Loxwood Meadworks

Loxwood Meadworks revives Britain's oldest fermented drink. Mead predates wine and beer in these islands by centuries, the drink of Anglo-Saxon halls and Chaucer's pilgrims, and it fell almost entirely out of fashion until a handful of modern producers took it seriously again.

Working from the Sussex Weald, Loxwood ferments honey slowly and cleanly, treating it with the same patience a winemaker gives grape must. The result is a world away from the syrupy stuff sold in cathedral gift shops: balanced, aromatic and genuinely drinkable. Serve it chilled as an aperitif, or after dinner with a hard cheese and a fire. History, in a bottle, and rather good with it.