The alcoholic beverage chouchen, popular in Brittany, is a type of what?

Chouchen is an alcoholic beverage popular in Brittany in France. A form of mead, it is made from the fermentation of honey in water. Chouchen normally contains 14% alcohol by volume. Traditionally, 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 (without ice), and generally as an aperitif. It can also be added to melon, in a similar way to port wine, 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.