I love honey. I also can try to feel a little like a viking in a mead hall. Do they serve mead in mead halls?
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Only to the highest ranked retainers. Everyone else gets beer.
This is the one you want btw: http://www.drinkupny.com/Honeyrun_Mead_Ragnars_Reserve_Honey_Wine_p/w0677.htm
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Knew I could rely on you. In fact I almost addressed it solely to you but figured it'd be impolite to not make it a general question.
So, Vikings is like a catch-all for sea-farers in the Scandinavian region, right? Encompassing Danes, Jutes, etc... or am I mistaken? And then, do all of these tribes that make up the Vikings have mead halls? Or is that unique to only certain groups?
I'll have to try that mead, once I find a better way to obtain it- the shipping was more than the mead itself! Maybe that means buy in bulk! Better find some fellow Vikings.
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Oh, also, Alex. There is a place called B. Nektar Meadery, which is actually located in Ferndale! They have tastings (dunno if that means free, I usually assume that's what it means) the first and last Fridays of the month. You'd be missing out if you didn't go!
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Technically Vikings are only privateers (that is, personally financed raiders) coming out from Reykjavik. One of the contested etymologies for "Viking" is "Guy who originates from the inlet (vik)." But interestingly, non-combative things like Leif Eriksson's journey to Vinland were "Viking" expeditions--in that case, in that his trip was financed with the intent to go find some stuff, beat it up, and take its gold and it just happened that they found some largely uninhabited farmland. But there are some important distinctions to be found. But yeah, "Viking" means something more like "mercenary" or "particularly Scandinavian sellsword."
Also, that was just the first link I got from a google search; you'll get a better price from the meadery directly: https://www.wineweb.com/scripts/secure/order.cfm/honeyrun
And actually they have a page that lists popular online retailers (although I'm not seeing one for brick and mortar places; if you e-mail they might be able to hook you up with their distributor who might be able to hook you up with further contact into):
http://www.honeyrunwinery.com/scripts/vineyardPg.cfm
I would be less vehement, but this mead is so much better than the other meads I've had. I also liked Bea's Mead, but they don't do as many fun combinations/experiments as Honeyrun. Also, Wild Turkey American Honey is just damned delicious.
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Man how'd you know I'd be in this topic
Wikipedia doesn't agree with Willis on a Viking needing to be a raider.
I personally associate Vikings most closely with Denmark; possibly they started from there or settled there. I forget which.
Most of Jutland is part of Denmark. Part is Germanic I think.
In fairness, I didn't call them raiders, I called them privateers-mercenaries, which I think is a fair term, although I could've been clearer, as in many situations they were happy to take your gold through peaceful means like trade (Vinlanda saga is an excellent example of this; they show up on the coast of Newfoundland and they're like "Sooo should we raid some stuff?" "Nah, nothing around." "Oh, okay, so let's build a settlement and sell people cloth").
The problem with the Wikipedia page is that "Viking" is a word that gets thrown around in contemporary sources, especially in English readings, and then that gets repeated over and over again. You have a group of terrifying pagan guys who burn down monasteries, and they call themselves Vikings, and Scandinavian people on non-raiding entrepreneurial ventures are happy to confirm the nomenclature, so when you see a different but ethnically similar group not necessarily burning down monasteries or selling back the goods they stole from a different monastery you're wont to call them "Vikings." And then it doesn't help that when the northern English kingdoms fell to Danes they did happen to be on a Viking expedition and sort of conquered York as a "mise," although they could hardly be called Vikings once they settled the district. Alex, that's probably why you associate them with Denmark so heavily, because in English history the most familiar branch were.
Okay, okay, I've got it. Vikings are exactly like the Quarians from Mass Effect going on pilgrimage. It's just acceptable that for a while in your rowdy youth you go out from your loose confederation of kingdoms, do some stuff, and bring back something that will benefit yourself and the community whether that be a trading expedition, a beating people expedition, or whatever. Vikings are robot mechanics with space AIDS.
Also, here's a map of medieval Scandinavia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Norway_1020_AD.png
Jutland is the peninsula thing to the south that has most of 11th century Denmark on it. The whole thing (well, except Finland) is "Germanic," but the southern part was back-and-forth disputed territory with continental German whoevers (Saxons? It's getting out of my area at that point), and so it's fair to make a distinction between High and Low Germanic language and to a lesser extent customs (low in the sense that the Netherlands is low). Although I would suspect that the cultural differences owe more to how much contact High Germans had with Rome and with the vestiges of Rome (that's just my thought; I don't think I've read any serious scholarship to the point, and really, not terribly much scholarship on anyone south of Denmark and west of Dover post-Charlemagne).
Also the identification of Jutland with the Jutes is contested, because everything is, but that's all on the wikipedia page.
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You did call them raiders.
"Technically Vikings are only privateers (that is, personally financed raiders) coming out from Reykjavik."
That said, I enjoyed reading what you presented. And Mark, next time you're in my area we can go get some mead at that place.
Oh, so I did. Cheerfully withdrawn.
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Yeah, I can imagine usage of words or entire concepts being perverted by popular sources in the past. Kind of like how lots of people think Columbus discovered the world was round when people since Aristotle's time who were learned knew the earth was round.
Ok, sounds good to me, Alex. I will also try to find that mead you recommend, Wil. I was glad to see it actually ships to Michigan, though- a lot of the time, certain places do not have the authority to ship alcohol to Michigan.
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Really? Do you guys have the state-owned liquor stores or something?
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I don't know, but I recall looking at probably a dozen mead sites, and only the one from Colorado could ship to me (and I didn't like the sounds of their mead so I didn't order it)
When I bought a liqueur, Chartreuse, I had no problems shipping it in from any of various sites. So I don't know if it's the specific product or what?
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No, our liquor stores are privatized. I don't know what the interstate liquor laws are but within the state I don't think we have any dry counties or anything like that.
Because of this topic, I badgered my buddy who works at the local wine store into ordering mead. Now I will be able to buy awesome mead much of the year, because of this topic. Thanks, this topic.
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