TL;DR
Holiday mead is made with real honey, spices, yeast, and time — not artificial flavors or shortcuts.
Spiced and mulled meads are perfect for winter gatherings, homemade gifts, and cozy nights at home.
Brewing mead yourself gives you full control over sweetness, spice level, and alcohol strength.
Craft a Brew mead making kits include real ingredients and reusable equipment, so you can experiment and refine every batch.
Whether you prefer a warming mulled mead or a festive spiced recipe, homemade mead delivers deeper flavor and a more rewarding process.
Great holiday mead isn’t just about what you drink — it’s about crafting something seasonal, personal, and worth sharing.
Why Mead Is the Perfect Holiday Drink
When it comes to cozy, festive brewing, nothing beats a batch of mead made for the holidays. The best mead recipes for the holidays combine honey’s natural sweetness with warming spices, citrus, and seasonal flavors.
At Craft a Brew, our mead kits give homebrewers everything they need to craft traditional or spiced mead using real ingredients. Whether you’re planning a mulled mead for Christmas or a cinnamon-clove blend to share with friends, these recipes bring the warmth of the holidays to every glass.
Mead isn’t just a drink — it’s a tradition that connects ancient brewing with modern creativity. With the right recipe, it can become your holiday signature.
Spiced Holiday Mead Recipe
Spiced mead, often called metheglin, is a classic mead for Christmas. This 1 gallon mulled mead recipe involves caramelizing honey (a technique referred to as “bochet”) for richer flavor and deeper color from your honey. With cinnamon, cloves, and honey at its core, it’s one of our favorite festive mead ideas. Enjoy this spiced mead recipe by the fireside, served hot or chilled.
Ingredients:
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2.5 Lb Orange Blossom honey, divided
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1 Gal Spring Water
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1 packet EC-1118 Wine Yeast
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Mead Yeast Nutrient (like Fermaid-O, or Craft a Brew’s Mead Yeast Nutrient Blend)
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0.25 Oz Mulling Spice Blend (we like Cinnamon Bark, Allspice Berries & Whole Cloves)
Instructions:
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Bring 2 lb of honey into a 3 quart stock pot. Cook on medium-low heat for 15 minutes, constantly stirring to lightly caramelize the honey. Remove from heat, cover with a lid, and let cool for 1 hour.
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Pour 32 oz of spring water into the pot of honey. Stir to dissolve.
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Pour the bochet honey/water mixture into a sanitized fermenter. Top with spring water to reach 1 gallon. Add yeast & yeast nutrient. Seal with an airlock and ferment for 30 days.
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On day 31, add Mulling Spices to the fermenter. Let infuse 2-3 days, taste daily until you like the flavor.
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Once spice level is to your liking, transfer the mead into a secondary sanitized fermenter and add stabilizer to the mead. Let mead stabilize for 24+ hours with the airlock installed
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After mead is stabilized, it is safe to backsweeten. Dissolve the reserved 0.5 Lb honey in a small amount of hot water. Pour this into the fermenter. Reinstall airlock and let mead clarify for 7 days.
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After 7 days of clarifying, bottle and seal the mead.
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Your mead is ready to enjoy now, but will improve and mature with longer aging in bottles.
“I made the spiced mead from my Craft A Brew kit and gave bottles as gifts. Everyone wanted the recipe!” — Lindsey M.
Spiced Apple Mead (Cyser)
Prefer learning how to make spiced mead a simpler way? Try a Cyser - a mead made with apples or apple juice. It's one of the most simple holiday mead recipes, but it packs major seasonal mead flavors. This simple variation on a classic mead with major flavor involves using 1 gallon of apple juice instead of water when mixing this mead. Age on some cinnamon sticks or spices post-fermentation for a festive twist.
Ingredients:
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2.5 Lb honey, any variety
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1 Gal preservative-free Apple Juice
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1 packet D47 Wine Yeast
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Mead Yeast Nutrient (like Fermaid-O, or Craft a Brew’s custom blend)
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1 Cinnamon Stickm or other spice blend
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Optional: Mead Stabilizer (link)
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Optional: 4-12 Oz honey for backsweetening
Directions:
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Add honey and ~half a gallon of apple juice to your sanitized carboy. Shake well to dissolve. Once dissolved, top with the remaining apple juice. Add yeast & yeast nutrient. Seal with an airlock and ferment for 30-60 days.
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After fermentation, add a Cinnamon Stick to the fermenter. Age for 2-3 days (or longer). Taste daily until the flavor is to your liking. At that time, transfer the mead into bottles OR into a secondary fermenter for backsweetning (see next step).
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Once mead is transferred into secondary, add stabilizer. Reinstall airlock and let stabilizers work for 24+ hours. Once stabilized, dissolve 4, 6, 8, or 12 oz of honey in a small amount of hot water. Once dissolved, add to the stabilized mead. Reinstall airlock and let clarify for 7 days before bottling.
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Mead is ready to enjoy once bottled, but can benefit from longer aging for more refined and mature flavor.
Using fruit juice instead of water is an easy way to elevate your holiday homebrewing recipes. Instead of apple juice, try grape juice, cranberry juice or pomegranate juice to make a delicious craft mead for winter.
Festive Mead Flavor Ideas
Want to experiment beyond classic spiced or mulled meads? Try these holiday-inspired variations:
- Cranberry Orange Mead – Tart cranberries with bright citrus peel.
- Vanilla Chai Mead – Brew with black tea, cinnamon, cardamom, and vanilla.
- Apple Cinnamon Mead – A cider-mead hybrid perfect for holiday desserts.
- Chocolate Cherry Mead – Cocoa nibs and cherries added during secondary fermentation.
Each variation can be brewed using the same Craft a Brew Mead Making Kit with small ingredient additions.
“My cranberry-orange mead was the hit of our holiday dinner!” — Kevin D.
Tips for Brewing Mead in Winter
Cooler temperatures can slow fermentation. Keep these tips in mind:
- Keep it warm: Ideal fermentation is 65–75°F.
- Plan ahead: Mead benefits from aging, so start early.
- Sanitize carefully: Dry winter air increases contamination risk.
- Taste as you go: Adjust sweetness and spice during secondary fermentation.
Every Craft a Brew mead kit includes reusable equipment and beginner-friendly instructions, making it easy to brew year-round.
Ready to Brew Your Holiday Mead?
The holidays are the perfect time to experiment with flavor and tradition. From spiced and mulled meads to fruit-forward creations, Craft a Brew gives you everything you need to brew with confidence.
Brew. Sip. Celebrate. Share the gift of homemade mead this season.
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