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I brewed a 10 gallon batch of mead for my wedding/honeymoon last year. It's a sack mead, so it tends to be more on the sweet side, like a cordial. I've decided to freeze concentrate (as opposed to destill; one is legal, the other isn't) it to both fortify and up the flavor and alcohol levels.

However, for life of me I can't seem to find out what this type of beverage would be called. Freeze concentrated apfelwein/cider is called applejack. Destilled or freeze concentrated grape wine is brandy. Distilled or freeze concentrated beer makes whiskey or an eisbock depending on your technique. But I can't find what the proper term is for a mead. Any thoughts?

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  • I'm not at all sure that freeze-distillation is legal (in the US). The wording of the law is ambiguous, IIRC. Of course, it's even less likely to get you arrested than regular distillation (which is not all that likely either, if you don't sell it and you don't start any fires). Of course, I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.
    – user5561
    Jan 14, 2014 at 1:36
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    An answer was deleted (because of some offensive comments), but there was content in there: "It's called brandehonning when it's heat distilled, and frostmjød when its freeze-separated. "Honeyjack" is a marketing term, as is "applejack""
    – Joe
    Oct 28, 2020 at 18:44

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It's called honeyjack when freeze distilled. I haven't seen any specific name for steam distilled mead, so it's likely fine to use the same name for both products.

Mead can also be distilled to a brandy or liqueur strength. A version called "honey jack" can be made by partly freezing a quantity of mead and straining the ice out of the liquid (a process known as freeze distillation), in the same way that applejack is made from cider. Wikipedia: Mead: Varieties

Unfortunately there are a number of "honey brandies" and "honey liqueurs" that are simply other liquor bases with honey added for flavor and sweetness.

Also, see the discussion on Homebrewing Stack Exchange

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  • note mead tastes completely unlike normal honey, so adding honey to spirits tricks no-one, not that honey-vodkas are bad, mind you, they are simply a completely different cup of tea than mead and mead products.
    – SF.
    Jan 13, 2014 at 17:59
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    @SF. I agree with the flavor comment. I added that last part because those terms will confound search results.
    – Didgeridrew
    Jan 13, 2014 at 18:44

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