Simply finding a wild hive in the forest and dissolving it in water is enough to produce an alcoholic beverage within a few days. Many believe that a storm-felled, rain-soaked tree hive (dore) was the first fermented drink in human history; after tasting it, early humans likely began to intentionally imitate this accidental process. Interestingly, until the 18th century, the Latvian word for honey—medus—was used to describe both the bee product and the fermented drink itself. Furthermore, “honey boiling” is frequently mentioned as a core activity of local tribes in the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia and later sources.
In the Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, various derivatives of the word for honey still refer to mead (e.g., English mead or Swedish mjöd). In contrast, the Latvian word miestiņš is etymologically linked to the word “to stir” (maisīt). It stems from the Indo-European root mei, which signified change, stirring, and mixing. In the context of fermentation history, miestiņš most likely referred to beverages made from mixed sugar sources, such as honey, malted barley, and fruit. Consequently, it is technically incorrect to use “beer” and miestiņš as synonyms. The origin of the word for beer—alus—is also fascinating; it is derived from the Proto-Indo-European alu, meaning “bitter.” It is believed that honey drinks were enriched with various bitter herbs, including hops, for flavor balance or medicinal purposes. Later, alus came to specifically denote a malted barley drink, distinguishing it from mead and miestiņš, which could be sweeter and considerably stronger.
The fact that the ancient Balts were familiar with barley beer and hops long before the Northern Crusades is proven by historical records showing that both malt and hops were paid as taxes from the very beginning. Thus, beer made from malted barley and hops is an indigenous part of Latvian culture. During this era, local tribes were fermenting pure honey, brewing barley beer, and most likely producing honey-malt hybrids on a large scale.
It was only in the 17th century, with the decline of forest beekeeping due to the spread of agriculture and the Lutheran Church’s reduced demand for wax candles, that barley beer began to outcompete mead. In one record from 1624, a farmer near Riga paid a tax on 12 barrels of beer and only one barrel of honey sold at St. Matthias Church. Records from this time also indicate that fermented honey in Vidzeme was three times more expensive than barley beer, which explains the shifting relationship between these beverages.