Mead Royale
A Mead Royale is 30ml of dry mead and 15ml of elderflower liqueur in a chilled flute, with 90ml of cold dry sparkling wine poured slowly over them, finished with a lemon twist. About 1.7 UK units by our calculation, at our working figures of 12% ABV for the mead, 20% for the liqueur and 12% for the wine. Wine contains sulphites, and many meads do too. Ours is a St David’s Day toast, built the way a Kir Royale is: a small measure of something flavoured, with sparkling wine poured over it. A translation of the medieval Laws of Hywel Dda lists a mead brewer among the officers of the royal court. The mead has to be dry. A dry one tastes of honey without adding much sugar, and the wine’s acidity keeps the glass crisp. A sweet mead beside a sweet liqueur makes it cloying.
Glassware: Champagne Flute
Garnish: Lemon twist expressed over the flute and dropped in
Ingredients
30ml
A dry mead at our working 12% ABV, Welsh for St David’s Day if you can find one. Read the label and taste it for dryness. Many contain sulphites.
15ml
At our working 20% ABV, and the link between honey and wine. Doubled, it perfumes the glass and covers the mead.
90ml
Dry, at our working 12% ABV: brut cava, crémant, or English or Welsh sparkling wine. Keep champagne for drinking on its own. Contains sulphites.
Instructions
Chill the mead, elderflower liqueur, sparkling wine and a flute.
Pour the mead and the elderflower liqueur into the flute.
Tilt the flute and top slowly with the sparkling wine.
Express a lemon twist over the glass and drop it in.
Our version
Our own St David’s Day recipe, built on the Kir Royale form: 30ml of dry mead and 15ml of elderflower liqueur under 90ml of dry sparkling wine.
Source: our own specification. Last checked 10 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Taste the mead before you commit to it. Meads run from bone dry to dessert sweet and from about 4% to 20% ABV, and the label does not always say which. You want a dry one at wine strength. Chill all three bottles and the flute. There is no ice, so the fridge does all the cooling, and a warm mead knocks the fizz out of the wine at once. Tilt the flute, pour the wine gently and do not stir. The mead and liqueur are denser and mix as the wine rises through them.
Behind the Mead Royale
Flavour Profile
Mead in Wales
Mead is honey fermented with water, Dictionary.com says. A translation of the Laws of Hywel Dda, from a manuscript of about 1285, counts a mead brewer among the officers of the court and says his protection runs from the time he begins to prepare the mead vat until he covers it. The National Library of Wales says the laws are named after Hywel Dda (died 950), who is credited with their codification, though none of the surviving Welsh law manuscripts is earlier than the second quarter of the 13th century.
Dictionary.com derives the English word metheglin, a spiced mead, from the Welsh meddyglyn, a compound of meddyg (healing) and llyn (liquor). A dry one is the one for this drink.
The Royale Form
A Royale is a small measure of something flavoured with sparkling wine poured over it. The Kir Royale uses crème de cassis. Here the mead takes that place, with a little elderflower liqueur, and because mead is itself fermented the glass tastes like two wines meeting more than like a flavoured fizz.
Dry Mead, Dry Wine
Every part of the drink can bring sugar: the liqueur, the mead and the wine’s dosage. Keep the mead and the wine dry and the sugar comes from the liqueur alone, at 15ml, which is enough.
On a sparkling wine label, the Union des Maisons de Champagne gives brut as under 12g of sugar a litre, extra-dry as 12 to 17g and sec as 17 to 32g, so brut is the drier. It reads backwards, but it is the rule, and an extra dry bottle tips this drink sweet.
The Royale Family
The Mead Royale beside our Kir Royale, Mimosa and Bellini; all four are our recipes and the units are our calculation
Mead Royale
- In the flute first
- 30ml dry mead, 15ml elderflower liqueur
- Sparkling wine
- 90ml dry sparkling wine
- UK units
- About 1.7
Kir Royale
- In the flute first
- 10ml crème de cassis
- Sparkling wine
- 90ml brut champagne
- UK units
- About 1.2
Mimosa
- In the flute first
- 75ml fresh orange juice
- Sparkling wine
- 75ml prosecco
- UK units
- About 0.8
Bellini
- In the flute first
- 50ml white peach purée
- Sparkling wine
- 100ml prosecco
- UK units
- About 1.1
| Drink | In the flute first | Sparkling wine | UK units |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mead Royale | 30ml dry mead, 15ml elderflower liqueur | 90ml dry sparkling wine | About 1.7 |
| Kir Royale | 10ml crème de cassis | 90ml brut champagne | About 1.2 |
| Mimosa | 75ml fresh orange juice | 75ml prosecco | About 0.8 |
| Bellini | 50ml white peach purée | 100ml prosecco | About 1.1 |
How to Serve It
Cold, in a chilled flute, poured as guests arrive. It is quick to make in a row: the mead and liqueur go into every flute first, then the wine down the line.
With crème de cassis in place of the mead, a Kir Royale; with orange juice, a Mimosa.
Make it at home
The Spirit
Elderflower LiqueurElderflower liqueur is fresh elderflowers macerated in spirit and sweetened; St-Germain, the bottle most of our recipes name, is 20% ABV with 180g of sugar per litre by Difford’s Guide’s account. That sugar clears the 100g a litre Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 asks of a liqueur and lets it stand in for syrup, which is why our drinks pour it at 7.5 to 25ml as a floral sweetener rather than as a base spirit.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in a Mead Royale?
What is mead?
Why does the mead have to be dry?
Which sparkling wine should I use?
Does a Mead Royale contain sulphites?
Why is it a St David’s Day drink?
How strong is a Mead Royale?
Sources.
Correct as of 19 October 2026.
- Dictionary.com, “mead” (dictionary entry: an alcoholic liquor made by fermenting honey and water).
- The Celtic Literature Collective, “The Laws of Hywel Dda (Harleian MS 4353, with emendations from Cleopatra A XIV, ca. 1285)” (translation of the medieval law: “The protection of the mead brewer is from the time he shall begin to prepare the mead vat until he shall cover it”; a mead brewer has his land free and a horse from the king).
- National Library of Wales, “Laws of Hywel Dda” (the library’s manuscripts exhibition: named after Hywel Dda (died 950), credited with their codification; none of the surviving Welsh law manuscripts is earlier than the second quarter of the 13th century).
- Union des Maisons de Champagne, “Dosage” (trade body page: in ascending order of sweetness, Brut under 12 g of sugar a litre, Extra-Dry 12 to 17 g, Sec 17 to 32 g, Demi-Sec 32 to 50 g, Doux over 50 g).
- legislation.gov.uk, “Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex II” (primary source (retained EU law): point 12, sulphur dioxide and sulphites at concentrations of more than 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/litre in terms of total SO2).
- Dictionary.com, “metheglin” (dictionary entry: a variety of spiced mead; from Welsh meddyglyn, meddyg (healing) plus llyn (liquor); first recorded 1525 to 1535).
You Might Also Like
Kir Royale
A Kir Royale is 10ml of crème de cassis in a chilled flute, topped slowly with 90ml of cold brut champagne and not stirred. No garnish is needed. About 1.2 UK units. These are the IBA’s Kir measures, with champagne in place of white wine as the IBA’s own note directs. The Oxford Companion says the Kir is named after Félix Kir, the priest who was mayor of Dijon from 1945 to 1968, and that the drink, known as the Blanc Cassis, took his name only after his election. Difford’s Guide says he popularised it by promoting regional products at official functions. The Royale is the same idea with champagne. One part cassis in ten keeps it dry: the liqueur colours the wine and rounds its acidity without making it sweet. Difford’s Guide calls for six parts of wine to one of cassis, and the Oxford Companion gives 15ml to 100ml. Champagne contains sulphites.
Mimosa
A Mimosa is 75ml of fresh orange juice poured into a cold flute, then 75ml of cold prosecco added slowly and stirred once. About 0.8 UK units. Those are the IBA’s measures, and the IBA lists an orange twist as an optional garnish. Difford’s Guide, a secondary source, says many books credit Frank Meier at the Ritz in Paris in 1925, though it puts the creation between 1921 and 1923, and the name is commonly said to come from the bright yellow flowers of the mimosa tree; we have found no primary record. The IBA also lists it as Buck’s Fizz. Difford’s defines the Buck’s Fizz as two parts champagne to one of juice and thinks it was created in 1921 by Malachi “Pat” MacGarry, the bartender at Buck’s Club in London. Half the glass is juice, so squeeze it the same day. Carton juice makes a dull Mimosa.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 19 October 2026