Mead may be the oldest alcoholic drink in the world. A tribe in Kenya; the Kikuyu, still ferment mead today from the honey produced by wild bees. The Hindu scriptures mention both honey and mead, and it was drunk by the ancient Greeks. Bacchus, the Greek god of wine, is said to have taught bee-keeping as a sideline.

Mead has been drunk in Britain since Celtic times. The writer Gildas tells us that the legendary King Arthur drank it, no doubt because Gildas thought it was a kingly thing to drink. The great Anglo-Saxon classic Beowulf talks of both mead and ale. Mead was drunk by kings in banqueting or mead halls and was imbibed from decorated horns. Chaucer praised mead in the Canterbury Tales. In the Miller's Tale, the merry priest woos his lady love with the best mead he can buy.