Panacea Meadery: First of its kind in South Dakota

From dakotanewsnow.com

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - Logan Bordewyk graduated from Lincoln High School in 2010.

He and his friends felt called to service, which led to four years of active duty in the Marines, including combat in Sangin Valley, Afghanistan.

“I owe a lot to my service. It made me a better student. It definitely makes me more motivated to pursue leadership positions,” Bordewyk said.

When Bordewyk got out, he and his family saw a market that hadn’t yet been tapped.

“We have some distilleries in South Dakota. There’s a handful of breweries and we’ve got some great wineries too, but we never had a meadery. So there was the lightbulb and we wanted to be the first and only meadery in South Dakota,” Bordewyk said.

Logan and his father, Barry, founded Panacea Meadery in 2016, and they value time with the family.

“Not everybody gets the opportunity to see their parents very often. It could be an annual thing or a bi-annual thing, but I’m fortunate enough to work with my dad. We’re a small veteran family-owned business we’re as independent as it comes,“ Bordewyk said.

While Logan and his father are relatively new to the business, Mead has a rich history as one of the first-ever alcoholic beverages.

“There’s just that lost history, and we want to bring that back. We’re basically reintroducing that to the people of South Dakota,“ Bordewyk said.

Learning about the history of mead is fun, but Bordewyk says the real magic happens when you get to taste it.

“When I‘m out sampling to customers there’s no greater feeling than having them have a sip and say ’Wow this’s Amazing I’ve never had this before, this is probably one of my new favourite beverages,“ Bordewyk said.

While the basic ingredients of mead are simple: Honey, Water, and Yeast, Logan says the fermentation process still allows him to show creativity.

“A lot of the stuff that we do is out there. We have one that’s a roasted peanut. The idea is a honey-roasted peanut. We’re definitely still bringing a lot of the traditional meads into the spotlight too,“ Bordewyk said.

You can find a list of the stores across South Dakota where Panacea Meads are available HERE

“I was once sampling and I said ‘Do you think this store will ever have a mead section? They said ‘Not in this lifetime’ and that’s just another goal that I get to pursue,” Bordewyk said.

Bordewyk tells us they operate exclusively through wholesale right now, but hopes to one day open a retail space.

https://www.dakotanewsnow.com/2024/11/12/panacea-meadery-first-its-kind-south-dakota/