Gosnells founder Tom Gosnell said the changes would increase innovation and competition.
Monday, 31 July 2023
Saturday, 22 July 2023
Combgrown and creative: Meadery opens in Auburn, New York
From auburnpub.com
AUBURN — Mead, or honey wine, means high alcohol to most. But the flagship product of the city's first meadery is just 5.5% ABV.
That's just one example of the creative approach to the beverage taken by Elaine Ferrier, owner of Combgrown Mead, which opened Friday in Suite 4 of 26 Osborne St., across from Wegmans.
"What I love about mead is it's such a blank canvas," Ferrier told The Citizen. "There aren't a lot of expectations, so there's a lot of room to be creative and surprise people in good ways."
Combgrown is the second mead business for Ferrier and her husband, Michael Sojka, a family physician at Auburn Community Hospital. Their first began about 10 years ago in southwestern Ontario, Canada, while he was in medical school and she worked in environmental policy for the province's Ministry of Natural Resources.
A homebrewer, Sojka suggested they try fermenting honey to produce mead. Ferrier ran with the idea, he told The Citizen, making a batch in the kitchen of her family farm in Thorndale. There, they opened Tallgrass Mead, named for the area's endangered prairie and savannah ecosystems that are more rare than rainforests, she said.
Elaine Ferrier and her husband, Michael Sojka, at Combgrown Mead in Auburn.
New career opportunities took Ferrier and Sojka to Michigan, where they briefly commuted while continuing to run Tallgrass. When another opportunity presented itself in Auburn, they decided to take the meadery with them, expand it and rename it Combgrown. Ferrier thanked her parents for letting her use their property until the move.
Combgrown Mead in Auburn.
On Osborne Street, Ferrier and Sojka will have 1,000 gallons of capacity to produce meads like Honey Pops, their 5.5% ABV flagship. Such "session meads" were scarce 10 years ago, she said.
"It's not often you want to sit down and have mead. It pairs well with food, but not the way wine does," she said. "So I thought there was an opportunity to create meads that are more sessionable."
Although it has less alcohol than traditional meads, Honey Pops is actually harder to make, Ferrier said. That's partly because of the time it takes to carbonate, a process that also lengthens production of Combgrown's line of mead spritzers. About 8% ABV, they include gamay noir rosé grapes with extracts of rhubarb and strawberry, and chardonnay grapes with extracts of elderflower and lemon.
The tasting area at Combgrown Mead in Auburn.
A bourbon barrel-aged mead should be released next weekend, Ferrier said. Though she would like to distribute Combgrown to stores eventually, for now it will be available in cans to go or in glasses to enjoy in the meadery's tasting room. She looks forward to becoming a stop on tours as part of the busy Finger Lakes craft beverage scene.
"With all its wineries and breweries, it's nice to be able to offer something new," she said. "And Auburn has been so great. People here seem to take it seriously to support local businesses."
Ferrier will make traditional meads eventually, but for now she wants to expand people's definition of the beverage. She's also still finalizing some parts of her production, like carbonation, and experimenting with varietals of New York honey. It's one of the most expensive fermentables, she said, on par with Napa Valley wine grapes. Among her first sources was Kutik's Honey Farm in Oxford.
"It's a really unique type of ingredient," she said. "In my opinion, (mead) is a more sustainable type of craft beverage. As much as I love grape wine, there is a lot of agriculture. You have to clear the land, there's sometimes chemicals used in production and definitely a lot of fossil fuels for the equipment. It's very resource-intensive. Whereas wherever there's wildflowers, bees will make honey."
If you go
WHAT: Combgrown Mead
WHEN: Open 4 to 7 p.m. Thursdays, 4 to 8 p.m. Fridays and noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays; ribbon-cutting event at 4 p.m. Friday, July 21
WHERE: 26 Osborne St., Suite 4, Auburn
INFO: Visit combgrown.square.site or facebook.com/combgrownmead, or email combgrown@gmail.com
Wednesday, 5 July 2023
Australia: Sweet news! The first mead cellar door has opened in the Hunter Valley
From delicious.com.au
Honey, I’m home.
Mead is believed to be the oldest fermented drink known to humankind, with the honey wine predating regular wine and beer by thousands of years. The ancient Vikings loved the stuff; the drink was deeply integrated into their religious beliefs and ceremonies. (Fun fact: the word ‘honeymoon’ comes from this period. Newlywed Viking couples would drink mead every day of the first moon cycle after their wedding, for luck and fertility.)
In recent years, mead has seen something of a resurgence, and now NSW’s Hunter Valley has become home to the region’s first mead cellar door. Honey Wines Australia, in the scenic region of Broke, has been operating as an online mead and honey business for the past three years. Now it has opened up a new store to welcome visitors into the world of mead and honey.
There are nine unique meads on offer – from traditional meads with smooth, golden notes to more innovative creations infused with fruits and spices. There’s also a range of other honey products, including creamed honey, vanilla honey and even chocolate honey. Plus, they sell Viking drinking horns, which is cool.
You can even learn all about the process of mead-making through mead and honey tastings led by Martin Jackson, Honey Wines’ owner, beekeeper and mead-maker, who is eager to share his expertise.
You can find Honey Wines Australia at 72 Wollombi Street, Broke NSW. Be sure to pick up a Viking drinking horn while you’re there.
Sunday, 2 July 2023
Honeytree Meadery, Nashville, Tennessee
From atlasobscura.com
Sip mead from an East Nashville apiary while snacking on barbacoa tacos
TENNESSEE MAY BE LARGELY WHISKEY territory, but in recent years, a small number of local producers have been concentrating on a far more ancient elixir: mead. In 2019, Ross Welbon, a beer brewer and beekeeper, and Dru Sousan, a bartender with a long history in the local restaurant scene, opened up Nashville’s first meadery.
All of the meads here come from Honeytree Meadery’s own apiary, which is spread across two locations holding more than 30 bee colonies. Each glass contains notes of the honey used to produce it—from a milder wildflower to fragrant orange blossom—while some contain custom infusions of aromatics such as fresh ginger or pineapple and sage. Welbon, ever the IPA-enthusiast, adds his own flair with a dry-hopped variation.
As a bonus, the meadery has one of the best backyard patios in town, complete with a roaring fire and beeswax artworks by Randy Purcell. It’s the perfect spot to kick back with an order of tacos from Alebrije, the truck perpetually parked outside. Named for a Mexican cryptid, the business is the creation of chef Edgar Victoria, who hails from Mexico City. Victoria sources masa from small-scale producers for his tlayudas, huaraches, and tortillas. Check their Instagram to keep an eye out for specials, like tamales made with blue conico corn masa.
On Thursday evenings, the back patio hosts live musical performances.
Wednesday, 21 June 2023
Mead now served in Hickory, North Carolina, USA
From hickoryrecord.com
Owner: It's nothing like you've ever had before
Written in silver and gold on columns inside Battle Axe Mead House are the names of customers who have imbibed a glass of mead within the first week of the business’s opening.
Owner Jason Hart opened Hickory’s first mead house on May 24. He works with his wife Martha Hart to, he says, offer something new to the Hickory area.
The Battle Axe Mead House in downtown Hickory. ROBERT C. REED, RECORD
The couple moved to Hickory from Chicago in 2017 because they wanted to be closer to family here in North Carolina.
Jason Hart has spent most of his adult career working in higher education, and Martha Hart works for Carolina Caring, but the pair wanted to venture into the mead business to be a “channel for local meaderies,” Jason Hart said.
Jason Hart was a craft beer drinker who moved on to mead. He compares the beverage to honey wine, but as far as taste goes, “It’s nothing like you’ve ever had before,” Hart said.
“It’s not really wine, and it’s not really beer. It’s its own thing,” Hart said.
Jason Hart, the owner of the Battle Axe Mead House, displays a bottle of mead at his new Nordic-themed business in downtown Hickory. ROBERT C. REED, RECORD
Because of the limited access to mead in the Hickory area, Hart took it upon himself to start Hickory’s first mead house by offering mead from local brewers such as Moonjoy Meadery in Lenoir and Keeper’s Cut Meadery based in Marion.
In addition to the meads from the western part of the state, Hart said they will also be bringing in mead from Retro Meadery, which is based in eastern North Carolina.
Because of mead’s Nordic origin, the Harts decided to incorporate Nordic elements into the mead house’s decorations but with a more modern flair.
Jason Hart said he plans to utilize Battle Axe’s location downtown with private parking to bring in food trucks on Saturdays and host events such as pet adoptions, music bingo and game nights.
Hart said he also hopes to offer space to local clubs and organizations who want to use the mead house as a place to gather. The meadery is family friendly as well as pet friendly. “I have kids and I have a dog, so they’re welcome here anytime,” Hart said.
Hart said the goal of his business is to “intrigue people into trying something different,” and to give people of Hickory something that is not only new to downtown but new to the Hickory area as a whole.
Hart’s mother Johna Fruz drove to Hickory last week from Chicago to help with the grand opening of her son’s business on June 3, and said it was the first time she had seen the mead house finished and ready for business.
“I’m proud of him, he’s worked so hard,” Fruz said. “He and Martha are good people.”
Hart said customers are pleasantly surprised by the 15 to 20 flavours that Battle Axe Mead House carries.
Customer April Yoder said she and her husband have been waiting for Battle Axe to open. She said the first visit was a pleasant experience.
“There is definitely something for every palate,” said Yoder, who tried mead prior to her trip to Battle Axe. “I’m definitely not a connoisseur so it was nice to learn about them and try a variety.”
Yoder’s experience went beyond the quality of the beverages she tried. “The décor is really tasteful and thoughtfully done, and it was a chill, peaceful place,” Yoder said.
“It’s a lovely place and the owner is very friendly and helpful,” Yoder added.
Battle Axe carries Pineapple, Dark Horse, Dry Traditional, Russian Tea, Freya’s Magic, Ginger Brig, Limonadi, Jordbaer, Love Spell #19, Litha and Pineapple Mango from the Moonjoy brewers.
Battle Axe also offers a number of meads from Keeper’s Cut, including Melissa’s Gold, Zeus’s Gold, Autumn, Peach, Razzberry, Anann-Te, Apple of My Eye and Pomenade.
Yoder said a flight of four 2-ounce pours is $12.
Customers can also purchase from the non-mead section of the menu, which offers beer and ciders.
Battle Axe is open Tuesday through Thursday from noon to 9 p.m. as well as Friday and Saturday from noon to 10 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 8 p.m. The mead house is closed on Mondays.
Tuesday, 6 June 2023
Discover refreshing tastes at Believe Meadery in Argyle, Texas
From crosstimbersgazette.com
Brian Harris insists he’s got something special brewing at Believe Meadery in Argyle. And no, it’s not only because he’s crazy about mead or that he’s busy selling bottle after bottle of popular flavours such as red raspberry, peach, and passion fruit each weekend.
All of that is 100% true, but the real “something special” is when those same patrons return hours later with friends.
“Many of them tried a bottle for the first time a few hours earlier. They left, and then I see them come back the same day while dragging their friends along,” Harris said. “That’s what is rewarding about all of this.”
Almost everyone is familiar with beer, wine, and cider, but there are many fermentable ingredients that different cultures have used over the centuries. Mead is fermented honey, and melomel is fermented honey with fruit, and both are at the heart of what Harris is trying to do with Believe Meadery. Opened in 2020, it is a boutique producer of homemade meads and melomels that use a unique combination of wildflower honey, fruit, other natural ingredients, and only 6% alcohol.
Harris, who lives in Highland Village and recently won awards in four different categories at GrapeFest, makes everything from scratch and currently has seven flavours to choose from. There are no artificial flavours or colours, and everything is strictly gluten-free.
“I’m probably the only person in this portion of the United States making it this way, and it’s something unique that’s right here in Argyle,” Harris said. His experience in making beer, wine, ale, cider, and other fermented drinks spans 30 years. “I remember giving them away to friends when I started, and they said, ‘You should sell these.’ I thought, ‘You know what? I should.’ But I wanted to do it my way, and I wanted something I could believe in. Hence the name, Believe Meadery.”
To learn more, visit believemeadery.com.
Thursday, 1 June 2023
UK: The Viking-Themed Bar In York With Proper Mead & Viking Decor
From the-yorkshireman.com
York has plenty of nods to Vikings ever since they invaded back in 866AD and decided to settle – and this independent bar Valhalla in York city centre has leaned into the heritage.
Valhalla is located just off Shambles Market and is a Viking-themed bar in the centre of the city. It is quite literally Viking heaven with plenty of mead and grub on offer. Perfect after a day of exploring the historic city.
Founded in 2017, the bar has proved a popular spot with locals and visitors alike and pays homage to York’s Viking heritage. The bar aim is to create a warm community environment with great drinks, banging tunes and a proper atmosphere.
Upon visiting you can expect a great selection of craft beer, ale, mead and all great drinks along with home-cooked food and a great atmosphere. The independent bar serves up hot Yorkshire tapas from Yorkshire pork sausages with a honey mustard glaze to chicken wings, halloumi fries with a range of sauces along with some other side dishes. All are reasonably priced.
Everywhere you look there is a Nordic nod such as wood furniture, wooden beams with chandeliers holding candles and stairways with skulls, Viking remains, and beer in tankards for that extra Viking touch. Upstairs you’ll find deep Chesterfield chairs and sofas and a huge dining tables where you can imagine Vikings getting raucous and up to no good.
The bar even has old-fashioned Viking shields along the front of the bar making you feel like you might be grabbing one and heading to battle – but you’re more likely going to grab another cheeky beer in a glass tankard.
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