From Mythic Depths to Modern Sips: Uncorking the Secrets of Nidhoggr Mead
Living here in York, you're never far from a taste of history, and mead is certainly part of that. But, despite its presence, my personal experience with mead remained fairly limited, mostly just the historical imagery. That changed when I discovered Nidhoggr Mead Co., a local producer taking a fresh approach to this ancient beverage. It's easy enough to pick up a bottle of mead around the city, but Nidhoggr's promise of something distinctly modern, crafted with 100% natural honey and even sparkling varieties, truly piqued my interest.
Intrigued, I sought to understand what sets Nidhoggr apart. How do they reconcile traditional mead-making with contemporary tastes? And how are they engaging with a broader audience, beyond the historical reenactment crowds? To explore these questions, I spoke with Jordan Heaver, their Marketing Executive. We discussed their unique brewing process, their commitment to ethical sourcing, and their upcoming Star Wars-themed charity event. While I approached the subject with a degree of unfamiliarity, I left with a genuine appreciation for their craft, and a strong desire to sample their mead.
What makes Nidhoggr Mead unique compared to other meads on the market? What's your signature style or approach?
Our Mead is made using only 100% natural honey to create a high strength high sweetness mead known as a Sack mead. Other meads tend to be a lot dryer and back sweeten making them actually sickly sweet rather than a well balanced product like ours.
You use 100% natural honey. Can you tell us more about where you source your honey and why it's so important to the final product?
We make sure our honey is sourced from ethical farms and this ensures a much cleaner taste as the honey doesn't contain any unexpected additives, due to the natural nature, depending on the season the colour of our "white/gold" meads can shift but the delicious flavour remains the same with minor nuance changes.
Can you give us a brief overview of the mead-making process at Nidhoggr? What are some of the key steps, and what makes your process special? Are there any unique or unusual techniques you use?
Firstly when the honey arrives we keep them in our specially made honey room that's kept at a certain temperature (around 35-39C ) to keep it runny. When it's time to start making we weigh out our honey for each flavour then add our specially made cold press juices to the honey for any flavoured mead then pure spring water from swale vale to measure. (Good quality spring water is key to good mead). At this pint we add the yeast and blend it all together (exact timings are closely guarded) and the gravity readings are taken at this point, we then leave the mead to ferment from anywhere between 2-8 weeks depending on the flavour, until we reach the desired 15% ABV.
What's the most rewarding part of crafting mead, and what's the biggest challenge?
The most rewarding part as a collective is seeing the crystal clear mead get labelled up and placed on huge pallets ready for shipping, it's awesome to see all your hard work amount to something tangible and beautiful.
How does Nidhoggr Mead Co. engage with the wider mead-drinking community? Are you involved in any festivals, events, or online groups? How do you think the mead-drinking community has evolved over the years?
We attend a variety of events from Viking enactments to food festivals and comic-cons, we also like to take part in sponsoring events such as the UK Renaissance fair and the Leeds Royal Armouries Joust. We also like to hold our on events like the sparkling mead launch and out upcoming charity event, a 24 hour Star wars themed DND to support OSCAR's charity happening on the 12th of April 2025 with the help of Mando Metalsmith where donation links are on their site . The community has been slowly getting better, the general stigma behind mead has been largely negative for some time due to the available market producing a much drier and "tannin-y" product closer to wine which turns most people off but since them we have started to see a much more positive shift towards mead.
The sparkling mead is a new direction. What inspired this move, and what makes these sparkling versions different from your traditional meads? What was the process of creating the first sparkling mead like?
The move to sparkling mead was a way for us to target a market that we struggled to relate to previously with our mainline mead, this being students, beer and cider drinkers like yourself and generally make a more appealing product for larger markets such as supermarkets etc... The cans allow for a much faster drink and are more accessible on an average day than a full bottle of mead that you may only crack open for a celebration or an evening drink. the cans are a great option for days out. (rather not talk about the process.. it was very stressful haha).
Which of the sparkling mead flavours is your personal favourite, and why? What kind of feedback have you received from your customers about the sparkling meads?
All of us here at Nidhoggr have individual favourites mostly being split Blueberry & Blackcurrant and Sour Cherry (My favourite [Jordan, Marketing Executive] is the Elderflower with freshly cut apples in a chilled glass) The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with the biggest note being "more fizz" which is something that we wanted to address anyway, the most popular flavour was by far the Blueberry & Blackcurrant.
What's the ideal food pairing for each of your sparkling meads? Give us some creative suggestions! Have you noticed any trends in food pairings with mead lately?
We are yet to venture into food pairings however the Traditional went really well with a spicy udon ramen that I (Jordan) had while at the mead launch. It's a good assumption to treat it like you would a cider or fruit beer, feel free to try out pairings and let us know.
Your partnership with Brew York is exciting! How did that collaboration come about, and what benefits does it bring to Nidhoggr Mead Co.? How do collaborations help to shape the brand’s evolution?
(Sadly im not allowed to disclose too much about this due to NDA) Working with places like Brew York really allows us to spread the word about the new world of mead to people that may be on the fence or even on the far side and bring them over. Collaborations are chosen based of how we feel they will be able to spread a true and honest opinion of our product as we know it's of high quality, we ask for honest opinions so it gives us credibility and it also allows us to address any concerns people have if any.
Without giving away too many secrets, can you hint at any new and exciting developments or announcements we can expect from Nidhoggr in 2025? New flavours? New ventures? What can fans look forward to in 2025? Any sneak peeks?
If you join our charity live stream on the 12th on our youtube channel <youtube.com/@nidhoggrmeadco you will see some new potential products you can get your hands on. But we always plan on bringing our full range to the cans in time. Very soon you will be able to buy our cans in 4 packs.
If you could describe Nidhoggr Mead in three words, what would they be? In norse too?
Premium, but approachable (ᛈᚱᛖᛗᛁᚢᛗ, ᛒᚢᛏ ᚨᛈᚨᚺᚱᚦᛟ) (pronounced, "Peo-rae-oh-man, Beor-urt Ae-peo-ae-hae-rae-born-oe) (good luck with that).
Q&A . offers a fascinating glimpse into the evolving world of mead. From their commitment to natural ingredients to their innovative sparkling range, they're crafting a unique experience. We encourage you to explore their offerings, discover the nuances of their flavours, and perhaps find a new favourite. Whether you're drawn to the historical roots of mead or simply looking for a refreshing drink, Nidhoggr provides a compelling reason to raise a glass and join the conversation.
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