Honey for Mead: Supermarket vs Raw Honey (Plus Spiced Mead Infusions)

Mead is just honey, water and yeast, so the honey you choose matters more than in almost any other drink. But does it need to be expensive local honey, or will a jar from the supermarket do? This guide compares your options, then shows you how to turn a simple mead into something special with our spiced mead infusions.

New to mead? Start with our step-by-step guide: How to Make Mead at Home.

Supermarket Honey vs Raw and Local Honey

Supermarket honey

• Pros: cheap, easy to find, consistent, ferments perfectly well.
• Cons: usually a blend from several countries, heated and filtered for clarity and shelf life, so much of the delicate aroma is lost. The result is a pleasant but fairly plain mead. Some tests have found cheap imported honeys bulked out with sugar syrups, so buy from a brand you trust.
• Best for: spiced meads and melomels (fruit meads), where the spices or fruit carry the flavour, and first batches while you learn.

Raw, local and single-variety honey

• Pros: unheated and lightly filtered, so it keeps far more of its floral aroma and character. Single-variety honeys give each mead a distinct personality, and local honey from a beekeeper supports your area.
• Cons: more expensive, and flavour varies from jar to jar.
• Best for: traditional (plain) meads, where the honey is the star.

Our verdict: for a spiced mead, a decent supermarket honey is absolutely fine. For a traditional mead, it's worth spending more on good raw or local honey, because you'll taste the difference.

Which Type of Honey?

• Wildflower: the versatile all-rounder, with a pleasant floral character that suits most meads.
• Clover: mild and clean. A classic, easy-going mead honey.
• Orange blossom: fragrant and citrusy. Beautiful in a traditional mead and a natural match for citrus infusions.
• Acacia: very light and delicate, for a pale, subtle mead.
• Heather: strong, rich and distinctive. Makes a bold, characterful mead, and a local choice for us here on the edge of the Yorkshire moors.
• Buckwheat: dark and intense with molasses notes. Use it sparingly or blend it.
• Manuka: expensive, and its unique qualities aren't worth spending in mead.

How Much Honey Do You Need?

As a guide, around 1.3–1.4kg of honey per gallon (4.5 litres) gives a dry to medium mead, and around 1.8kg per gallon gives a sweeter, stronger one. Use a hydrometer to check your starting gravity, and our free ABV calculator to work out the strength.

Tips: set (crystallised) honey is fine; warm the jar gently in hot water to loosen it. Don't boil honey, as boiling drives off the aromas you're paying for. Just mix it with warm water until dissolved.

Make It a Spiced Mead: Our Mead Infusions

Our mead infusion packs are carefully balanced spice and botanical blends that turn a finished mead into something special. Each comes with its own spice bag:

• Mediterranean Citrus – dried orange, lemon and coriander. Bright and zesty: perfect with orange blossom or wildflower honey.
• Winter Spice – cassia bark, cloves, allspice and nutmeg. A warming Christmas mead that pairs well with richer wildflower or heather honey.
• Exotic Spice – cardamom, star anise and ginger. Aromatic and unusual; a light honey such as clover or acacia lets the spices shine.
• Chocolate Orange – organic cacao nibs and dried bitter orange. A dessert mead in the making.
• Chocolate Cinnamon – organic cacao nibs and cassia bark. Rich and comforting.

How to use a mead infusion

1. Make sure your mead has finished fermenting, and has been stabilised and cleared.
2. Put the infusion in the spice bag supplied, knot it, and place it in a cup of boiling water for 10 minutes to sanitise.
3. Add the bag and the liquid to your mead.
4. Taste after 24 hours. Remove the bag when the flavour is right for you, or leave it longer for a stronger result.
5. For a commercial-quality finish, filter before bottling, then mature somewhere cool. It's ready to sample after about 6 months, and better still at a year.

Brewing a Christmas mead? Get it started now so it has time to mature.

Build Your Mead Making Kit

Yeast and nutrient

• Mangrove Jack's M05 Mead Yeast – high alcohol tolerance and low sulphur production for a clean, crisp mead
• Bulldog Mead Yeast & Nutrition – a selected mead yeast with the nutrients it needs, all in one
• Yeast Nutrient – honey is very low in nutrients, so mead almost always needs it. Many meadmakers split it into two or three additions over the first few days. Read why yeast nutrient matters.

Equipment

• A demijohn, such as the 5L glass demijohn with airlock and bungs or a 5L PET demijohn
• An airlock
• A hydrometer
• A funnel and a syphon
• ChemSan to sanitise everything
• 75cl wine bottles

Finishing

• Campden tablets and potassium sorbate to stabilise before infusing or sweetening
• Bentonite to help clear it (see How to Clear Cloudy Wine)
• A Harris Vinbrite filter for a brilliant, commercial finish

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use supermarket honey for mead?

Yes. It ferments well and is ideal for spiced and fruit meads. For a traditional mead, better quality raw or local honey gives a more aromatic result.

What is the best honey for mead?

Wildflower is the most versatile. Orange blossom is fragrant and floral, and heather makes a bold, characterful mead. Choose raw or local honey for traditional meads.

How much honey do I need per gallon of mead?

Around 1.3–1.4kg per gallon for a dry to medium mead, and about 1.8kg for a sweeter, stronger one.

Should I boil honey for mead?

No. Boiling drives off the honey's aroma. Mix it with warm water until it dissolves.

How long does spiced mead take?

After fermenting and infusing, it's ready to sample after about 6 months, and improves further up to a year.