On the Firethroat Meadery
O’ how I miss that sweet taste with every sip, that warm - nearly burning - feeling in yer throat and belly! No mead has ever tickled my fancy more than that dwarven brew my forefathers called Firethroat mead.
Indeed, it were our grandfathers whom introduced this blend of honey and Blue Mountain raspberries, spiced with a secret ingredient, and all of it fermented for a long time in the comfort of the warm fires at the Firethroat meadery. This brew was unique for its taste but also one of the only drinks worth mentioning in the Ered Luin area for a long time until our brethren of Durin’s Folk joined us in the Mountains and started bottling their own concoctions – none of which the flavours were as refined as that of our Firethroat elixir!
We gathered the ingredients ourselves, from various places: the honey we gathered in vast amounts in the lower regions, while we plucked the raspberries from their thickets growing on the dangerous slopes of a nearby ravine. The fact that they grow on a high altitude gives these red treats a peculiar taste of refined sweetness. The spice remains a mystery to this day, and it was never passed on – partially because the meadery was put out of business by the stiff competition from new brewers and our forefathers wished not to share their secret with the Ale Association out of spite.
Today, the crimson-bricked meadery still stands, but its fires no longer roar and its barrels no longer hold the golden elixir. We have attempted to recreate the flavour, but our efforts have been in vain; without the necessary spice, it makes for a brew that is sweet but hardly unique. We found a secret stash of some barrels in the basement of the meadery some decades ago, from which we tried to distil its secret ingredient. But we soon realised that we were wasting precious liquor merely to try and uncover an indecipherable recipe. Instead, we drank all of it at special occasions - all but three small barrels. Three small barrels is all that remains of this remarkable flavoured mead. So know this, my reader: if ever ye get the chance to taste a mug of Firethroat mead, know that you have been done a great honour!
Nyr
I sold the meadery and all its belongings to the Ale Association, including the recipes for Brambleberry Stout and Honeybeard Lager. However, I kept the Firethroat Mead recipe for my own. None but a Stouthammer may know its secret!
Nyr
