This week, we sat down and interviewed Ricky the Meadmaker about the next in our New Year, New Mead campaign. Here's our final Groennfell flagship mead, Nordic Farmhouse.
Color - Pink with a hint of orange
Aroma - Intense Honey Aroma with aromas of cloudberries, raspberries, and cranberries
Flavor - Bright and tart with flowers and cranberry up front and a strong honey finish
Closest Comparison - Fruity Berliner Weisse
Can you tell us some of the history behind the brew? How did it come to be?
When we started the meadery we launched with three products: Mannaz, Valkyrie’s Choice, and Fenberry Draught. Although Valkyrie’s Choice is still around, it’s actually changed fairly dramatically over the years. Fenberry Draught, however, simply leveled up its game and got a new name: Nordic Farmhouse.
The biggest difference between Fenberry Draught and Nordic is that we use a combination of wild yeast and high fermentation temperatures to bring all of those cool, funky flavors out of the honey and cranberries.
How about where the name came from?
People have been brewing a type of mead on the southern coast of Sweden from a combination of honey and lingonberries for at least 2,000 years and many people in the region still brew it to this day in the same farmsteads their families have inhabited for centuries. Nordic Farmhouse is an homage to this tradition.
So we have Wild Hunt and Nordic. Why two cranberry meads? Can you tell us the differences between both (other than that one is seasonal and one is year-round)?
Good question! Then again, it’s almost like asking “why do we have two meads with fruit in them?”
Nordic Farmhouse has a sharp bite that fits equally well in a goblet next to bolognese sauce or on the rocks with a splash of gin. It’s so versatile but crushable all by its lonesome. Wild Hunt ushers in the cooler weather, a time of year for mulling pokers, fires, and hoping the freezing rain turns into real snow.
Evolution of the Nordic Farmhouse label, by Erik Benepe, January 2016
