Mead flows in Homer, Alaska, once more

From homernews.com

If Homerites have been missing honey with their alcohol, they’re in luck — mead is back in town.

Sweetgale Meadworks and Cider House opened in early October under owner and operator Jason Davis. Located in the barn behind the former Timeless Toys building on Main Street, the tasting room boasts five berry meads and three hard ciders on tap.

Homer’s last option for local mead, Ring of Fire Meadery, closed in 2013. Located in Old Town, it opened in 2004 and won several international awards until its closing.

Davis, whose background is in making natural wines in Malta and Sicily, already owned the former Timeless Toys building and the building behind it. After originally putting them on the market, he ventured back into his wine-making days once more.

Mead is made by fermenting honey with water. Berry wines with honey as the fermentable sugar source are considered meads, and end up with a drier finish. Berry meads are the feature of the new meadery.

“In the mead making world there’s a long tradition of combining berries and herbs with honey water,” Davis said.

He said berries help feed the yeast, which in turn can help the mead end up drier, as opposed to sweet.

“The end product is much more like wine than it is like mead, but it’s also a traditional way of making meads,” Davis said.

In order to call his products wine, Davis would have to use only cane sugar. As soon as honey is introduced as the sugar component, the end product is required to be labeled mead.

Davis’ preference leans toward dry meads, which will likely continue to feature in the tasting room, he said. To make them and his ciders, he’s sourcing local fruit from the area, from rhubarb to apples.

Right now, Davis said his weekly batches are 125 bottles. He’s trying to expand relationships with producers to keep up that pace.

Having a winery license, Davis was also able to make ciders and decided to give it a try, he said. Davis said he worried that the dry cider might be an acquired taste, but that it’s proven popular so far.

Davis, who had always thought he would end up making wine in his retirement, had begun to think that wouldn’t happen after his family tried out California for a few years. It didn’t take, and they moved back to Alaska, where Davis, a beekeeper, said he realized he could combine that resource with local fruits to make natural wines the way he had previously. That’s where the business grew from.

“I guess for me it’s a way to showcase our local fruits and berries and honey,” he said.

Davis doesn’t plan to have a huge operation, especially since he plans to continue using local products, which tend to be more expensive.

Right now, the Sweetgale Meadworks and Cider House has on-site tasting available, as well as the ability to fill a bottle to go, like a smaller version of a growler.

Sweetgale Meadworks and Cider House is open from 3-7 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, and from 1-7 p.m. on Saturday at 3657 Main Street.

Reach Megan Pacer at mpacer@homernews.com.

Jason Davis, owner of Sweetgale Meadworks and Cider House, pours a drink for a patron on Oct. 20, 2020 at the new business on Main Street in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Megan Pacer/Homer News)

https://www.homernews.com/news/mead-flows-in-homer-once-more/

Local and natural: mead maker starting ‘on right side of history’

From odt.co.nz

Wanaka entrepreneur Chanelle O'Sullivan has launched her startup company Borage + Bee Meadery. The honey-infused drink will be on shelves around the country and available online this month. PHOTO: SARAH DRUMMOND

Chanelle O’Sullivan sees a need for mead.

The Wanaka-based entrepreneur has launched startup company Borage + Bee Meadery and the honey-infused drink will be available in stores around the country and online this month.

Traditionally a still wine, sweetened by honey and fermented by yeast over time, its origins trace back more than 9000 years. It is arguably the oldest alcoholic drink known to mankind. Borage + Bee mead is carbonated to give it a modern twist.

Mrs O’Sullivan (32) and her husband, David, live on the shores of Lake Hawea with their children Izzy (8) and Hunter (5), having shifted from South Canterbury in April last year.

An experimental home brewer for 10 years, during which time she raided roadside apple trees for cider and riverside plum trees for fruit wine, she ventured into mead making in August 2018 after reading about it in a magazine.

   The cans feature a watercolour painting by Wanaka artist Sophie Melville

Mead was becoming "quite a big thing" in the United States, she said. She had been watching the market there for a while and there were new meaderies opening regularly.

The US tended to set the trends that were then seen in New Zealand when it came to alcohol consumption and she was keen to "catch that first wave" over here.

While Mrs O’Sullivan knew the basic principles of how to brew, she enlisted the help of Dunedin-based qualified brewer, scientist and beer judge Sam White.

She described herself as the "ideas and big picture" while he was into the intricate details of brewing, so it proved to be a good balance.

Four University of Otago food science undergraduates were also involved, experimenting with flavour and methodology trials in the laboratory.

When it came to the taste, Mrs O’Sullivan said people needed to "go into it with an open mind".

"It’s not what you expect. Everyone says, ‘is it like a beer or cider?’ It’s like neither," she said.

It was very crisp, refreshing and dry and her husband — a craft beer lover — drank it by choice, which was a "good gauge", she said.

Mrs O’Sullivan’s goal now was to have it stocked in supermarkets nationwide and to open a custom-built meadery in the Wanaka area.

The majority of people she collaborated with for the business lived in the Southern Lakes region and she wanted to tell the story of the region through her product.

“Entrepreneurship is celebrated in this think-outside-of-the-box area and it’s a really supportive community to live in,” she said.

She was looking to support local in return and chose to use only small family-owned apiaries to supply the honey for Borage + Bee’s mead.

“My goal is to be really transparent. I want to know exactly where my honey comes from and my strict belief was that we would not be using any sulphites or chemical additives. There are no artificial flavours, colours or preservatives and certainly nothing that can only be identified as a number in a Borage + Bee can.”

“Essentially, there is nothing in our mead other than honey, yeast and water, until we start playing with New Zealand-grown botanicals, herbs, spices and fruits,” she said.

Environmental impact was also very important and that was why she chose cans over bottles, and recycled cardboard and sugarcane-pulp can rings over plastic.

"Every bit counts and we wanted to start on the right side of history,” she said.

Mrs O’Sullivan had lots of ideas for Borage + Bee, saying the opportunities were endless.

With her entrepreneurial spirit, sometimes things did not progress or they did not turn out to be right for her, or she lost interest.

But two years into her mead journey, she was "still absolutely loving it".

"That’s pretty good for my personality," she said.

https://www.odt.co.nz/business/local-and-natural-mead-maker-starting-%E2%80%98-right-side-history%E2%80%99

Kinsale Mead Releases Latest in Barrel Aged Series

From fft.ie

The Kinsale Mead Co has released the second of its new, limited edition series of barrel aged meads, the Atlantic Dry Mead – Sauternes Barrel Aged 12% ABV.

This 3 year-old mead is finished dry, crisp and honeyed, matured for the last 12 months in a French oak wine barrel in the meadery to add structure and depth.

This is a fine mead with lingering almond, refreshing citrus and honey notes. Attractive with a bright, silky finish and a lovely balance of sweetness and acidity, dry and clean. There is an initial burst of honey at first, very refreshing, followed by the almond and florals such as honeysuckle and white acacia flowers and a subtle oak.

Their Wild Red Mead – Merlot Barrel Aged was released last month in a move described by wine writer Aoife Carrigy in the Irish Independent as “…upping its impressive game another notch…” and by wine writer, Leslie Williams in the Irish Examiner as “always interesting product…pouring like an aged Saint Émilion in the glass…Quite delicious and rather fascinating.”

“These unique meads have been a year in the making,” said Denis Dempsey, mead-maker and co-founder. “We were tasting them over lockdown and those extra few months in the barrels was a boon.”

“We serve the Merlot Barrel Aged Wild Red at room temperature,” said Kate Dempsey, co-founder and meadstress. “We’ve paired it with pâté on toast, Parma ham and Irish artisan sausages. While the Sauternes Barrel Aged Atlantic Dry shines paired with lemon tart, or cheesecake. For savoury pairings we’re trying a pungent Durrus or Gubbeen cheese or a herby roast chicken.”

“Our beautiful label is inspired by the story of the Wild Geese Irish,” explained Denis. “They emigrated in waves from Ireland to the continent at the end of the Jacobite wars and became soldiers in the armies of France as well as making and trading in wine. Kinsale was a wine port so, in a sense, we are completing the circle, bringing those precious barrels back.”

They have one more barrel aged mead to release later this year.

Merlot Barrel Aged Stockists includes Celtic Whiskey Shop, selected Supervalus, Bubble Brothers, Urru Bandon, 1601 Kinsale, Egans Portlaois, Martins Fairview and Blackrock Cellars, at an RRP of €27.95.

https://www.fft.ie/kinsale-mead-barrel-aged-atlantic-dry-mead/

National Honey Board Announces Winners of 2nd Annual Mead Crafters Competition

From prnewswire.com

Zen Bee Meadery's Mara Ume Wins Best in Show at Mead Competition

LONGMONT, Colo., Oct. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- A mead inspired by Japanese plum wine took home the top prize in the National Honey Board's second annual Mead Crafters Competition, which featured 305 entries from commercial meaderies in the United States. Zen Bee Meadery of Columbus, Ohio, took home Best in Show honours for Mara Ume, a session, semi-sweet mead made with plum juices and maraschino cherries. The judges of the competition were impressed with the mead's ability to balance the two fruit flavours while still showcasing the essence of honey in the mead.

In total, 23 gold medals were awarded at the Mead Crafters Competition in categories ranging from session meads to traditional meads to melomels. Rounding out the podium for Best in Show was Heidrun Meadery's Hawaiian Lehua Blossom and Second City Meadery's Existence is Pain. A design/packaging gold medal also was given to Baltimore's Charm CIty Meadworks for its Sweet Blossom Mead.

"The mead category continues to gain popularity from beer, spirits and wine drinkers looking for something different, and we're proud to host this competition and recognize some of the best in the industry," Catherine Barry, National Honey Board's director of marketing, says. "This year's competition really spotlighted the diversity of the mead segment. We had more session (low alcohol) meads entered than ever before, as well as some amazing melomels and traditional meads."

The Gold Medal winners of the 2020 Mead Crafters Competition:

2020 Best in Show Winners
Gold Medal: Mara Ume — Zen Bee Meadery, Dublin, Ohio
Silver Medal: Hawaiian Lehua Blossom — Heidrun Meadery, Point Reyes Station, California
Bronze Medal: Existence Is Pain — Second City Meadery, Chicago, Illinois

2020 Gold Medal Recipients
Bracket/Braggot: 10 Penny Lane — GoodRoad CiderWorks, Charlotte, North Carolina
Cyser: Honey de los Muertos — McGee's Mead LLC, St. Helena, California
Dessert: Blueberry NBCC — Melovino, Vauxhall, New Jersey
Fruit Vegetable Melomel - Dry: Crosswalk — GoodRoad CiderWorks, Charlotte, North Carolina
Fruit Vegetable Melomel - Semi-Sweet: Desire — Moonlight Meadery LLC, Londonderry, New Hampshire
Fruit Vegetable Melomel - Sweet: Peach Mead — Wyldewood Cellars Illinois, St. Joseph, Illinois
Metheglin - Dry: Stigmata — Monks Meadery, Atlanta, Georgia
Metheglin - Semi-Sweet: Mead with Coffee Beans — Bee-Town Mead & Cider, Bluffton, South Carolina
Metheglin - Sweet: Madagascar — Moonlight Meadery LLC, Londonderry, New Hampshire
Pyment: Honey River Pyment — Healthberry Farm, Dry Fork, West Virginia
Session - Dry: Weekend Water — Haymaker Meadery, Perkasie, Pennsylvania
Session - Semi-Sweet: Mara Ume — Zen Bee Meadery, Dublin, Ohio
Session - Sweet: Honey Kwench — White Winter Meadery, Iron River, Wisconsin
Specialty - Dry: Rockin Rye — Haymaker Meadery, Perkasie, Pennsylvania
Specialty - Semi-Sweet: Seven In Dog Years — Black Labs Craft Meadery, Olathe, Kansas
Specialty - Sweet: Existence Is Pain — Second City Meadery, Chicago, Illinois
Traditional - Dry: Sol — Oran Mor Artisan Mead, LLC, Roseburg, Oregon
Traditional - Semi-Sweet: CHAUCER'S Mead — Bargetto Santa Cruz Winery, Soquel, California
Traditional - Sweet: Traditional Mead — Prairie Rose Meadery, Fargo, North Dakota
Varietal - Dry: Hawaiian Lehua Blossom — Point Reyes Station, California
Varietal - Semi-Sweet: Lucerne Blossom — Martin Brothers Winery, Hermann, Missouri
Varietal - Sweet: Red Bamboo — Honeybound Meadery, Tyngsboro, Massachusetts
Design: Sweet Blossom — Charm City Meadworks, Baltimore, Maryland

The National Honey Board (NHB) is an industry-funded agriculture promotion group that works to educate consumers about the benefits and uses for honey and honey products through research, marketing and promotional programs. The Board's work, funded by an assessment on domestic and imported honey, is designed to increase the awareness and usage of honey by consumers, the foodservice industry and food manufacturers. The 10-member Board, appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, represents producers (beekeepers), packers, importers and a marketing cooperative.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-honey-board-announces-winners-of-2nd-annual-mead-crafters-competition-301148999.html