Whidbey, Washington: Meadery celebrates Gaelic event

From southwhidbeyrecord.com

Whidbey’s own meadery is hosting Beltane, a Gaelic May Day festival this Saturday.

The free, family-friendly event at Hierophant Meadery, located on Double Bluff Road in Freeland, runs 2-8 p.m. on May 2, according to the business.

The event will feature live music, including performances from Mutiny Bay Brass Band and the Whidbey Island School of Music and Dance. There will also be a mobile sauna, an auction, yard games and food from Wood Fired Pizzas and Whidbey Pies.

In addition, there will be May Pole Dancing, with a pole on lend from Whidbey Waldorf School.

Hierophant Meadery

Of course, mead made from “ancient brewing techniques for the modern palate” will able be available, according to the website.

Beltane is a Gaelic May Day festival that marks the beginning of summer, fertility and the full transition into the light half of the year. It started in Ireland and Scotland to celebrate open pasturing, according the Brittanica.

https://www.southwhidbeyrecord.com/2026/04/28/meadery-celebrates-gaelic-event/

Tukwila meadery offers Viking vibes and an ancient beverage

From seattletimes.com

Tukwila, Washington:  “[King Hrothgar] handed down orders for men to work on a great mead-hall, meant to be a wonder of the world forever.” — “Beowulf,” translation by Seamus Heaney

IN THE LONG, COLD Scandinavian winter nights of yore, the mead hall was a beacon of warmth and light, the radiant call of its hearth fires drawing adventurers through its carved doorways. Today, in a nondescript Tukwila office park, a mead-maker named Jon Oppegaard has created a tasting room that does the same. 

The place is hard to find unless you know what you’re looking for, tucked away among a maze of anonymous office buildings. You’d never know that behind those dull walls is a fairy-tale tavern, hidden in plain sight like something out of a Harry Potter book. When you step through the meadery’s back door (its main entrance), you enter a colourful, inviting facsimile of a Viking mead-hall. 

The hall bustles with life in Viking fashion at Oppegaard Meadery. Scandinavian motifs, such as the twining branches of Yggdrasil and the runic alphabet, cover the walls. (Akash Pamarthy / The Seattle Times)

Oppegaard’s tenacious customers manage to find him, first for the mead, which he brews out of that very spot in massive vats in the back production space, and second (but just as important) for the camaraderie. 

Inside, the walls are panelled in warm wood, and revellers convene at long communal tables decorated with Scandinavian motifs, such as the twining branches of Yggdrasil (the Norse tree of life) and the runic alphabet. Round wooden Viking shields and Viking-themed art, including a group of raven statues all named “Bill,” hang on the walls, mostly created by local artists and Oppegaard’s friends. 

Oppegaard Meadery offers game players, reenactors and mead enthusiasts a place to gather. From left, Nathan Baker, 41, Lauren Connelly, 40, and Jon Williams, 30, play Red Dragon Inn. (Akash Pamarthy / The Seattle Times)

The clientele varies widely: mead enthusiasts, metalheads (there is, according to Oppegaard, considerable crossover between the two), historical reenactors and tabletop gamers. On any given night, the meadery’s long tables are filled with self-described nerds playing Dungeons and Dragons or Magic: The Gathering, all sipping mead, an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey and the favourite quaff of the early Scandinavians. 

Address: 600 Industry Drive, Tukwila
More info: opmead.com

                                                             L(Source: Esri (Map by Mark Nowlin / The Seattle Times)

The Oppegaard Meadery has been located in the same space for roughly 10 years; the original meadery was, according to Oppegaard, “only slightly more than an office space with a hallway.” Oppegaard began making mead at home for fun 20 years ago, until the hobby outgrew the house. 

Oppegaard makes a traditional honey-only mead, but also produces a number of variations that incorporate fruit juice and spices, including one called Dragon’s Blood, a bestseller mixed with the juice of three kinds of berries that turns it its theatrically eponymous colour. Visitors can try a variety with a mead flight. They can also order their drink smoked in Oppegaard’s Scandinavian tabletop smoker, which is shaped like a war chest. 

         Kaitlynn Larsen serves a flight of mead to a customer at Oppegaard Meadery. (Akash Pamarthy / The Seattle Times)

Today the meadery is roughly 6,000 square feet, and ships mead all over the world. This year, Oppegaard expects to produce close to 8,000 gallons of his liquid gold. That’s a small operation in terms of breweries or wineries, but in terms of meaderies, it’s one of the largest in Washington. Honey is expensive and difficult to source in quantity. Oppegaard can’t get enough quality honey from a single source, so he uses honey from all over the world. He also teaches group mead-making classes out of his production facility (interested parties can book online), slowly growing awareness of the liquid gold produced when honey meets yeast. 

Outside the mead-lair in Tukwila, Oppegaard’s mead can be found at Renaissance faires, Society for Creative Anachronism events, historical re-enactments — anywhere time travellers converge to experience the days of swords and shield walls. With as many as 15 different meads on tap and music drifting through the air (sometimes heavy metal, sometimes the soundtrack to The Lord of the Rings), Oppegaard invites lovers of fantasy and history to immerse themselves in their created worlds by welcoming them into his own. 

BY THE NUMBERS

8,000 gallons: Mead Oppegaard will brew this year
6,000 square feet: Size of the meadery
793 AD: Year the Vikings first landed in England at Lindesfarne
7%-14%: Alcohol by volume for most mead
1,000+ years: Age of the epic poem “Beowulf”
100+: Flavors of mead created by the meadery

https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/tukwila-meadery-offers-viking-vibes-and-an-ancient-beverage/

This Unique Restaurant In Washington Lets You Eat Like It's The Year 1376

From chowhound.com

Diners are increasingly not only looking to dine out, but be transported with immersive dining experiences. There's no shortage of so-tacky-they're-fun themed dining chains across the United States, but for one truly unique experience, how about dining like it's 1376? That's no typo; one restaurant is transporting its diners to this special year of the Middle Ages, and you only need to journey to Carnation, Washington.

This rural town is the perhaps unlikely home of Camlann Medieval Village's Ye Bors Hede Inne, which takes its visitors back in time — way back — with a meal befitting a member of the medieval noble class. Ye Bors Hede Inne is the restaurant portion of Camlann Medieval Village, a large living history museum complete with the fixings of a 14th century village — including living history actors demonstrating blacksmithing, candle-making, and more.

According to Ye Bors Hede Inne, people fortunate enough to visit this time capsule can expect to dine on "sumptuous platters of fresh food, prepared from authentic 14th century recipes." In case you're not well-versed in medieval cookery, this could include a pork, chicken, and cranberry "fenberry pye," chicken in a cinnamon-and-almond sauce called "sanc dragon," and "blamanger" (a vegetarian dish of rice, fava beans, and spices). To drink? You can't find modern sodas here — expect of-the-era mead, ale, or juice.

                                                                                                      Vac1/Getty Images

Plan accordingly for this immersive meal

Wacky and a little kitschy? Perhaps. Memorable and very much worth a visit? Also yes! Both things can be true, plus camp is arguably most of the appeal for any themed restaurant — be it a certain UFO-shaped McDonald's, a hobbit-themed Texas restaurant, or a trip to the 14th century. Booking a reservation at Camlann Medieval Village's Ye Bors Hede Inne should be high on your list of to-dos if you find yourself in the area, especially for avid historians or people particularly enthralled by all things Middle Ages. The restaurant's website — itself on-theme with a medieval tapestry appearance — paints a picture of the fully immersive dining experience, where you dine on that day's fare (exact menu items rotate) in a softly lit medieval hall.

If you're dining like it's 1376, be prepared to check certain modern privileges at the door — literally. No phones or cameras are permitted, and only cash or checks are accepted as payment. The restaurant also advises caution for infants and young children because of the included live show (music and minstrel entertainment) while you enjoy dining on period-appropriate hearty victuals. Last but not least, if you plan to accept this time travel invite, plan accordingly; the restaurant is only open Friday through Sunday for limited hours each evening and dinner reservations are required 24 hours ahead of time.

https://camlann.org/bors_hede.htm

https://www.chowhound.com/1881999/restaurant-camlann-village-restaurant-14th-century/

Washington: An Idyllic Farm and Meadery that Takes Being Chill Seriously

From seattlemet.com/travel-and-outdoors

Port Townsend’s Wilderbee Farm is a rural escape with a craft beverage bonus 

“It’s so relaxing,” I hear a patron say.  We’re inside the tasting room at Wilderbee Farm, overlooking an orchard of budding fruit trees, each with a glass of mead in hand.

The Mead Werks tasting room has cosy wood accents, making it feel like a mountain lodge inside a farmhouse. I can spy the honey boxes across the lawn, where the bees are working hard. They’re the only ones here who don’t seem at ease.

Mead is having a bit of a moment. The lightly sweet wine-like drink has been buoyed by growing interest in niche craft beverages, with most makers leaning into its historic renaissance faire associations: Tukwila’s Oppegaard Meadery is all about the Viking vibe, while and Mr. B’s Meadery in Fremont embraces the drink’s whimsical reputation as magical alchemy.  At Wilderbee, a few miles west from downtown Port Townsend, mead is the star of something more earthy.

Casey and Eric Reeter.

Image: Courtesy Wilderbee Farm

Casey and Eric Reeter set out to create a place that felt calm and laid back—eventually. Their dream was to build a rural escape in retirement, inspired by farms in North Bend and Monroe they used as quick respites from their West Seattle life. But when they found the perfect 12-acre spot earlier than expected, they moved to Port Townsend in 2007.

Today the acreage is a working farm, complete with certified organic U-pick flower fields and pumpkin patch, and a herd of rare British Soay sheep known for their small size. In fall, their fine wool is hand-plucked. Visitors can easily fill half a day between feeding the animals, working in the ceramics studio, wandering nature trails crisscrossing the property, and sipping mead.

Owning and working the 12 acres is a far cry from retirement, but “it doesn’t feel like work,” Casey says before setting off to plant flower seeds in the greenhouse. In summer, dahlias, zinnias, and sunflowers sprout into a rainbow of U-pick options, the $9 DIY bouquets of 25 stems each putting even Pike Place Market’s best to shame.

Image: Courtesy Wilderbee Farm

The addition of a meadery in 2019 to make use of Wilderbee’s flower fields just made sense. The craft beverage industry was skyrocketing—there are three cideries within 10 miles of Wilderbee—and the Reeters felt their flowers could serve double duty. They had been beekeepers for years and knew honey. At first, their pantry became a micro meadery for home brewing experiments. They took a mead course at Ballard’s National Nordic Museum, then another at UC Davis. Eventually they went commercial.

The tasting room boasts a menu of 14 meads alongside table games and local art. String lights hang from wooden rafters just below a tin roof, and at first glance this could be an unbuttoned wine tasting room or woodsy brewery. But here the bees always get top billing; the bar’s honeycomb tilework matches the tasting room’s brass bee-shaped door knocker.

Image: Courtesy Wilderbee Farm/The Mead Werks

Meads arrive in four-ounce pours, three-variety flights, or whole bottles. Casey’s dream flight: First, the Larryberry sparkling blueberry mead named after her dad, Larry. The fizzy, cherry red pour is crisp and fruity, nothing like my expectations of straight honey or something like kombucha. Next, the Nectarious After Dark Bourbon, which Casey calls a sweet mead. “We put it in bourbon barrels for years—anywhere from three to five years—and it has all these caramelly toasted marshmallow notes,” she says.

And finally, a seasonal release; in spring it’s a mango-infused dry variety, but the menu constantly incorporates bold flavours like apples, chai, and even smoked peppers. Spiced mead served warm will debut on the autumn equinox. 

Casey calls her husband and herself “makers” above all. The ceramics studio hosts workshops in the summer and her father sells woodcrafts like display-ready charcuterie boards and whimsical birdhouses in the gift shop. They sit on shelves along with copper-distilled lavender essential oils and balms crafted from the farm’s yield.

So maybe the owners themselves are as busy as the bees outside. For everyone else, Wilderbee serves the farm’s mission, at least as Casey puts it: “to have people come here and just relax and escape the stress of their world and leave happy.”

https://www.seattlemet.com/travel-and-outdoors/2025/04/wilderbee-farm-meadery-day-trip

Emrys Beer & Mead Works, a modern-meets-historical brewery, is finally open in Liberty Lake, Washington

From inlander.com

Thomas Croskrey stands over a small kettle as he simmers two-and-half gallons of honey. He checks the viscosity with a long spoon. Suddenly, he darts across the brewing room and bounds up a step ladder to check on a bigger kettle, making sure the boil is just right — a proper roil, but not so violent that it bubbles over the top. The room is bright, and an open back door lets in a breeze that gently swirls soft perfumes of honey and hops, while Croskrey does what he does best: creates.

Croskrey is the head brewer and founder of Emrys Beer & Mead Works, a project that's been in the works since 2015 and is finally celebrating its grand opening in Liberty Lake this June. Emrys means "immortal" in Welsh, which fits Croskrey's undying enthusiasm to bring the meadery to life, but also his modern-historical fusion concept that resurrects an ancient drink for contemporary palates.

Mead, an alcoholic beverage made from fermented honey, is currently the oldest fermented drink on historical record.

"Mead is so wildly different from other alcoholic beverages," Croskrey says. "It's the only one not made out of plants. It is made out of an animal product."

                                         Unique drinks, thanks to research, stubbornness and creativity.  Young Kwak photos

When Croskrey helped open Bellwether Brewing with Dave Musser in 2015, he wanted to include mead in their taproom. But they soon found out that mead required a different license than beer and was going to be difficult to get. After he and Musser amicably parted ways in 2019, Croskrey set out to build his own brewery-meadery combo. He set his sights on a spot in Liberty Lake's Riverstone District by the end of that year and set a target opening date for September 2020.

COVID, however, had other plans.

"What I lacked in fortune-telling, I made up for in stubbornness," Croskrey says.

There were days he felt no forward momentum. But Croskrey started brainstorming anyway, tapping local chef Travis Dickinson to help finalize Emrys' food menu. Croskrey originally planned to offer smashburgers, but after hosting a few pairing dinners at Dickinson's Cochinito Taqueria, the team dreamed up a "peasant food" concept that would riff off historical meals to compliment the ancient mead.

After the restaurant world went topsy-turvey and Croskrey got new, post-pandemic cost analyses, he returned to the original smashburger plan. Guests can nosh on a single, double, triple or quad smashburger ($12-$22), or a frankfurter topped with bacon, onion-pickle marmalade and sauerkraut ($13), or a veggie smashburger with grilled mushroom, hummus, havarti and hot honey ($12). Oh, and don't skip the pickle fries ($5/small, $8/large).

But a few snacks do nod to distant history. Emrys offers griddled bakestones, a traditional Welsh sweetbread from the 1800s. At Emrys, they're stuffed with rosemary and currants and served with either jam and whipped cream or cheddar and hot honey ($6/two, $10/four).

Yet most of the honey on hand will always be reserved for Croskrey's mead. After he started learning to brew beer, mead was the next logical step for Croskrey, whose background blends farming and animal husbandry.

"I come from some strong ranching in Montana, so just growing and farming and ranching in general was really fascinating and exciting to me," he says. "It included learning about fruit, and then I learned about pollination, and I learned about bees. Also, I really, really like history. I like knowing where we came from so that we know where we're going. Mead is extremely historical."

It also scratched a creative itch for Croskrey, who dropped his career as a rock violinist to settle into family and business life.

"I find mead to be the most versatile," he says. "It can be infused with fruit, botanicals, any old thing you want. It can be low ABV, high ABV, carbonated, still, blended, barrel aged."

New meads are rolling out as Emrys works through its soft opening. So far, Haze of Annwn has hit the taps, a botanical mead with hops, juniper berries and catnip, as well as a mead seltzer called Return to Innocence. Croskrey has been teasing his social media with pictures of forthcoming lilac-infused mead.

There are also plenty of options for dedicated beer drinkers. Some are collaborations with the Grain Shed, but a pilot series of the first beers made onsite are also available. Pilot Series #2, for example, is a Norwegian farmhouse and Northwest pale ale fusion, while Pilot Series #3 is a rare herbal pale ale with rosemary and lemongrass.

                                                            Owner Thomas Croskrey in his happy place

In his quest to create ancient food and drink, Croskrey has gotten more in touch with the environment and ecosystems around him today. His brewing requires about 20,000 pounds of honey a year, which is far more than any local apiaries can supply him. He sources as much honey from Washington beekeepers as possible, and tries to reduce shipping material and fuel costs when he does need to import honey from Californian or Hawaiian hives.

In a time when many consumers and environmentalists are worried about dwindling populations of honeybees and trying to "Save the Bees," Croskrey wants to take a step back to think about the larger ecosystem being affected.

"I've probably got a slightly different opinion than some people on this," he says. "And it's partly because [honeybees] are an agricultural animal. They're not native to our area ... they sometimes displace bumblebees and other native species. Sometimes honeybees can act like an invasive species," he continues. "So I'm very much in favour of saving and protecting bees. But I do try to focus a lot on the native pollinators, butterflies and moths and ants, even bats."

Not only does Croskrey want to preserve the history and tradition of mead for the next generations, he wants to make sure the environment that supplies the honey, herbs and hops to do so is healthy for those generations, too. He'll never claim to be able to tell the future, but he'll put his stubbornness toward creating a better one. ♦

Emrys Beer & Mead Works • 21850 E. Wellington Pkwy., Liberty Lake • Open Mon, Wed and Thu 11 am-9 pm, Fri-Sat 11 am-10 pm, Sun 11 am-8 pm • facebook.com/EmrysFermentations • 509-505-4519

https://www.inlander.com/food/emrys-beer-and-mead-works-a-modern-meets-historical-brewery-is-finally-open-in-liberty-lake-28075648