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The Mead of Poetry

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Norskersword

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Has anyone heard the Norse Myth "The Mead of Poetry"? This is a link to the myth, although a bit hard to follow because it was shortened and is more of an overview.

http://todd.reimer.com/norse/story.html#Mead

If anyone is interested in the Myths, I strongly suggest reading The Norse Myths by Kevin Crossly-Holland. Historians suggest this book as well.
 

Oskaar

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So . . . are these mead tales restricted to legend, history and lore, or are personal tales of mead induced adventure and escapades involving farm animals, heavy machinery and high speed pursuits fair game too? ;)

Enquiring minds want to know!

Cheers,

Oskaar

Edited for rogue smilies and mead haze!
 

Norskersword

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Sounds like you got the Norse Myths mixed up with old episodes of The Dukes of Hazzard. What goes on in that head of yours? ;D
 

Oskaar

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LOL

I have a really active imagination, most of my girlfriends will bear/bare that out! 8)

My question was mostly if this is a section for actual myth, lore and legend of mead, or ... can we post our own, modern day funny, embarrasing and/or hair raising stories where mead was involved!

`Cause see ... there was this time that I rented a big Lincoln Town Car, opened a box of cuban cigars, loaded up a case of mead, and invited a couple of young ladies along for a ride to Vegas. Things were pretty normal until we got to the Bun Boy in Baker . . .
 

Norskersword

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Seeing as how a myth is also fictional, I'll let you continue your story for entertainment value... ;)
 

Norskersword

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Your last link is perfect. I wasn't able to find such a complete version of the story. It sounds like it's right out of the book I mentioned. ;)
 

Oskaar

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Well, the story is true, the names have been . . . omitted to protect the innocent. I’m giving you a “G” rated version because I saw that the board moderates the four letter version of Hades.

It all started in 1997 and one of the other VP’s in the IT Department that I am good friends with was going to Vegas to get married. Original right? A number of other folks from the Department were going along, and two of the girls that I worked with wanted to share a ride and share a room so they could defray the cost of the trip. We decided to all go together since we were all pals and did a lot of partying and going out together after work.

Being a fan of Hunter S. Thompson I immediately tried to rent a white Cadillac El Dorado Convertible. No such luck, so we settled on a Lincoln Town Car. I packed an ice chest with some munchables for the ride and iced down a case of mead. I was the designated driver (at least until we arrived safely at the Rio) so I would be on a strict diet of coffee and water. The young ladies however were not so restrained. We took off stereo blasting, Cuban cigars blazing and fun was being had by all.

The girls were in the front seat with me and about the time that we hit the Bun Boy in Baker, CA (the site of the World’s largest thermometer) they were giggling and changing into different clothes because it was so hot outside and we had the windows open because we were having our cigars. The girls we really giggly and it finally dawned on me that they were drinking mead . . . a lot of mead . . . like three bottles worth already. Since this is the “G” rated version I’ll omit the girls’ almost-clothed acrobatics in the front seat which nearly caused the demise of many a truck driver, along with our hapless narrator; and is no doubt a legend on Interstate 15 by this point in time. The antics continued all the way into Vegas.

After our arrival, and check-in we hooked up with the couple who were to wed and started our celebration early since the rest of the party would not be arriving until the following day. The mead was flowing freely at this point and we all decided to go and hit the craps tables. The gods of mead and luck were on our side that night and I went up big time and ended up a few dollars shy of $9000. The night was young, we were lucid, we had mead and a buttload of cash to play with. We did what any about to be married couple, and their closest friends would do. We rented a limo and hit the strip clubs! ;D :p :eek: ;)

To be continued in another post tomorrow . . .
 

Oskaar

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We started at the Palomino and worked our way back into the strip alternating between Casinos and Strip Clubs. Our entourage grew along the way and eventually we had the limo full, and a couple of cars worth of people following us along the way. I was on a roll that night and managed to run my winnings up somewhere in the neighborhood of about $15,000 (I say about because I was under that when we all sobered up the next day, but I had receipts for about $800 worth of booze and food, and three passed out strippers in my room, along with the two girls who were with me to begin, and a few other folks who I don't remember meeting).

We headed back to my friends’ room at the Rio at some point, and we had a lot of people trying to get to the elevators and had a brief run-in with security. I greased a couple of palms and they let us into the elevator bay a few at a time so as not to make it a mob scene. For those of you who haven’t ever been to the RainForest Suite at the Rio, should at least check it out if it is vacant if you’re ever at the Rio. It looks like your basic bedroom in a rainforest. The walls are sculpted rock, the furniture is comfortable and done in a really neat primitive-rain-foresty looking motif. The bathroom however, wins the prize for best feature in the room. It is like a big pool cut into a waterfall and the water runs hot and cold. It is really a cool looking shower bath concept, but, it looked even better filled with naked stippers gettin’ their freak-on!

We had the boom box blaring, the champagne, wine and last of the mead were flowing (we saved two bottles for ourselves) we had hot and cold running strippers, and Beavis and Butthead do America on the big screen in the living room. At about 3:00 AM hotel security came by and told us we needed to quiet down. He stepped into the room where a couple of the strippers who were coincidentally naked, attached themselves to him. The flashing of cameras followed and the guy left with a red face and in a hurry. The party was starting to slow down anyhow, so some people began to bail out, and we moved the remaining handful of people to my room. We ended up with one bottle of mead left from the night before and we had that with lunch at the pool.

My buddy told me he counted as many as 43 people in that Rain Forest Suite, I think he might have been on the high side, but I can say that it was pretty crowded throughout the suite, and there were at least ten people in the bathroom watching the strippers (and eventually one of the two girls that came with me) go after each other in the tub and shower.

The Wedding went off without a hitch in the wedding chapel at the Rio, which is a pretty nice facility, and the reception area is tasteful and understated. Of course, I was lobbying heavily for one of the strippers to be the ring-bearer, but was cruelly denied by the bride! Go figure.

Yes, the couple is still married and they celebrate their Wedding this Saturday, July 17th. Yes they have children now, 1 boy and one girl. Yes, I have video of the strippers in the shower. No, I won’t share it! . . . a gentleman never kisses and tells! (unless it’s Ron Solomon LOL)

Oskaar
 

kace069

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HUNTER S. THOMPSON #1 I have no urge to go to vegas. But if i do its gonzo all the way!
 

FunkyShoes

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I recently ran across this story as well. What immediately drew my attention was this: why is saliva/spittle being used to make mead? Overview: the Aesir & Vanir as a part of the peace-making process, all spit into a cauldron and make a man, Kvasir, out of the saliva. Kvasir gets killed and his blood is mixed with honey to create mead.

Saliva is one of the traditional methods of getting sugar out of carbohydrates/grain so it (the sugar) will ferment. I personally don't think of mead as having carbohydrates although obviously variations can.

Ran across an answer in _Gods of the Ancient Northmen_ by Dumezil. He refers to kvas, which is mentioned in one of the links by another poster. Kvas is an Eastern European fermented beverage basically made with whatever happens to be around but frequently grain or bread, vegetables (beets!), and sometimes fruit. So if the drink were "the kvas of inspiration", the saliva would make sense.
 

Dan McFeeley

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FunkyShoes said:
I recently ran across this story as well. What immediately drew my attention was this: why is saliva/spittle being used to make mead? Overview: the Aesir & Vanir as a part of the peace-making process, all spit into a cauldron and make a man, Kvasir, out of the saliva. Kvasir gets killed and his blood is mixed with honey to create mead.

Saliva is one of the traditional methods of getting sugar out of carbohydrates/grain so it (the sugar) will ferment. I personally don't think of mead as having carbohydrates although obviously variations can.

Ran across an answer in _Gods of the Ancient Northmen_ by Dumezil. He refers to kvas, which is mentioned in one of the links by another poster. Kvas is an Eastern European fermented beverage basically made with whatever happens to be around but frequently grain or bread, vegetables (beets!), and sometimes fruit. So if the drink were "the kvas of inspiration", the saliva would make sense.


I ran across a note saying that the Indo-European root of the word Kvasir, kwath- means "to ferment, to be sour." I don't have a source for this so I can't vouch for its accuracy.

Back in ancient times people weren't as precise with the meaning of words as we would like them to be. "Mead" could mean a lot of things, generally something or other where honey was involved. Many people have speculated that the mead referred to in the Viking sagas was a cereal/honey based drink.
 

Dan McFeeley

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Here's a little more on how loose the meanings of words like "mead" or "ale" could be. From _Poems of the Vikings_ tr. Patricia Terry, 1976:

Thor said: Tell me Alvis - dwarf, I think you know
all that has ever happened - what is the ale called
that all men drink in every one of the worlds?

Alvis said: Men call it Ale, the Aesir Beer, the
Vanir say Strong Drink, giants say Cloudless,
in Hel they call it Mead, for Suttong's sons it's
Feast Maker.
 

FunkyShoes

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Definitions I've seen for kvas:
Kvass (a Russian word for leaven)
(Dan. kvas "crushed fruits, wort of those fruits") from Dumezil. I think that "Dan." refers to Danish but I could be wrong.
 
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