A Renaissance for Mead, an Old Brew
老酒新釀蜂蜜酒又逢春
By Michael Sanders

Mead, made from fermenting a solution of honey and water and once a staple of so many cultures, had faded into ignominy.
以蜂蜜和水的溶液發酵而成的蜂蜜酒，一度是許多文化的主要產品，卻在臭名下逐漸消失。

Now, mead’s reputation is being restored. This may be partly due to the explosion in styles of mead as its makers move past the sweet, slightly caramelized, honey-forward traditional mead. Today, you can find meads dry-hopped and as flinty and sere as the bleakest unoaked Chablis; light summer quaffers with the freshness and subtle bubbles of a good prosecco; complex, multilayered dessert meads perfect with chocolate; even seasonal meads flavored with saffron, sage, fruits or juniper berries.
現在，蜂蜜酒正重振聲譽。蜂蜜酒翻身，部分與它種類繁多有關，釀酒人開始拋棄甜而略帶焦糖味，以蜂蜜為主的傳統蜂蜜酒。現在，人們可以找到以乾啤酒花法釀造而成的蜂蜜酒，它有金屬、乾澀的風味，嘗來像不裝橡木桶的極淡味夏布利酒；它也是適合夏天牛飲的淡酒，清新且有好氣泡酒的細微氣泡；它也可以是複雜，多層次，且和巧克力是絕配的甜點蜂蜜酒；還有添加了藏紅花、鼠尾草、水果、杜松子的調味蜂蜜酒。

“Mead is a wine and a wine made with honey instead of grapes,” said Vicky Rowe, a director of the annual Mazer Cup International Mead Competition. “People are realizing that’s what it is and treating it as such.”
年度「大酒杯國際蜂蜜酒大賽」的負責人之一羅維說：「蜂蜜酒是一種葡萄酒，是以蜂蜜而非葡萄釀造的葡萄酒。人們發現它是這樣的酒，並且開始這樣看待它。」

Mead’s flavors can be attributed to the honey that’s used. Terroir is captured from the flowers whose pollen bees collect in a particular area at a particular time.
蜂蜜酒的風味可以來自它使用的蜂蜜。風土蜂蜜酒是以特殊花朵的蜜製成的酒，這些花的花粉由蜜蜂在特定區域特定時間採集而來。

Ben Alexander is introducing three reserve meads to add to five other new styles he has been making at Maine Mead Works in Portland since 2008.
亞歷山大正在推介他的三種窖藏蜂蜜酒，以及另外五種其他風味的蜂蜜酒。2008年以來，亞歷山大一直在他位於波特蘭的「緬因蜂蜜酒廠」釀造這些蜂蜜酒。

“Honey and water,” he said, “go in one end and move slowly through the system, the yeast converts the natural sugars to alcohol. It comes out on the other end at about 10 percent alcohol.”
他說：「蜂蜜和水從一端進入，緩緩經過系統，酵母會將其中的天然糖分轉化成酒精。它從另一端出來時，會變成酒精濃度約10%的酒。」

After the liquid ferments in steel tanks for a few months, the alcohol rises to about 12 percent before bottling. Some of the reserves age up to a year. “Our process helps produce a dry, light mead, which retains more of the subtle flavors of the honey,” Mr. Alexander said.
這些液體於鋼桶中發酵數個月後，裝瓶前酒精濃度會升高到約12%。有些窖藏酒儲藏一年之久。亞歷山大說：「我們的製程有助於生產不甜且淡的蜂蜜酒，且保存更多蜂蜜的微妙風味。」

While traditional meads can have more than 10 percent residual sugar, Mr. Alexander’s come in under 2 percent. Combined with a rock-bottom acidity, the result can be remarkably like dry white wine, with a delicate overlay of fruit and floral aromas.
傳統蜂蜜酒殘糖可能超過10%，亞歷山大的蜂蜜酒卻低於2%。加上最低的酸度，產生風味絕佳，類似不甜的白酒的風味，還摻合了水果與花香的微妙層次感。

At the Spints Ale House in Portland, Oregon, the owner Alyssa Gregg uses Chaucer’s Mead from Soquel, California, in a variety of seasonal cocktails. “Mead has an earthiness to it,” she said. “It can add a mild sweetness and dryness at the same time.” She’ll use it in a drink with mezcal, where the mead, she said, “tames the alcohol and answers the heat.”
在奧勒岡州波特蘭的「史品茲酒館」，老板娘艾莉莎‧葛雷格以來自加州索奎爾市「喬叟」廠的蜂蜜酒調製許多雞尾酒。她說：「蜂蜜酒可為調酒添加一種土味。它還可增加一種微甜和乾澀的口感。她以蜂蜜酒和麥斯卡爾酒調製一款調酒，她說：「蜂蜜酒可將烈酒變溫和，且對烈酒的熱度有所反應。」

New York State’s largest meadmaker is Earle Estates Meadery. It makes about 10,000 cases a year. The owner, John Earle, attributes his business’ growth to the use of ultrafiltration.
紐約州最大的蜂蜜酒製造商是「厄爾蜂蜜酒莊」，每年約產1萬箱。酒莊主人厄爾將業務成長歸功於超濾法。

“The machine strips out the protein that the bees put into honey in the process of making it,” he said. “That protein has been tied to the harshness of mead, so, take out the protein, and it’s smoother.”
他說：「在製造過程中，這個機器濾除了蜜蜂放進蜂蜜的蛋白質。這個蛋白質與蜂蜜酒的嗆味息息相關，除去蛋白質，酒變得順口。」

At the Dogfish Head brewery in Milton, Delaware, Midas Touch, the most popular honey-based fermented beverage in the United States, is made with barley, honey, white muscat grapes and saffron. Beer? Wine? Mead? “We have no interest in marketing it as anything other than Midas Touch, a beer-mead-wine, take your pick,” said Sam Calagione, the brewery’s founder. Midas Touch is based on the ingredients found in 2,700-year-old drinking vessels from the tomb of King Midas.
在德拉瓦州密爾頓「角鯊頭」釀酒廠內，美國最受歡迎，以蜂蜜為基底的發酵飲料Midas Touch是以大麥、蜂蜜、白麝香葡萄、藏紅花釀製。它是啤酒，葡萄酒，還是蜂蜜酒？酒廠創辦人卡拉季昂說：「我們只想以Midas Touch來行銷，它是啤酒─蜂蜜酒─葡萄酒，隨你稱呼。」Midas Touch是按米達斯國王墓中一個2700年前酒器中發現的成分調製而成。

As David Myers, owner of Redstone Meadery in Boulder, Colorado, likes to joke, “Mead is a beverage whose popularity comes around like clockwork – every two or three thousand years.”
科羅拉多州包德市「紅石蜂蜜酒廠」主人邁爾斯喜歡這樣打趣道：「蜂蜜酒這種飲料很有規律，每兩、三千年紅一次。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/dining/mead-enjoys-a-renaissance.html

2012-03-06聯合報/G5版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 王麗娟譯原文參見紐時週報十一版下