From nwitimes.com
MICHIGAN CITY — When Clint and Jill Wadsworth first started Misbeehavin’ Meads 10 years ago, they weren’t sure what to expect.
“We didn’t know if a meadery would work in the Region,” Clint Wadsworth said. “We still don’t. I guess the joke's on us.”
The Wadsworths opened up their new taproom in Michigan City last week, after relocating from Valparaiso.
And despite the name, the Wadsworths have not only been beehavin’, but working like straight-A students to get the new meadery in order, in terms of both logistics (permitting) and rolling out the barrels and giant fermenting vessels.
But the result, Clint Wadsworth said, is an experience he calls “superior” to what came before.
After all, they have their own parking lot now.
You can tell the difference almost immediately upon walking in.
Misbeehavin' Meads has opened their new taproom in Michigan City with bold, fruity concoctions like "Glazed Pineapple" and "Takes Two to Mango." Aaron Dorman
The yellow awning over the bar — a custom peacock blue finish — and wavy mural give off a kind of beachside vibe even indoors. The open sales counter sits in a game room where visitors can play pinball.
The Wadsworths’ prized Far Out pinball machine was never plugged in at the Valpo location, and still doesn’t quite work, but it’s partly about the vibes.
“The ambience here is more deliberate,” Clint Wadsworth said. “The bar is more functional. We have a bigger space. Superior plumbing, too. It’s the way we want it.”
Smashin’ Berries
The first mead The Times tried was Misbeehavin’s Michigan City debut offering, "Creep in the Cellar," a very tart semi-sweet variety blended with cranberries, oranges and apples.
Not long after, the Wadsworths showed The Times their enormous fruit press, which Clint Wadsworth described as being powered by a “whoopy cushion”: a large pouch that inflates with water and is used to squash the fruit — typically grapes or strawberries — into a fruity mash they can catch in five-gallon buckets. The machine can press out 800 pounds of fruit in one go.
“We try to hit these meads really hard with the fruits typically,” he said.
Between their meads and ciders, the Wadsworths have created some intensely fruity blends that utilize a variety of techniques to bring out full-bodied flavour, whether it’s berry flavour, citrus or something funkier like peanuts, bubble gum or glazed pineapple.
Misbeehavin' Meads has opened their new taproom in Michigan City with bold, fruity concoctions like "Glazed Pineapple" and "Takes Two to Mango." Aaron Dorman
“You go to a brewery or winery,” Clint Wadsworth said, “and get a description in your menu that it has notes of watermelon, lychee, whatever, and it will just taste like beer. We’ve had blueberry meads that were clear. How does that work? Are you using blueberries in this or not?”
The fruit blending processes — fermenting with juice, or "secret" methods — they used in their meads carry over to the ciders, which Clint Wadsworth said makes their varieties more unique.
The Wadsworths have been experimenting with their brews for a long time, even winning some festival medals along the way, such as “Two Tickets to Pearadise,” a pear cider that was aged in pear brandy barrels imported from France.
Clint Wadsworth didn’t start with meads. Initially he was getting into craft beer, but his father-in-law was keeping bees, and so Clint Wadsworth tried to make use of their honey.
Misbeehavin' Meads has opened their new taproom in Michigan City with bold, fruity concoctions like "Glazed Pineapple" and "Takes Two to Mango." Aaron Dorman
“I know about mead, had tried a lot of mead,” he said. “So I started making mead. The first batch was horrible. It tasted like vinyl flooring. But that got me going, 'I am not going to be defeated by this.'"
After pressure from friends and family to go into business, the Wadsworths opened the Valpo taproom in 2016.
Jill Wadsworth said her inspiration comes from more traditional sources: cookbooks, video, other media. Clint Wadsworth, however, said he often gets “obsessive” and “possessed” over a particular ingredient.
That has led to some truly wild creations like their oyster (!) mead, “Oh Mead So Horny!”, which was blended with a bunch of aphrodisiacs (in addition to oysters, that batch got honey and champagne grapes).
There’s a lot of Misbeehavin’ that goes into producing a batch like that (before and after?), but if the mead-making process is a fun pastime for the Wadsworths, it’s also a necessity to produce novel varieties in a business landscape that demands constant rebranding.
“A lot of craft brewing places were started by hobbyists who don’t know how to run a business,” Clint Wadsworth said. “The pandemic (stimulus) might have floated them a bit. For us it’s all about staying fresh.”
Now, the Wadsworths hope Michigan City comes to see just what that entails (and not just nurses from Franciscan Health around the block).
Misbeehavin' Meads Co-owner Clint Wadsworth poses in the "game room" amidst his honey wines and pinball machines. Aaron Dorman
“There’s a lot that can separate a good mead from a bad or generic one,” Clint Wadsworth said. “The creativity behind the ideas. Is it interesting? And does it taste good? Those things have to come together. But I’m excited about people re-exploring our mead.”
Misbeehavin' Meads is located at 10422 W. 400 N., Michigan City. For more information, readers can go to www.misbeehavinmeads.com/.
