Polish Mead ???

One of the members over at gotmead posted a link about Polish meads. I had to do a bit of messing around with my browser settings to view the linked document, to find that it was only available in Polish - which is a fucker as I don't speak any Polish.

So, after a visit to google, I managed to use their translator facility and ended up with the quoted text below (just for info, when copying translated text from google, I found that it returned the original text in Polish, followed by the translated sentence. Obviously, I don't have any Polish, so I deleted that part so it can all be understood in the context of this blog)

Definitions
Editor: patricus
21.03.2005
Definition
Mead is an alcoholic beverage resulting from the alcoholic fermentation of the wort (that honey diluted with water). Wort may be an additional dressing of herbs, hops, roots or fruit juice.
Division of mead
Depending on how the preparation of the wort or the additives used meads can be divided in many different ways.
1) The division, depending on the preparation of the wort:
• Honey saturated, that is, those whose wort boil,
• Honey niesycone (natural), or those which do not boil.
Many of the old authorities (eg T. Ciesielski) for mead drinks accounted for just saturated. Also in our association can be found as some supporters and others drinks. Many sources give the saturated honey taste better, and niesycone have a better flavor. If we are at the disposal of high-quality honey, I propose to prepare wort niesyconą, having worse sorts of honey, honey, you can cook. Syceniu its decision on whether or not, may also be dependent on the type of honey which we prepare. Honey, fruit will be better niesycone, honey spicy taste better saturated.
2) The division, depending on the density of the wort.
• Półtorak: 1 part by volume of honey and 0.5 parts by volume of water. The density of the wort BLG 57-66. Maturation of about 10 years.
• Dwójniak: 1 part by volume of honey and 1 part by volume of water. The density of the wort BLG 45-53. Maturation of approximately 5 years.
• Trójniak: 1 part by volume of honey and 2 parts water by volume. The density of the wort BLG 32-37. Maturation of about 2-3 years.
• Czwórniak: 1 part by volume of honey and 3 parts by volume of water. The density of the wort BLG 25-29. Maturation about a year.
The above maturity periods are recommended as a minimum by well-known personalities. As experience shows, however, that a particular fruit honeys are ready to drink much sooner.
Given name is the only officially approved names for the honey trade. In practice, however, such as producing honey wort with a density of 40 BLG, we can use the name półdwójniak. Similarly, for the honey and the trójniak czwórniak - półtrójniak.
3) The division, depending on the additives used.
• Natural Honey: without using any additives.
• Honey Fruit: some of the water was replaced with fruit juice.
• Honey-Herb Korzenno: prepared with spices.
Some authors distinguish a category of honeys hop - which uses only hop.
For the curious below the statutory requirements placed on manufacturers of commercial meads (content of acids, sugars, alcohol, etc.).
According to the Regulation of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development dated 4 February 2003., Meads:
1) are:
a) miodowowinny flavor, harmonized with the flavors of juice used, free of foreign smell - in a honey meads and grape fruit,
b) miodowowinny flavor, harmonized with the taste of juice used, without foreign flavors - honey meads in grape and fruit
c) miodowowinny taste, enriched with the taste of typical spices that are used - in the honey meads and herbal spices, d) the total acidity expressed as malic acid in an amount from 3.5 to 8 grams per liter,
e) the volatile acidity expressed as acetic acid in an amount not greater than 1.4 grams per liter;
2) include:
a) reducing sugars after inversion:
From 35 to 90 grams per liter for Czwórniak,
From 65 to 120 grams per liter for trojniak,
From 175 to 230 grams per liter for dwójniak ',
More than 300 grams per liter in the case and half,
b) ethyl alcohol, multiplied by 18 and accumulated sugar content of not less than the following values:
- 240 - in the case Czwórniak,
- 323 - in the case trojniak,
- 490 - in the case dwójniak ',
- 600 - in the case and half,
c) ethyl alcohol in quantities:
- From 9 to 12% by volume in the case Czwórniak,
- From 12 to 15% by volume in the case trojniak,
- From 15 to 18% by volume in the case of 'dwójniak and and half,
d) the sugar extract in an amount not less than:
- 15 grams per liter for Czwórniak,
- 20 grams per liter for trojniak, Czwórniak grape and fruit
- 25 grams per liter in the case of 'dwójniak, Trójniak grape and fruit
- 30 grams per liter in the case and half, 'dwójniak grape and fruit
- 35 grams per liter and half in the case of grape and fruit
e) the ash content of not less than 1.3 grams per liter in the case of mead and grape fruit.

Now considering the translation facility is a free one, I'm pleased how it's turned out, but it does read as if the translation is very literal. I understand that the term "BLG" refers to Brix measurements for sugar content readings, so if you read this but use gravity readings, then it's probably gonna be necessary to convert Brix to gravity....

Either way, given that it seems Poland, among other European countries does seem to have an extensive history with meads, it's a bit unfortunate that more info about making meads this way, isn't available.

That doesn't mean I'll stop looking.........

TTFN!