Viking society have a special place in Norse culture. They were highly respected, and they were entrusted with brewing ale for their family’s consumption! Essentially, it was up to them whether or not you got your daily dose of beer. By cooking food and brewing this delicious beverage, these Nordic ladies had all sorts of control over her home life. In addition to making sure that everyone drank enough water each day (and enjoyed some flavor!), there is evidence suggesting. That many brewers would also sell small portions as well – especially if she needed money on occasion!
As long as they had some mead, ale and beer, To keep them alive during their lengthy journeys at sea, the Vikings were all set. Fermented beverages are an easy way for raiding warriors like these guys on board a ship. To stay hydrated without having to stop every now and then for fresh water.
Why should beer or mead be drunk from authentic Viking beer horns...and not from beer mugs?
Not only is beer served in beer mugs, beer glasses, or beer steins, beer can also be drunk directly out of a traditional. Viking drinking horn or mead cup made from 100% real bovine ox horn material. I’ve seen people using Viking drinking horns as every day glasses and they seemed to like it – a lot! Hence the reason I began working at AleHorn. It’s really not about drinking from a horn, but having the fantasy feeling of drinking like a menacing Viking from the 790s.
THE STORY OF BEER AND MEAD IN VIKING
It quenched the thirst after the salty Viking food had been eaten. The Vikings drank strong beer at festive occasions, together with the popular drink of mead. Mead was a sweet, fermented drink made from honey, water and spices.
Viking Horn V/s Drinking Mugs
Viking Horn Mugs
The horn mugs are uniquely made in a traditional manner by steaming, shaping, and bending over the handles to make this stylish creation. This creative innovation for horn mugs stems back to the 18th century, where our mugs are handmade in a traditional horn factory in England. The Viking Dragon proudly continues the tradition by offering these classic horn mugs that impressed the producers of shows like ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘Vikings’, and other semi-historical films to use them on set. In fact The Viking Dragon supplied 600 of these horn mugs to the production company of ‘Game of Thrones’. The Viking Dragon continues to supply these original horn mugs that are the same ones supplied to Game of Thrones for their feasting gear in the series.Â
THE DRINKING HORN IN NORSE CULTURE
The relationship between the drinking horn and the afterlife is a less know connection. But it brings us to what is likely the most popular version of the drinking horn as we know it today. The drinking horn of the Vikings! And somehow, despite not being made of gold, or garnished with jewels, or crafted with legs and caps like some of the adaptations made by the early Christian church during that time. The Viking drinking horns are the ones we all imagine when the image is called to mind.
In Viking culture, drinking horns were a popular vessel for beer, wine, and of course mead, but unlike other cultures, like I mentioned before. They were not the gilded trophies of kings. They weren’t used in the symbolic burial of great warriors either. For the living, drinking horns were just cups, but as the traditions of the Norse people grew more vivid, possibly due to their interactions with the Greeks and Iron Celts, or possibly due to their isolation, the mysticism around mead and the horns that held it grew stronger as well.
VIKING BOOZE & MEAD MAGIC
Alcohol has been no stranger to any people of any age. At some point everyone either discovered fermentation by accident. Maybe by letting their gain barrels get filled with rainwater, or alcohol was introduced to them by an outside culture. Either way, we have been finding unique ways to brew alcohol. Since long before anyone can even remember. The earliest written recipe for beer has been credited to the Sumerians. It was found embedded in a poem written nearly 3,900 years ago. But while countries like China may have archeological evidence to prove that. They had been brewing beer for at least the last 5,000 years, it is the Norse. Who are credited with one of the most innovative methods of fermentation; the fermentation of honey.
