Mt. Lebanon’s KingView is making mead, saving bees

From triblive.com

When Scott Neeley talks about making customers happy with KingView meads and wines, he means a lot more than just a responsible buzz for the 21-and-over crowd.

“I always wanted to start a business that hit three major marks: It had to be fun, had to be something I was interested in, and it had to benefit society in some way,” said Neeley, 40, of Pleasant Hills, Pennsylvania.

KingView Meadhouse & Winery aims to open its first tasting room and restaurant by the end of this summer, just about one year after the property, a former gas station building, was purchased. Located at the apex of Banksville, McFarland and Beverly Roads, KingView is a Mt. Lebanon business, though a stone’s throw from the Dormont line. It’s a welcomed update to a previously underdeveloped property, giving new dimension to Neeley’s desire to benefit society.

                                          KingView Meadhouse and Winery     Abby Mackey

“We’re excited that they’re coming, we’re excited about the location,” said Eric Milliron, Mt. Lebanon’s economic development officer. “The condition that property was in prior, it is just a radical improvement to one of the major gateways into our community.”

Neeley’s less accidental societal contribution has everything to do with bees.

The fermentation of honey (and sometimes flavourful additions, such as fruit or spices) creates the alcoholic beverage known as mead. Wine-like in its range of flavour and mouth-feel, there’s a mead for almost any palate: dry to sweet, thick to thin, with an incredible amount of tasty subtlety coming from additions such as fruit and spices.

The honeybee population that creates that honey, however, has been dropping precipitously for the past several decades — a trend that Neeley is attempting to curb.

KingView collaborates with the Pennsylvania Beekeepers Association in order to source all 10,000 pounds of its yearly honey usage from Pennsylvania beekeepers. In an effort coined Mead-for-Bees, Kingview pledges to donate 10% of all sales to fight the bee population decline and periodically holds beekeeping equipment giveaways.

“We need to eat, and a lot of our food comes from plant-based things, and you need pollinators for that,” said Neeley. “If we’re supporting the pollinators in a fun way, we’re supporting sustainable food. It all creates a circle, which is great.”

After graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School, Neeley earned a degree in finance and management information systems from the University of Pittsburgh’s Johnstown campus.

Visits to the winery-studded Niagara Falls region in his 20s inspired this entrepreneurial outlet. The paucity of mead-creators — or methiers, as they were called in medieval times — made mead the focus.

KingView Mead was born in 2011. Neeley began entering, and winning, amateur competitions by 2015. Until now, the business has relied mostly on internet, festival and liquor store sales, but that model is on the verge of a significant evolution.
KingView’s Mt. Lebanon location will feature on-site and retail sales of its libations, and a food menu.

Covid-19 restrictions aside, patrons will have the choice of indoor or outdoor dining, though the outdoor space might easily steal the show.

“If we were open right now, we could take advantage of it from a Covid perspective, but it’s more about creating that Garden of Eden-type of atmosphere where we’re actually going to be growing food out there,” said Neeley of the mid-construction patio whose wood-planked enclosure already hints at the vibe.

While the on-property parking is limited, on-street parking is readily available and negotiations are ongoing for spaces at an adjacent lot.

As Neeley and Milliron are both quick to point out, however, the area is known as a walking community.
“All sidewalks lead to KingView,” Milliron said. “It’s a destination-type business. So, if someone is seeking out mead, they’ll find a way to get there. I think he’ll find a lot of success here.”

https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/mt-lebanons-kingview-is-making-mead-saving-bees/

The Brightside: Creating a buzz about environmentalism through mead

From wmdt.com

BERLIN, Md. – Opening up a business can be a scary venture, especially during a global pandemic… but a man named Brett Hines is determined to make a difference with his new establishment called The Buzz Meadery.

Mead, also known as honey wine, is the oldest existing form of alcohol.

Hines said, “Beer is made with grain, wine is made with grapes, mead is made with honey… and that’s the way I like to think about it.”

Not only is mead a historic and delicious drink, it’s also environmentally friendly.

Hines said, “I really like making mead because I’m able to actually source the supply chain, the entire supply chain myself from our local community.”
Hines works with local farmers and a local apiary to brew up the beverage, helping both the honeybee population and the local agriculture industry to thrive.

“Through keeping our supply chain local, not only do we support local farmers, we empower our community by keeping more dollars in our communities, but we also reduce our carbon footprint,” Hines said.

Hines also sells his mead in reusable bottles, which people can bring back to get a discount off their next order.
“Then we’re not having to buy new you know bottles or cans all the time,” Hines explained.

So not only is Brett producing delicious mead, he’s also brewing up conversations about environmentalism in Berlin.

Hines said, “Everybody can relax around a glass of mead, and that’s how I felt the most approachable way was to have this conversation was through that.”

So whether he’s crafting the perfect drink for his customers, inspiring others to pursue their goals, or pouring out his feelings about environmentalism, you can always find Hines creating a buzz about mead in his community.
Hines works closely with his wife to make this all possible. She is also into environmentalism.

If you’re interested in buying a bottle from Brett and his wife, you can find them at the Ocean Pines Farmers Market on Saturday, and at the Berlin Farmers Market on Sunday.

You can also find them at their taphouse located at 9040 Worcester Highway, Unit D in Berlin. Their taphouse is open Thursday through Sunday 1 p.m. through 6 p.m.
You can find The Buzz Meadery on Facebook by clicking here.

https://www.wmdt.com/2020/07/the-brightside-creating-a-buzz-about-environmentalism-through-mead/

KingView Mead opening in Mt. Lebanon, Pittsburgh, in a former gas station

From nextpittsburgh.com

Scott Neeley started making mead in his Pleasant Hills home as a tribute to his Northern European ancestors.
The oldest known alcohol — with recipes dating back 7,000 years — is made with fermented honey. Everyone from the Vikings to the ancient Egyptians enjoyed the beverage, and by this fall, folks in Mt. Lebanon will have a place to swill it, too.

KingView Mead is opening a 1,500-square-foot tasting room at 101 Beverly Road, in a former Gulf gas station just off Banksville Road.
They will sell mead by the glass and the bottle, including sweet offerings such as Watermelon Strawberry, gluten-free Blue & White, and Black & Gold, a mix of black tea and lemon mead. They also plan to offer a small menu of dried meats, cheeses, fruits and vegetables picked from the on-site garden.

Neeley also makes wines and ciders and there will be a selection of beers and vino from across Pennsylvania. But the money’s in the honey.

A fan of medieval history, Neeley was looking for a way to build a company that was fun, educational and benefited humanity.
“There’s a big plight with our bee population in America and we need pollinators to create more food,” he says. “My heritage and that idea checked off all the boxes for me.”

                                                       Photo courtesy of KingView Mead

KingView Mead started in 2015 and the production still takes place at Neeley’s home, where he churns out about 30,000 gallons a year. There are plans to convert the company’s 33-acre property in Springfield Township (near the Grove City Premium Outlets) into a fully functioning farm, complete with 500 to 600 beehives. Their Mead-for-Bees program pledges 10 percent of all sales to purchase new boxes, frames and nucs for local beekeepers and apiaries to be given away via sweepstakes drawings.

Through the state’s PA Preferred program, 75 percent of the company’s output is made from ingredients from Pennsylvania, including apples and honey. For KingView, a small order of honey weighs about 1,200 pounds.

Production on a batch of mead can take anywhere from one month to an entire year, depending on the style. Neely doesn’t have a particular favourite because each kind has its own character. Pyment boasts a grape juice base. Cyser uses apple juice. Braggot starts off as beer. Melomel uses fruit to give it its special flavour.

KingView’s beverages hover around 7 to 14 percent alcohol by volume, although meads can get as low as 2 percent and as high as 20 percent. Most are served cold, but the Happy Apple Pie is great warmed up on a cold autumn night.

As the Mt. Lebanon buildout continues, Neeley is hitting different farmers’ markets and wine festivals (according to federal law, mead is designated as a wine), including the Wine n’ Food Truck Palooza at the Rostraver Ice Garden in Belle Vernon on Aug. 22.
Neeley is excited to open the tasting room, to help Pittsburghers disconnect from the modern world.

“I think technology is great, but we need to take it back a few hundred years to when we used our hands more, went outside more and farmed more,” he says. “It was a simpler way of living. We want you to show up here, relax and go back in time.”

https://nextpittsburgh.com/city-design/kingview-mead-opening-in-mt-lebanon-in-a-former-gas-station/

Flagstaff, Arizona, Hails Historic Mead Culture

From flagstaffbusinessnews.com

Originating more than 5,000 years ago, mead belongs at the very beginning of the long history of alcoholic libations enjoyed by humans. Mead is mentioned in history and mythology of the ancient cultures of India, China, Greece and Egypt. Simply put, mead is fermented honey, a honey wine made from just water, honey and yeast.

Today, this ancient beverage is being showcased in a Viking-style, yet modern, setting in downtown Flagstaff. The new drinking hall, Drinking Horn Meadery, opened on Friday, June 12, in a historic building on Route 66.

It takes some kind of business bravado to hang an open sign during fragile economic conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic, but co-owners Kelly Czarnecki and her husband, Evan Anderson, share both an optimistic nature and a passion for the fascinations of mead. They were delighted to find the new high-profile location.
“We wanted to provide a fun atmosphere for our patrons and showcase the Drinking Horn culture,” Czarnecki explained. “When I first saw the location downtown, I just knew this was the spot we’d been looking for.”

The mood in the remodelled space is definitely Viking – wood floors, dark beams, helmets and fixtures. “Imagine walking along Route 66 in downtown Flagstaff,” said Anderson. “You open the door to the Mead Hall and step back in time 1,000 years.”

It is somehow appropriate that an ancient libation is being served in one of the oldest stone buildings in town. The couple is renting the space at 108 E. Route 66 from Coast & Mountain Properties.

“They are wonderful people!” said Karen Kinne-Herman, whose husband, Maury Herman, is the principal at the real estate company and comes from a pioneering Flagstaff family. “Maury and I are excited that they’ve chosen to bring their unique business to downtown. Our last tenant in that location, Galaxy Sales, was with us for over 50 years. We hope that Kelly and Evan will succeed for as long!”

The couple’s interest in mead began with their wedding and their honeymoon. “The word honeymoon is derived from mead,” Czarnecki explained. “A bride and groom were supposed to drink honey wine for the whole ‘moon cycle’ after marriage to promote fertility. Evan, being the romantic he is, made mead for our wedding. Everyone really loved it and that is how our journey began.”

Romance and history also are honoured in the Drinking Horn traditional mead recipes, but other recipes are wildly creative and new. The main mead maker is Czarnecki’s brother, Charles Felkins, who first worked with his brother-in-law, Evan, to create a version of the traditional mead metheglin using orange peel, black tea and cinnamon. One of the oldest varieties, the name metheglin derives from the Welsh root meddy, which means medicine or healing, and gllyn, meaning liquor.

“We still have bottles of the metheglin left, but they are going fast,” Czarnecki said. “I imagine that he [Charles] will make it again in November, but he is also coming up with some fun new ideas. We will have to see what he decides for the fall.”

Meadery creations feature local honey from Mountain Top Honey Co., water and seasonal fruit to ferment flavours that range from fruity and sweet to dry and herbaceous.
Heather McCleester, owner of Potion Tea and Bakery in Flagstaff, has helped the mead makers come up with interesting herbs and spices for their tasting expedition into the world of mead.
This season’s menu of mead flavours includes Prickly Pear, Elderberry and Blue-Tooth.

“Blue-Tooth is a big fan favourite, juicy flavour without being too sweet, and it is named after the Danish king!” Anderson said.

Since 2017, the meadery has been creating, bottling and selling 15 flavours of honey wine at the production headquarters on Grant Street in Flagstaff. Drinking Horn mead has been featured in dozens of local restaurants and has been shipped to 35 states.

When Food Network celebrity Guy Fieri featured the Drinking Horn in a 2017 segment of “Guy’s Family Road Trip,” he loved the mead and made a batch with Anderson, according to a press release.

The Flagstaff community has been supportive as well. “The response to our business has been great, right from day one when we just had our production location; we have seen a huge amount of community support,” Anderson said. “People want to be able to drink something different, and mead is that thing. It has history on nearly every continent, truly making it the beverage of humankind.”

Mead also is very versatile, Czarnecki noted. “It pairs well with many things,” she said. “Our pomegranate mead pairs well with lamb, the Blue-Tooth goes great with goat cheese and sausages, the coffee pairs with tiramisu and chocolate-covered strawberries, the lemon ginger mead pairs with Thai food, and the lime mead goes great with Mexican food.”

Mead can be used as a marinade for meats and veggies and added to olive oil to make a salad dressing.

Anderson said summers are usually a busy time for the meadery, but this summer may be uncharacteristically quiet, as many local events have been cancelled. “We normally do a lot of events during the summer, so not having that this year has been a big change for us, but my two favourite events are the Arizona Mead and Cider Festival, and Medieval Mayhem. We love going to events, dressing up, and teaching people about mead and bees!”

The good news is that “things are changing fast right now,” he added, “and the new Drinking Horn Mead Hall on Route 66 is up and running and doing dine-in reservations and kerbside pickup.”
The Mead Hall meets requirements for sanitation and social distancing to create a safe environment for guests.

In addition to local beverages, the unique gathering place offers Viking games, a monthly Sunday brunch and a podcast. Also, mead can be ordered online at drinkinghornmeadery.com.

When was the last time you laughed out loud?
Evan: “Just this morning. I took one look at my hairdo and cackled hilariously.”
Kelly: “This morning when I looked at Evan’s hair.”

What are you looking forward to that you haven’t been able to do in the last several months?
Evan: “I can’t wait to see the smiling faces of our customers as they come in to enjoy the new spot we made for them, and for all of our future customers.”

What advice would you offer young entrepreneurs?
Evan: “Pick something that truly interests you. Starting your own business is difficult and will take up all of your time, energy and money. If you are not passionate about what you are doing, you will never make it through the rough parts to enjoy the good parts. Also, pick a good team; as you grow, find people who can do your job better than you.”
Kelly: “Don’t be afraid to fail and don’t get stuck in over-thinking. It really all comes down to learning, and you won’t start the learning process until you jump in and try something. There are so many things we have done that we could/should have done differently, but we wouldn’t know that until we tried and messed up. You can’t think of every scenario, so you have to trust your gut and go for it. When the explosions or the pandemic happens, you learn to pivot and take it one hour at a time, but you can’t predict them, so don’t let the over-thinking hold you back.

If you could travel anywhere right now, where would you go?
Evan: “I would travel to Sor-Hidle with my wife. It’s a small island off the coast of Norway, most northerly palm trees in the world – just seems like a magical place to visit.”
Kelly: “Sor-Hidle, because that’s where my husband would be.”

What do you see yourself doing five years from now?
Kelly: “I would like to be watching people come into our Mead Hall to share their thoughts, ideas and love with one another, making it a true community space. That’s what mead halls were historically, and I would love to see our space grow into that sort of feel.” FBN

https://www.flagstaffbusinessnews.com/flagstaff-hails-historic-mead-culture/