rice wine, Makgeolli. La Mesa Mead’s version combined their mead with gin, Yakult, and honey. Simple, subtly sweet, and straight to the point – this drink was dangerously refreshing. After all, we’ve heard warnings about Trojan horses. Don’t get us wrong, this cocktail stole our hearts that night; but we limited ourselves to two glasses and no more, lest we walk out of the event talking in Old Norse.
Then it was time to bring out the swords! Fortunately, the experts from the Blood & Iron Martial Arts were sober and suitably covered in gear as they wielded their authentic swords. As the world’s leading school in Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA), they led the demonstration along with some of their students from the Forge Pioneer Martial Fitness group here in the Philippines. They displayed several basic techniques, explaining each move as they fought.
As we watched them move with precision while simultaneously avoiding damaging anything around them, we silently wished to see them perform once again in an open-field venue. Is anyone else secretly hoping there’ll be a Renaissance Fair (Ren Fair) here in Manila soon?
Well, at least we got to carry the swords during the event, and they were as heavy as we imagined. Talk about a full-body workout? Nicole and Syd Smith, the couple leading Blood & Iron, confirmed that their sport is a head-to-toe fitness activity that anyone can try out!
Curious about being a swordsman? Check out Blood & Iron’s website here or check out their classes in Manila with Forge Pioneer.
Grab a bottle of La Mesa Mead and CoffeexMead through their online shop. Follow them on Instagram, Threads, and Facebook.
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