Making alcohol is pretty straightforward stuff, and humans have enjoyed toying with the pastime for at least 8,000 years. Combine sugar, yeast, and a few other flavorful ingredients, let natural fermentation do its thing, and voilà—you have a new batch of hooch. After millennia of trial-and-error, it seems as though the history of alcohol consumption has all led to this one moment. The folks at Golden Hive Mead managed to concoct a Coca-Cola wine.
Well, since the recipe uses honey, it’s technically a mead that’s made from the iconic soda pop. Even more specifically, it’s actually a bochet—mead brewed with caramelized honey. But no matter how you classify it, the drink is very unique and very boozy.
As the brewers explain in their video, the process is simple enough. First, caramelize your honey until it darkens in color and takes on an oaky, smokey profile. Meanwhile, grab some Coke, pour it into a vat, and give it a lengthy stir to ensure it loses its carbonation and goes flat. Taking out the drink’s bubbles may seem counterintuitive, but it’s a necessary step. The soft drink’s bite comes from dissolving carbonic acid, and while that trademark tang is integral to Coke’s palette profile, it’s no friend to fermentation.
Once the carbonation is gone, you only need to combine the Coke and honey in a fermenting vat along with some yeast, seal the container, and be patient. Yeast may look inert at first glance, but it contains millions of living microorganisms that feed on sugar and exude alcohol. It may go without saying, but there is quite a lot of sugar in the proto-cola mead, so the yeast spends the next 30-or-so days chowing down. Although the fermentation literally eats away at the recognizable flavors, adding a toasted oak stave along with vanilla bean, cinnamon, and a bit of extra caramelized honey after a couple weeks should supplement any lost traits.
Judging from the home brewers’ reactions, it’s somewhat amazing that Coca-Cola mead isn’t already a big deal. Both taste testers seem to love the final product, which features about 10.5 percent alcohol-by-volume and offers a “tangy caramel” profile with notes of cinnamon apple.
Is it more work than mixing a Jack-and-Coke? Of course. But history isn’t made by the timid—or, in some cases, the sober.
