|  In an email brochure received by the Indian Wine Academy yesterday by the Fine Food India Expo, the copy reads, ‘Lithuanian Mead, the recipe of which finds mention in the ancient Indian text Rig Veda 6000 years ago, is now making its way back to its country of birth – India and is being launched by the Indian Baltic Chamber of Commerce at Fine Food India Expo 2013’, says the PR received as a pdf file.
‘Declared as a national heritage product in Lithuania the drink’s low alcohol content and unique sweet taste is bound to be a hit with the Indians,’ suggests the Release, egging on the readers (like me) who are supposedly wine and food professionals to Register (apparently for the Show) and be the First one to sample the Lithuanian Mead. The message is sure to hit the chord with the Facebook Junkies and the twitteratis to stand in line to be the first ones to taste the ‘Gods’ nectar’ even though there are no indications of the alcohol or the sugar levels.
Mead is a fermented beverage made of water and honey, malt, and yeast. It is different than honey alcohol. 'Mead is not the same beverage as honey-wine,' according to Wikipedia. 'However they are often confused with each other or thought to be the same beverage. While mead is made of honey, water and beer-yeast, honey-wine is watered honey fermented by recrement of grapes (or other fruits).' The confusion would seem to prevail in this case apparently as well.
The Indian Baltic Chamber of Commerce which is coming to launch the product in India on December 11, claims the Stakliskes (a small village in Lithuania) mead was given the status of National Cultural Heritage of Lithuania in 2002. Curiously, the Chamber claims through this Ad Campaign that Queen Elizabeth II gave the Stakliskes based company-Lietuviskas Midus the patent to make it the sole proprietor of the drink. The copy even mentions the Patent No. 1280830 to lend credibility to its claim. The Campaign does not explain how UK came in the picture in awarding the patent to a Baltic nation that was under Soviet Rule till a couple of decades ago.
The beverage with added vitamins is now made from thyme, ginger, honey, hops, lime flowers, juniper berries and other vitamin C-containing additives and is aged for at least 18 months. The company is reportedly producing 200,000 liters annually and uses 100 tons of honey in it.
The product will be launched in the Indian market in early 2014, claims the Advertisement. It assumes that importers will make a bee-line to distribute the product. Since the label registrations start in April (theoretically-but in practice seldom before June-July), it is unlikely that the product will be available before July-unless the producers go for the label registration in January by paying the charges for 3 months. Any which way, the Show provides a good opportunity to sample the product.
The Fine Food India Expo is being held in Pragati Maidan in Halls 12 and 12A. For more details of the product and the company, visit http://www.midus.lt/en.php?p=Product&pid=37
Subhash Arora
Ad Campaign for the Mead/FFI
Tags: Fine Foods India, Madhu Madya, Lithuania, Indian Baltic Chamber of Commerce, Lietuviskas Midus |