Though separated by geography and chronology, the ancient Celtics and the Sümi Naga tribe of Nagaland have something deliciously in common. Mead. Brewed by fermenting honey mixed with water and overripe fruit, the amber-hued drink is said to be the oldest known form of an alcoholic beverage — dating back 6,000 years.
It’s even older than wine. Growing up in the Tsüipu clan in Nagaland’s Zunheboto district, tribesperson Lovi Tsüipu, like the Celts, lived most of her life by the moon calendar. Every year, in July, when the full moon is closest to the summer solstice — known as the ‘Mead Moon’ — she’d watch her clanspeople prepare vats of mead.
But with a local twist. “To make our mead, we gather fruits and berries — especially, the local stronger flavoured amla [gooseberries] — and steep them in fresh spring water and black honey. The honey, which can only be found inside tree trunks or in hives built underground, is more robustly flavoured,” explains the 35-year-old, who, a decade ago, parleyed these ancient techniques and indigenous ingredients into building her own meadery, Tsüipu Heritage Beverages.
Lovi Tsüipu (centre) of Tsüipu Heritage Beverages with her team | Photo Credit: Armeren Aier She has been running the small-scale business independently out of a modest production unit in Dimapur. Here, at any given time, you can find at least 18 wooden casks filled with a variety of fruit-flavoured meads. These include the signature gooseberr.