Mead is a sweet and honeyed alcoholic beverage, which has been a Renaissance Fair staple for decades, along with giant turkey legs. Because it is easy to make, home craft brewers are increasingly turning to mead. Bochet is a special type of medieval mead that offers unique challenges to those who are looking for something different. Bochet's only detailed recipe dates back to late 14th-century and was lost for many centuries until it was found around 2009.
Fermentation has been around for millennia. Mead, a fermented honey drink, was popular in ancient Europe, Africa and Asia. The Rigveda, a sacred Vedic text that dates back to 1700-1100 BCE, is the first known reference to this beverage (soma). Mead was the preferred drink in ancient Greece. The Danish warriors of the Old English epic poem Beowulf frolic in King Hrothgar’s mead hall. The Welsh bard Taliesin (circa550 CE) is credited for writing a "Song of Mead". Mead also features prominently in Norse mythology.
There are many types of mead available from around the globe. Bochet is a unique variety of mead because it requires caramelized honey. Additional spices can be added if desired. It is a great choice for craft brewers who are looking for something different, such as Gemma Tarlach. She recently wrote a fascinating article about her experiments with bochet for Atlas Obscura.
Tarlach wanted to be historically accurate and found a 2020 paper written by Susan Verlag, an independent researcher. Verlag is a meadmaker and beekeeper who is interested in recreating historical beverages while taking into consideration the historical context. Verlag stated in her paper that modern recreations historical beverages are often influenced more by popular assumption than by historical scholarship.
Verlag discovered the first complete recipe for bochet from a French 1393 collection of recipes called Le Menagier de Paris. After the 2009 publication of The Good Wife's Guide to a Medieval Household Book (a translation of the original treatise), that recipe started spreading widely among craft beer brewers. These are Verberg's translated instructions.
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Bochet. Make 6 septiers of bochet by taking 6 quarts fine, mild honey. Place it in a saucepan on the fire and let it boil. Continue stirring until the honey stops swelling. Once it starts bubbling, it will burst into small bubbles and give off some blackish steam. Add 7 more septiers of water to the saucepan and bring it to a boil, stirring continuously. Let it cool in a bowl until it reaches lukewarm. Strain through a strainer. Pour the contents into a keg. Add one pint of brewer’s yeast to make it piquant. However, if you use bread leaven, the flavor will be just as good but the color will turn pale. To allow it to ferment, cover well and heat. For a better version, add an inch of ginger, long pepper and grains of paradise to the bochet. The cloves should be equal in quantity, but the cloves should be smaller. When the bochet is fragrant and tangy, about two or three days later take out the spice sachet and wring it out. These spices can be reused up to three or four times (Greco & Rose, 2009, P.325)
Verberg claims that most bochet brewed today follows the same basic recipe. However, she does mention a few other recipes from 1385-1725 which are more vague about whether caramelized honey or fermentation is necessary. Verberg believes that the medieval definition for a bochet was less precise than it is today: as a mead flavoured with caramelized honey.
She wrote that the "defining characteristics of an historic bochet" are that it is made by boiling sweetened waters with spices, letting it cool down, and infusing into delicious beverages.
Gemma Tarlach was compelled to answer the burning question "What the hell is a septier?" A septier is approximately equivalent to four gallons, according to Parisian archives. This means that one quart of honey is equivalent to three to four gallons of water if one follows the 1393 recipe. She wrote, however, that "most modern interpretations call for 3-4 pounds honey per gallon water."
Tarlach was able to access raw honey easily because she is also beekeeper. Verlag taught Tarlach that medieval honey-makers didn't extract honey from the waxcomb in the same way as modern beekeepers. They crushed the comb instead, which meant medieval honey contained both beeswax as well as a few squished insects. Terlach used the comb from a deceased colony to do this.
It was also difficult to find the right yeast for fermentation. Modern mead makers use commercial yeast. However, Tarlach stated that most modern meadmakers use commercial wine yeast. The 1393 recipe required beer yeast. Tarlach used several commercial ale-brewing yeasts in her experiments. She also used a white wine yeast variety and wild yeast. She used a lab-derived nutrient to activate the yeast. Instead, she added organic raisins to her mixture, reasoning that medieval meadmakers would have had access dried fruit.
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The most difficult step is caramelization. A large stock pot is required unless you have a large cauldron. Honey can double, or even triple its volume when heated. If you don't follow the instructions, your honey concoction could explode and cause burns. These burns, which can be quite severe, are possible because boiling sugar sticks to skin unlike boiling water. You should also be careful not to stand on the honey pot after it has started bubbling. This can cause severe burns.
Bochet must age for approximately a year before the final verdict can be made. Tarlach declared her experiments successful after she sampled some of the month-old batches as she transferred them to new containers.
Due to the lower honey-to-water ratio, they were lighter in body and less sweeter than other meads that I have made. Each micro-batch was unique because of the different yeasts. One batch had a bone dry, astringent drink with white wine yeast, while another concoction used English ale yeast. The sweeter, smoother concoction had a sweeter, more English-style yeast. Verbergs research indicates that the Kveiks predominant notes were bitter and medicinal. This may be appropriate as bochet might have been consumed to balance one's humors. The English alestyle was similar to the wild yeast strain, but it was not as sweet .... They all tasted of caramel, honey and history.
Tarlach has a full recipe for making your own bochet. To avoid the sugar volcano, make sure you use a pot at least three times the size of the honey during the caramelization process.
