Chouchen is an alcoholic beverage

Alcoholic beverage

An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...

 popular in Brittany

Brittany

Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. A form of mead

Mead

Mead , also called honey wine, is an alcoholic beverage that is produced by fermenting a solution of honey and water. It may also be produced by fermenting a solution of water and honey with grain mash, which is strained immediately after fermentation...

, it is made from the fermentation of honey

Honey

Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...

 in water. Chouchen normally contains 14% alcohol by volume. Traditionally, buckwheat

Buckwheat

Buckwheat refers to a variety of plants in the dicot family Polygonaceae: the Eurasian genus Fagopyrum, the North American genus Eriogonum, and the Northern Hemisphere genus Fallopia. Either of the latter two may be referred to as "wild buckwheat"...

 honey is used, and this imparts chouchen's strong colour and pronounced flavour.

In Brittany, the fermentation process is begun by the addition of freshly pressed apple juice. Yeasts can also be used, as in the beer - making process. To reach the required alcoholic strength, for a litre of chouchen, approximately a third of a litre of honey is needed.

Chouchen is drunk chilled (though without ice), and generally as an aperitif

Aperitif

Apéritifs and digestifs are alcoholic drinks that are normally served with meals.-Apéritifs:An apéritif is usually served before a meal to stimulate the appetite. This contrasts with digestifs, which are served after a meal for the purpose of aiding digestion...

. It can also be added to melon, in a similar way to port wine

Port wine

Port wine is a Portuguese fortified wine produced exclusively in the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine, and comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties...

, or as a hot wine in the winter. There are different kinds of chouchen in Brittany, some of which are prepared with a mixture of seawater as well as fresh water and honey.

Originally chouchen was made of cider

Cider

Cider or cyder is a fermented alcoholic beverage made from apple juice. Cider varies in alcohol content from 2% abv to 8.5% abv or more in traditional English ciders. In some regions, such as Germany and America, cider may be termed "apple wine"...

and honey. The historical reputation of chouchen as a powerful intoxicant arises partly from claims that its effects were boosted by the venom of bees that became mixed up in the brew. While this claim cannot be verified, bees and their venom are not ingredients of the modern product.

There is a further drink similar to chouchen, called chufere, which is made of honey and cider. It is generally of a lower strength in alcohol than chouchen, typically eight to nine percent alcohol by volume, and has become less popular and less common than chouchen.