The Romans had numerous different categories of mead: hydromel (a weak mead), omphacomel (made with grape juice), rhodomel (made with roses) and oxymel (made with vinegar and salt). Hydromel, according to Pliny, was made by mixing three parts rainwater to one part honey, and leaving in the sun for forty days at the rising of the Dog Star.29 As well as making you drunk, this hydromel was supposed to cure small-mindedness.
