Brought back two bottles of mead which has been a mystery and a staple of D&D for decades. Allegedly, it’s the favorite booze amongst elves or dwarves or gnomes, take your pick. It isn’t something you can get easily at your grocery or liquor store. My gaming buddy Mark M finally warned me, it’s supposed to be fermented honey but many places will try to pass off white wine as the product. So I hunted around, found this great vendor based in Texas with their booth (or ye olde shoppe) to score two bottles; I am partial to blueberry anything. I did have a glass of the traditional flavor earlier while helping Jennifer with a turkey leg and yeah, this stuff is strong. The sellers were pretty incensed at the white wine accusation too.
I did some research, mainly to find out how the manufacturers keep the honey from turning into something closer to rum given it’s all sugar. Well, Mark’s comment had some foundation of truth. Depending upon the culture, different mixers (what we’ll call them) are added to the fermented honey. Sometimes wine, sometimes hops (beer), fruit, water or spices. I had a feeling that you have to spread the honey out given how many bees it takes to create the stuff and/or its potency. So the real answer…mead is really up in the air, just as bread is. If you have the foundational ingredient, fermented honey, then anything goes as grain is for bread. I’m looking forward to sharing the traditional and giving some to any loudmouth who thinks they can handle even a juice glass all due to their dwarf druid having an 18 Constitution.
Other parts were great fun. It was nice to see people out and about, enjoying themselves. Am I bad person for feeling joy whenever I see non-White people getting into the spirit of it and having a good time? To me, the Festival is open to all who want to check it out. You don’t have to be of European descent to “get it.” Fun is universal!
However, you could count on the MAGAts to put a beard on the rainbow. We can’t have a nice, apolitical day taking in fantastic Fall weather, eating a turkey leg (tendons and all) as we watch how they used to mint coins. Nope. These assholes have to wear their ignorance at all times with their latest, “Let’s Go Brandon” hats and bumper-sticker logic across their XXL shirts that still expose some hairy gut.
Maybe I’ll have better luck with the Spring gathering.