amma american meadmaker 1
TRANSCRIPT
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Welcome Welcome
MMAMMA
Eastern Mead Eastern Mead
Mead and San Diego Mead and San Diego
Mountain Mead Mountain Mead
Letter from the Editor
Red BordersAmerican Mead Maker is published on a quarterly basis
For advertising information and submission guidelinescontact the editor superstitionmeaderyhotmailcom
Cover Artesano Meadery in Groton Vermont welcomesvisitors on a 1047297ne Summer day
4
5
8
16
20
A Trip to Some East Coast MeaderiesJeff Herbert
The Story Behind AMMAChris Webber
Liquid AssetsRandy Clemens
Meadery of the RockiesStacy Wittig
RED BORDERS American Mead Maker
Winter 2012
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Letter from the Editor
Mead has been around since before recorded history but only recently have we been able to unite and
form the American Mead Makerrsquos Association This
humble journal endeavors to bring mead makers together to share
resources and information In our first year we are planning to
conduct the first survey of the commercial mead industry in
America This baseline data will serve as a starting point to
track a variety of issues as mead grows in popularity We will
introduce you to meaderies across our country and the amazing
products they produce AMMA will promote and publish the
results of commercial and home made mead competitions We
will strive to introduce you to new mead recipes mead cocktailsand food pairing suggestions We also would like mead fans to
be involved with this publication So if you have organizational
writing or photography skills and passion for mead contact me
to get involved If you are reading this letter you probably have
enjoyed making and or drinking mead So spread the word buy
a bottle or 12 from your local meadery and help us put mead on
the map
--Jeff Herbert
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BY Chris Webber
The Story Behind AMMA
With the phenomenal growth in the mead in-dustry over the last several years many believethere is now not only a suffi cient base to sup-port a new mead organization but a great needas well Many have observed that the meadindustry is today where craft beer was somethirty years ago It was discussed for sometime among industry leaders and internet fo-
rums about once again puttingtogether an association BradDolhofer of B Nektar Meaderyin Ferndale Michigan createda Facebook page in January2011 for the American MeadMakers Association (AMMA)which started the ball roll-ing In October Chris Webber
of Dragonrsquos Lair Country Wines amp Meads inLakewood Washington (not yet bonded) puttogether a website to start formally bringingthe industry together
Part of the discussion was whether or not toactually form as an international associationso as to include other mead makers around theworld however in the end it was decided that
due to jurisdictional considerations for legisla-tive purposes the association should limit itsboundaries to the US and should an interna-tional organization be formed in the future the AMMA would become a member and support-er In the meantime non-US mead makers can join the AMMA as an Associate Member
There have been several attempts over the years
to create an association for the purpose of pro
moting and improving the mead industry Th
original American Mead Association (AMA
was founded in 1986 by Pamela Spence Ohi
beekeeper and author of Mad About Mead
Nectar of the Gods (ISBN 1-56718-683-1) an
other works as an alternative market for hone
Unfortunately it was a labor of love and the la
bor was a bit too muchIt was passed on to Susanne Pric
in 1993 who moved it to Colo
rado She built up the organiza
tion through her connection
with the American Homebrewer
Association as well as enlarge
the newsletter and soon made
a partnership with John ldquoJulian
Strekel Julian had established a honey suppl business and it seems that the intention was t
move the AMA from Pamela Spencersquos concep
tion as a nonprofit organization to a for profi
co-op After Susannersquos tragic death in earl
1996 it was left to Julian to run the organiza
tion
The association soon fell on hard times Th
newsletter ceased although the association wastill accepting dues honey suppliers were no
being paid and in short order the money was a
gone By March 1997 Julian gave up all inte
est in the AMA to Andrew LaMorte and Keit
and Sarah Wanless of Highlander Home Brew
in Littleton Colorado It soon became apparen
the organization was in a dire financial situa
tion and due also to some legal consideration
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a complete reorganization became necessaryTe task proved to be over-whelming and by mid-1998the association had fadedinto oblivion As is oft the
case when such organiza-tions fail it is a slow pain-ful death where many goodhonest people were leftwith a bad taste
In 1990 Ken Schrammauthor of Te CompleatMeadmaker (Brewers Pub-
lications 2003) Dan Mc-Connell and Mike OBrienfounded the Mazer CupMead Competition whichran for 12 years in Michi-gan Te original Mazer Cupwas sponsored by the Ann Arbor Brewers Guildthe National Honey Board and others and wasa BJCP and AHA sanctioned competition Te
1047297rst time the Mazer Cup is mentioned in theMead Lovers Digest is April 1993 It lists spon-sors as GW Kent Inc of Ann Arbor MI HomeWinery Supply of Dundee MI Te Ann ArborBrewers Guild and the American Mead Asso-ciation of Boulder CO
In 2001 the Mazer Cup was renamed the Pfei-ffer Mazer Cup in memory of friend mentor
and 1985 AHA Meadmaker of the Year Bill Pfei-ffer who lost his battle with cancer in 2000 In2002 Ray Daniels author of Designing GreatBeers Te Ultimate Guide to Brewing ClassicBeer Styles and other great beer books re-organized the Mazer Cup into the First Inter-national Mead Competition and Planet BuzzFestival in Chicago Illinois Tis would be the
largest mead only festival ever to that date
Te next year the festivawas picked up by David Myers and Redstone Meader
of Boulder Colorado anshortened to the International Mead Festival (IMFBy 2004 the Festival hasome 85 different meadfrom 32 companies in 7 diferent countries In 200the competition was expanded to include amateu
mead makers
In 2003 and 2004 meetingwere held during the IMcompetition to discuss chalenges facing the industr
and by late 2004 another attempt was madto create the International Mead Associatio(IMA) which basically assumed the IMF Com
mittees were formed and paperwork was 1047297ledbut by the end of 2007 the IMA was gone againhowever the IMF continued
In 2009 Myers and Redstone ended their stewardship of the Festival In the interest of preserving the momentum of this event VickRowe owner of the website GotMeadcom Petar Bakulic and others reorganized the compe
tition With the blessing of Schramm McConnell and OBrien it assumed the name of thMazer Cup International Mead Competitionand is today the largest mead-only compettion in the United States and indeed the world
Finally on May 1st 2012 the American MeaMakers Association (AMMA) was incorpo
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rated in the State of Washington with Chris
Webber as President pro tem Cheryl Webber
as Secretary and Woody Drake of Columbus
Ohio as Vice President In accordance with the Association Bylaws their mission is fourfold
to improve regulation that promotes the Meadindustry to educate consumers about Mead
to conduct research to improve the craft and
to promote Mead in general
In the short term the Associations plans are
to build its membership establish a website
domain and to start a newsletter Over time
the expectation will be to effect the Federal
regulations to recognize Mead as a fermentedbeverage separate from wine with labeling and
formula rules speci1047297c to the craft Tis will co-
incide with establishing style guidelines that
will also be used in sanctioned competitionsand judge certi1047297cations Te organization also
plans to work with wineries meaderies and
mead competitions around the country to de-
velop a program whereby Association mem-
bers can receive a discount
Much of the preceding information was gath-
ered through an exhaustive search of the ar-
chives of the Mead Lovers Digest an email fo-
rum which began September 25th 1992 underthe care of John A Dilley and continues un-
interrupted today with Dick Dunn as ldquoDigest
Janitorrdquo Tese archives can be found online
at the GotMeadcom website httpwwwgot-meadcommldarchiveshtml Other contribu-
tions came from discussions on the GotMeadcom forum and conversations with Mr Ken
Schramm
PREVIOUS PAGE Pam Spence
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A Road Trip in Search of Eas
Coast Mead
In June of 2012 I visited 3mead makers in MarylandMassachusetts and Ver-
mont My first stop was tothe magnificent estate win-ery of Mt Felix which is justoutside of Havre De Gracein Northeastern Maryland
When you park at Mt Fe-lix you are in the shadow ofa beautiful brick mansionbuilt in an era long past The tasting room and win-
ery compliment the style ofthe historic home and the views of the ChesapeakeBay are a rare treat Enjoy-ing a glass of wine while lis-tening to live music on the patio while scanning thefarm fields for wildlife be-fore a walk amongst severalacres of grapes is a wonder-ful way to spend a weekendafternoon
During my visit the propri-etor Peter Ianniello wasonsight to pour wines along with his staff who were each
well versed in the wine ming process and descriptiof their products The lis
products offered for tastiand for bottle purchases wextensive One stand and the best pumpkin wI have ever had was the Tra Maria It poured a cstraw color and tasted fall
When the folks at Mt lix heard that I was visi
from Arizona and had opened a meadery the p prietor vanished for a mment and returned witblueberry mead he mad years prior It was reallnice gesture to share a batch of mead he madelong ago While not for during my visit Mt F was aging a pyment m with their Chambourgrapes and fortified wgrappa What a concep vowed to return and tradbottle of my pyment on next visit
After leaving Marylanddrove north towards ru Western Massachusetts
visit the mead makers
Opposite Page Clockwise from Upper Left Artesano mead made with a variety
of blueberries Chambourcin grapes grow early in the season at Mt Felix Win-
ery the crew at Green River Ambrosia This Page Wax machine in operation at
Ar tesano Mt Felix Pumpkin wine Next Page Tasting room at Mt Felix and InsideGreen River Ambrosia
Article and Photos By Jeff Herbert
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Green River Ambrosia I had previously con-
tacted Garth Shaneyfelt to arange a tour and
tasting of Green Riverrsquos offerings It turned
out that the whole staff was onsite and full
of excitement for their growing business
mead and meeting new folks Along with
Garth Will Savitri Brendan Burns SamDribble and Sandy Pearson are liquid artists
using locally produced honey ex-Jack Dan-
iels barrels chamomile flowers local apple
cider and ginger to create innovative styles of
mead and
a l c o h o l -
ic gin-
ger soda
G r e e nRiver also
brews a
p o p u l a r
brand of
k o m b u -
cha tea
Ka t a lys t
K o m -
b u c h a which is a
fermented
pro-biotic
health elixir Garth joked ldquoWe are vertically
integrated with both toxifying and detoxify-
ing productsrdquo
Green River began making mead in order to
support local bee keepers and started with10 hives producing raw local honey Now
they self-distribute in over 65 package stores
and restaurants and are expanding Their
current line up follows
Liquid Sunshine A traditional semi-dry
mead made with local honey for a slightly
floral taste 12 abv
Chamomile A traditional semi-dry mead in
fused with organic chamomile flowers 12
abv (seasonal)
Winter Warmer A semi-sweet mead flavore
with our warming spice blend to get yo
through the cold dark winter Try it heated14 abv (winter seasonal)
Cyzer Our apple-icious mead made wit
fresh-pressed heritage cider from Clarkdal
Fruit Farms i
Deerfield MA
Light natura
effervescence
serve chilled12 abv (avai
able late Sum
mer - Fall)
Bourbon Cyz
er Our cyze
aged three-plu
months in fres
bourbon barrelSomewhat effe
vescent - kee
refrigerated 12
abv Winner of 2010 and 2011 Mazer Cu
Medals (Available late summer - fall)
Bourbon-Barrel Buckwheat Hearty buck
wheat honey mead mellowed over six month
in Jack Daniels Bourbon Barrels 14 abv(seasonal)
Ginger Libation Our hugely popular Liba
tion is somewhat like a spicy alcoholic ginge
soda but yoursquove just gotta try for yoursel
Sweetened with cane sugar pineapple an
citrus juices (not a mead) itrsquos fruity bubbl
and delicious Keep refrigerated bottle con
ditioned 8-9 abv
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Previous Pages Clockwise From Top Left Green River
Ambrosia Luke and Logan Herber t enjoy a glass of Kom-
bucha Tea Artesano Meadery Hilary Bumgarner pours a
sample of b lueberry mead Jennifer Herbert taking notes
at Green River Ambrosia Opposite Page Inside Artesa-
norsquos tasting room Artesanorsquos fermentation tanks
The last stop on this East Coast mead trip was Artesano Meadery in Groton Vermont
Offering samples of mead and their own ice
cream on a sunny Vermont Summer day a
visit to Artesano will inspire meadery owners
and mead fans alike I met Hilary Bumgarner
who provided one of the best tours anyone
cold ask for She works with the owners of
Artesano and not only pours samples in the
tasting room but is an accomplished meadmaker After tasting several fantastic meads
Hilary showed me Artesanorsquos stainless fer-
mentation tanks bottling machine and they
even have a custom made device which seals
the cork with a wax finish and then imprints
their logo in the wax
Artesano has won several awards and makes
the following meads Traditional Mead ChiliCinnamon Mead Essence Dry Mead Spiced
Mead Cranberry Mead Blueberry Mead
Blackberry Mead and Poetrsquos Mead which is
aged in bourbon barrels
Owner Mark Simakaski and his wife began
making mead while teaching bee keeping in
the Peace Corps in South America I asked
Mark about challenges he faced in startinga meadery He said ldquoThe time from start up
to your first bottle of mead has a long lead
time We needed to be sure there was enough
capital to make it throughrdquo In 2012 Artesano
produced 17000 500 ml bottles of mead Ap-
parently their hard work is paying off
Artesano self-distributes to 55 accounts in
Vermont and their most popular mead i
their Traditional Mead Mark also sells mea
and represents Artesano at farmerrsquos market
and a few wine events each year when aske
about what will help grow the mead indus
try Mark says ldquoGood mead makers and a lo
of consumer education As the availability o
mead increases so will its sales But it has t
be good meadrdquo
In visiting these three businesses makin
mead I was excited to see that mead univer
sally serves as a catharsis for the liquid artis
The creativity exibited by mead makers is as
tounding The success that these three mea
makers have developed is indicative of th
growth that can be expected in the mead in
dustry Meaderies are starting up across th
country but we are just beginning to catch
new wave in the alcohol industry
One hypothesis I had prior to this road tri
was that meaderies even in similar parts o
the country are relatively disconnected I be
lieve that the spirit of a business deciding tbegin a meadery is certainly an independen
spirit and perhaps geography may keep u
apart While some of the mead makers I vis
ited had been to other Eastern meaderies
and even to the Mazer Cup these meader
ies generally do their own thing In light o
this I keep asking myself a question that
will posit to you now ldquoIf there is strength i
numbers as the old saying goes what benefits can meaderies realize if we further ne
work and join togetherrdquo
I hope to see you at the Mazer Cup in 2013
Check out
wwwmountfelixcom
wwwgreenriverambrosiacom
wwwartesanomeadcom
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Liquid Assets
Mead For The Modern AgeBy Randy Clemens
ldquoMead is the ancient liquor of gods and
men the giver of knowledge and poetry
the healer of wounds and the bestower of
immortalityrdquo
George Robert Gayre Scottish anthropologist
Long before the advent of wine beer and spir-
its countless civilizations celebrated revered
and drank their fair share of mead an alcoholic
beverage forged out of the fermentation of na-
turersquos most miraculous sugar honey
ldquoWe see mead as a magical thingrdquo explainsFrank Golbeck co-founder of fledgling start-
up Golden Coast Mead based in San Diego ldquoIt
represents this synergy that has connected peo-
ple to agriculture and their environment Drink-
ing it is a culinary experience that has deep cul-
tural roots across the world and across timerdquo
Indeed honey has long been held in high re-
gard and one can only imagine that meadrsquos
intoxicating properties would make honey thatmuch more special to our early ancestors The
mind-altering effects were thought of as a kind
of transformation a journey into another world
that opened the brain to new thoughts and ex-
periences
ldquoA drink I took of the magic mead [hellip] then I
began to know and to be wise to grow and t
weave poemsrdquo
mdashOdin from the Norse Saga Runahal circ
1200 CE
Mead is believed by many to be the first alco
holic drink known to man likely a happy ac
cident caused by mixing water and honey in a
animal-skin canteen while out on a hunt Est
mates of its discovery range from 9000 year
ago to as far back as 20000 years ago Ancien
Greeks and Romans had a well documented a
finity for mead as did the Vikings the Egyp
tians and many other cultures across Europe
the East Indies and Africa Fast forwarding t
the present mead is not nearly as prevalent as
once was taking a back seat to the much mor
common potent potables of today beer wine
cider sake and the like But it holds a worl
of complexity just waiting to be explored Th
meadmakermdashalso known as a mazermdashha
at their fingertips a veritable blank canvas o
which to build
ldquoMead presents this huge spectrum of flavo
possibilitiesrdquo continues Golbeck ldquoThe hone
varietal is arguably the most important choic
in determining the profile of the mead but se
lecting a yeast strain deciding how sweet yoursquo
like it to be whether or not itrsquos sparkling and o
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course if yoursquod like to add in adjuncts such as
fruit or spices how long itrsquos aged and whether
or not thatrsquos on oakhellipthe combinations really
are unlimitedrdquo
In regards to the honey varietal Susan Ruud
and Gordon Strongmdashrecognized as Grand Mas-
ter level judges by the Beer Judge Certification
Programmdashconducted ldquoThe Great Honey Ex-
perimentrdquo which had a group of people gauge
six different meads identical in every respect
except for the type of honey used Their meads
presented and evaluated at the 2010 National
Homebrewers Conference had some common-
alities but also pointed out some very interest-
ing differences
Golden Coast is currently focusing on making
one mead and making it well Called Mirth in
a Bottle itrsquos obvious in talking with Golbeck
that he has an insatiable passion for his craft
ldquoFor me I want to show the best expression of
the honey varietalrdquo he waxes ldquoThatrsquos what Irsquom
afterrdquo
ldquoWe start with a wonderfully aromatic orange
blossom honey and make the mead semisweet
and sparkling which really makes the citrus fla
vor pop and that surprises a lot of people Th
character isnrsquot nearly as noticeable in the bas
honey but it comes through beautifully in th
finished mead We use a red-wine yeast for th
fermentation which adds these complex flor
notes that I just love But ultimately itrsquos all t
highlight the nuances naturally present in th
honeyrdquo
Are you reading this all in disbelief remem
bering a cloying sickeningly sweet mead th
you tried at ye olde Renaissance Faire Wel
I implore you to give it another shot There
a world of great meads out there waiting to b
enjoyed Some are sweet or semisweet whil
others can be quite dry with different carbon
ation levels ranging from still to sparking o
somewhere in between called semi-sparklin
or peacutetillant [Yoursquoll thank me when thatrsquos
question on Jeopardy some day] It might tak
a bit of searching but therersquos been a growin
buzz thatrsquos getting mead onto more and mor
shelves And while I can drone on and on fodays reading about them is nowhere near a
great as tasting them
HONEY VARIETAL SAMPLING OF AROMA FLAVOR CHARACTERISTIC
MESQUITE Pipe tobacco smoke wood earthy vanilla pepper cinnamon Cheddar cheese min
ORANGE BLOSSOM Citrus orange blossom honey 1047298oral pear vanilla apple white grape almon
TUPELO Apple pepper wood mint white grape cinnamon marshmallow caramel 1047298oral cider pe
WHITE SAGE Earthy minty menthol musty herbal pepper spicy light smoke sauerkrau
STAR THISTLE Floral grassy 1047297g cinnamon nutmeg lavender vanilla butter caramel pin
BASSWOOD Menthol thyme oregano white wine butter earthy wood caramel citrus pepp
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TALKING THE TALK
BRAGGOT A hybrid of mead and beer brewed with honey and malt
CYSER A hybrid of mead and cider made with honey and apple juice
HYDROMEL Lighter lower alcohol mead
MELOMEL Mead fermented with any variety of fruit
METHEGLIN Mead brewed with herbs spices or hops
PYMENT A hybrid of mead and wine made with honey and grape juice
SACK MEAD Higher alcohol mead typically above 14 abv
TEJ A popular Ethiopian style of mead made with a bitter species of buck
thorn known as Gesho
Golden Coast Mead is available for purchase
in several locations throughout San Diego
County but can be shipped nationwide
through wwwgoldencoastmeadcom Gol-beck also offered a list of some of his favor-
ite meads and meaderies B Nektar Meadery
(MI) WineHaven Stinger Honeywine (MN)
Mountain Meadows Mead (CA) Moonlight
Meadery (NH) and Redstone Meadery (CO)
And if yoursquore interested in making your own at
home Golbeck recommends picking up The
Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm
Randy Clemens is the author of The Sriracha
Cookbook and co-author of The Craft of Stone
Brewing Co Liquid Lore Epic Recipes and
Unabashed Arrogance He is also the Media amp
Communications Linchpin at Stone Brewing
Co If yoursquore bored you can follow his musings
on Twitter RandyClemensEsq
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Standing next to fifty-five gallon drums of
honey at Meadery of the Rockies in Pali-
sade Colorado mead maker and owner
Glenn Foster explains his secrets to successful
mead production ldquoWe start with 100 pure
natural orange-blossom honey This California
honey has been the standard since 1995 because
of its consistent tasterdquo describes Foster whose
award-wining melomels are very popular withconsumers Because the meadery -- originally
known as the Rocky Mountain Meadery -- does
so much with fruit-blended meads they needed
honey that would enhance flavors of many dif-
ferent fruits
Over time they found that orange-blossom
honey carried the flavors of a variety of fruits
better than other types of honey Fosterrsquos favo
ite way to make melomel is to blend the mea
with fruit wine
And it just so happens that he has unlimited ac
cess to many award-winning fruit wines Foste
and wife Natalie own and operate St Kathry
Cellars and Talon Winery also located in Pal
sade The small agricultural community is in thheart of western Coloradorsquos fruit country nea
Grand Junction The area is especially know
for its peaches which are shipped all over th
west and can be found in kitchens as high-brow
as Air Force One ndash the presidentrsquos ride Th
lush valley is designated as The Grand Valley
the oldest and largest AVA (American Viticu
ture Area) in Colorado
The Buzz at Coloradorsquos Oldest Meadery
Article and Photos By Stacey Wittig
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Water is in abundance at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains ndash Palisade is right on the Colorado
River ndash and the Fosters use pure Rocky Moun-
tain water for their entire mead making ldquoWelearned the old tricks and discovered some new
ones along the wayrdquo reveals Foster who
personally directs the production of each batch
of mead The mead maker brought some secrets
with him when he bought the meadery in 2008
He had previously worked as the of ficial wine-
maker at Twin Rivers Winery in Grand Junc-
tion and also in the California wine industryldquoMy father founded Ravenswood Winery [So-
noma] when I was twelve [in 1976] ldquoWe were
glass droppers as children I came to Colora-
do in rsquo82 to go to school In 1993 I went back
to Ravenwood In 1995 while visiting my in-
laws we discovered Grand Valley We decided
to move here that day and put a deposit on a
rental houserdquo laughs the impulsive vintner
He worked for various Grand Valley winerie
for about ten years until he got tired of makin
OPW (other peoplesrsquo wine)
Mead production has quadrupled since 1995
Foster is proud that his meadery is the fir
meadery in Colorado ldquoOur roots go way backMead is authentic ndash millennials are looking fo
something authentic and differentrdquo he say
Mead flavored with apricots peaches straw
berries cherries and raspberries are trendy righ
now The Cherries lsquon Honey just won Gold i
the 2012 Denver International Wine Compet
tion
Meadery of the Rockiesrsquo automated bottlinline can cork or screw cap thirty-six bottle
per minute Their twenty-three tanks range i
size from 160 to 3000 gallons Meads sell fo
$1195 ndash $3495 per bottle When you visi
sample up to five meads free in the comfy tas
ing room (only $1 per sample after that) Wh
might you see there Visitors from as far awa
as Japan mead lovers from California Colo
rado and Utah and maybe even Emilio Estevewho has been known to stop in for a taste
Meadery of the Rockies 3701 G Road
Palisade Colorado (970) 464-7899 Open Da
ly 10-5 wwwmeaderyoftherockiescom
Stacey Wittig is a travel writer based in Flag
staff AZ Her culinary adventures have led he
up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpilars and roasted guinea pig across the plains o
northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago en
joying steamed barnacles and through the vine
yards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classico
ldquoThe Grand Canyon State is a remarkable plac
to call homerdquo declares the wandering write
Get more travel tips at wwwVagabondinglulu
com
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Welcome Welcome
MMAMMA
Eastern Mead Eastern Mead
Mead and San Diego Mead and San Diego
Mountain Mead Mountain Mead
Letter from the Editor
Red BordersAmerican Mead Maker is published on a quarterly basis
For advertising information and submission guidelinescontact the editor superstitionmeaderyhotmailcom
Cover Artesano Meadery in Groton Vermont welcomesvisitors on a 1047297ne Summer day
4
5
8
16
20
A Trip to Some East Coast MeaderiesJeff Herbert
The Story Behind AMMAChris Webber
Liquid AssetsRandy Clemens
Meadery of the RockiesStacy Wittig
RED BORDERS American Mead Maker
Winter 2012
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Letter from the Editor
Mead has been around since before recorded history but only recently have we been able to unite and
form the American Mead Makerrsquos Association This
humble journal endeavors to bring mead makers together to share
resources and information In our first year we are planning to
conduct the first survey of the commercial mead industry in
America This baseline data will serve as a starting point to
track a variety of issues as mead grows in popularity We will
introduce you to meaderies across our country and the amazing
products they produce AMMA will promote and publish the
results of commercial and home made mead competitions We
will strive to introduce you to new mead recipes mead cocktailsand food pairing suggestions We also would like mead fans to
be involved with this publication So if you have organizational
writing or photography skills and passion for mead contact me
to get involved If you are reading this letter you probably have
enjoyed making and or drinking mead So spread the word buy
a bottle or 12 from your local meadery and help us put mead on
the map
--Jeff Herbert
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
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BY Chris Webber
The Story Behind AMMA
With the phenomenal growth in the mead in-dustry over the last several years many believethere is now not only a suffi cient base to sup-port a new mead organization but a great needas well Many have observed that the meadindustry is today where craft beer was somethirty years ago It was discussed for sometime among industry leaders and internet fo-
rums about once again puttingtogether an association BradDolhofer of B Nektar Meaderyin Ferndale Michigan createda Facebook page in January2011 for the American MeadMakers Association (AMMA)which started the ball roll-ing In October Chris Webber
of Dragonrsquos Lair Country Wines amp Meads inLakewood Washington (not yet bonded) puttogether a website to start formally bringingthe industry together
Part of the discussion was whether or not toactually form as an international associationso as to include other mead makers around theworld however in the end it was decided that
due to jurisdictional considerations for legisla-tive purposes the association should limit itsboundaries to the US and should an interna-tional organization be formed in the future the AMMA would become a member and support-er In the meantime non-US mead makers can join the AMMA as an Associate Member
There have been several attempts over the years
to create an association for the purpose of pro
moting and improving the mead industry Th
original American Mead Association (AMA
was founded in 1986 by Pamela Spence Ohi
beekeeper and author of Mad About Mead
Nectar of the Gods (ISBN 1-56718-683-1) an
other works as an alternative market for hone
Unfortunately it was a labor of love and the la
bor was a bit too muchIt was passed on to Susanne Pric
in 1993 who moved it to Colo
rado She built up the organiza
tion through her connection
with the American Homebrewer
Association as well as enlarge
the newsletter and soon made
a partnership with John ldquoJulian
Strekel Julian had established a honey suppl business and it seems that the intention was t
move the AMA from Pamela Spencersquos concep
tion as a nonprofit organization to a for profi
co-op After Susannersquos tragic death in earl
1996 it was left to Julian to run the organiza
tion
The association soon fell on hard times Th
newsletter ceased although the association wastill accepting dues honey suppliers were no
being paid and in short order the money was a
gone By March 1997 Julian gave up all inte
est in the AMA to Andrew LaMorte and Keit
and Sarah Wanless of Highlander Home Brew
in Littleton Colorado It soon became apparen
the organization was in a dire financial situa
tion and due also to some legal consideration
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a complete reorganization became necessaryTe task proved to be over-whelming and by mid-1998the association had fadedinto oblivion As is oft the
case when such organiza-tions fail it is a slow pain-ful death where many goodhonest people were leftwith a bad taste
In 1990 Ken Schrammauthor of Te CompleatMeadmaker (Brewers Pub-
lications 2003) Dan Mc-Connell and Mike OBrienfounded the Mazer CupMead Competition whichran for 12 years in Michi-gan Te original Mazer Cupwas sponsored by the Ann Arbor Brewers Guildthe National Honey Board and others and wasa BJCP and AHA sanctioned competition Te
1047297rst time the Mazer Cup is mentioned in theMead Lovers Digest is April 1993 It lists spon-sors as GW Kent Inc of Ann Arbor MI HomeWinery Supply of Dundee MI Te Ann ArborBrewers Guild and the American Mead Asso-ciation of Boulder CO
In 2001 the Mazer Cup was renamed the Pfei-ffer Mazer Cup in memory of friend mentor
and 1985 AHA Meadmaker of the Year Bill Pfei-ffer who lost his battle with cancer in 2000 In2002 Ray Daniels author of Designing GreatBeers Te Ultimate Guide to Brewing ClassicBeer Styles and other great beer books re-organized the Mazer Cup into the First Inter-national Mead Competition and Planet BuzzFestival in Chicago Illinois Tis would be the
largest mead only festival ever to that date
Te next year the festivawas picked up by David Myers and Redstone Meader
of Boulder Colorado anshortened to the International Mead Festival (IMFBy 2004 the Festival hasome 85 different meadfrom 32 companies in 7 diferent countries In 200the competition was expanded to include amateu
mead makers
In 2003 and 2004 meetingwere held during the IMcompetition to discuss chalenges facing the industr
and by late 2004 another attempt was madto create the International Mead Associatio(IMA) which basically assumed the IMF Com
mittees were formed and paperwork was 1047297ledbut by the end of 2007 the IMA was gone againhowever the IMF continued
In 2009 Myers and Redstone ended their stewardship of the Festival In the interest of preserving the momentum of this event VickRowe owner of the website GotMeadcom Petar Bakulic and others reorganized the compe
tition With the blessing of Schramm McConnell and OBrien it assumed the name of thMazer Cup International Mead Competitionand is today the largest mead-only compettion in the United States and indeed the world
Finally on May 1st 2012 the American MeaMakers Association (AMMA) was incorpo
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rated in the State of Washington with Chris
Webber as President pro tem Cheryl Webber
as Secretary and Woody Drake of Columbus
Ohio as Vice President In accordance with the Association Bylaws their mission is fourfold
to improve regulation that promotes the Meadindustry to educate consumers about Mead
to conduct research to improve the craft and
to promote Mead in general
In the short term the Associations plans are
to build its membership establish a website
domain and to start a newsletter Over time
the expectation will be to effect the Federal
regulations to recognize Mead as a fermentedbeverage separate from wine with labeling and
formula rules speci1047297c to the craft Tis will co-
incide with establishing style guidelines that
will also be used in sanctioned competitionsand judge certi1047297cations Te organization also
plans to work with wineries meaderies and
mead competitions around the country to de-
velop a program whereby Association mem-
bers can receive a discount
Much of the preceding information was gath-
ered through an exhaustive search of the ar-
chives of the Mead Lovers Digest an email fo-
rum which began September 25th 1992 underthe care of John A Dilley and continues un-
interrupted today with Dick Dunn as ldquoDigest
Janitorrdquo Tese archives can be found online
at the GotMeadcom website httpwwwgot-meadcommldarchiveshtml Other contribu-
tions came from discussions on the GotMeadcom forum and conversations with Mr Ken
Schramm
PREVIOUS PAGE Pam Spence
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A Road Trip in Search of Eas
Coast Mead
In June of 2012 I visited 3mead makers in MarylandMassachusetts and Ver-
mont My first stop was tothe magnificent estate win-ery of Mt Felix which is justoutside of Havre De Gracein Northeastern Maryland
When you park at Mt Fe-lix you are in the shadow ofa beautiful brick mansionbuilt in an era long past The tasting room and win-
ery compliment the style ofthe historic home and the views of the ChesapeakeBay are a rare treat Enjoy-ing a glass of wine while lis-tening to live music on the patio while scanning thefarm fields for wildlife be-fore a walk amongst severalacres of grapes is a wonder-ful way to spend a weekendafternoon
During my visit the propri-etor Peter Ianniello wasonsight to pour wines along with his staff who were each
well versed in the wine ming process and descriptiof their products The lis
products offered for tastiand for bottle purchases wextensive One stand and the best pumpkin wI have ever had was the Tra Maria It poured a cstraw color and tasted fall
When the folks at Mt lix heard that I was visi
from Arizona and had opened a meadery the p prietor vanished for a mment and returned witblueberry mead he mad years prior It was reallnice gesture to share a batch of mead he madelong ago While not for during my visit Mt F was aging a pyment m with their Chambourgrapes and fortified wgrappa What a concep vowed to return and tradbottle of my pyment on next visit
After leaving Marylanddrove north towards ru Western Massachusetts
visit the mead makers
Opposite Page Clockwise from Upper Left Artesano mead made with a variety
of blueberries Chambourcin grapes grow early in the season at Mt Felix Win-
ery the crew at Green River Ambrosia This Page Wax machine in operation at
Ar tesano Mt Felix Pumpkin wine Next Page Tasting room at Mt Felix and InsideGreen River Ambrosia
Article and Photos By Jeff Herbert
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Green River Ambrosia I had previously con-
tacted Garth Shaneyfelt to arange a tour and
tasting of Green Riverrsquos offerings It turned
out that the whole staff was onsite and full
of excitement for their growing business
mead and meeting new folks Along with
Garth Will Savitri Brendan Burns SamDribble and Sandy Pearson are liquid artists
using locally produced honey ex-Jack Dan-
iels barrels chamomile flowers local apple
cider and ginger to create innovative styles of
mead and
a l c o h o l -
ic gin-
ger soda
G r e e nRiver also
brews a
p o p u l a r
brand of
k o m b u -
cha tea
Ka t a lys t
K o m -
b u c h a which is a
fermented
pro-biotic
health elixir Garth joked ldquoWe are vertically
integrated with both toxifying and detoxify-
ing productsrdquo
Green River began making mead in order to
support local bee keepers and started with10 hives producing raw local honey Now
they self-distribute in over 65 package stores
and restaurants and are expanding Their
current line up follows
Liquid Sunshine A traditional semi-dry
mead made with local honey for a slightly
floral taste 12 abv
Chamomile A traditional semi-dry mead in
fused with organic chamomile flowers 12
abv (seasonal)
Winter Warmer A semi-sweet mead flavore
with our warming spice blend to get yo
through the cold dark winter Try it heated14 abv (winter seasonal)
Cyzer Our apple-icious mead made wit
fresh-pressed heritage cider from Clarkdal
Fruit Farms i
Deerfield MA
Light natura
effervescence
serve chilled12 abv (avai
able late Sum
mer - Fall)
Bourbon Cyz
er Our cyze
aged three-plu
months in fres
bourbon barrelSomewhat effe
vescent - kee
refrigerated 12
abv Winner of 2010 and 2011 Mazer Cu
Medals (Available late summer - fall)
Bourbon-Barrel Buckwheat Hearty buck
wheat honey mead mellowed over six month
in Jack Daniels Bourbon Barrels 14 abv(seasonal)
Ginger Libation Our hugely popular Liba
tion is somewhat like a spicy alcoholic ginge
soda but yoursquove just gotta try for yoursel
Sweetened with cane sugar pineapple an
citrus juices (not a mead) itrsquos fruity bubbl
and delicious Keep refrigerated bottle con
ditioned 8-9 abv
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Previous Pages Clockwise From Top Left Green River
Ambrosia Luke and Logan Herber t enjoy a glass of Kom-
bucha Tea Artesano Meadery Hilary Bumgarner pours a
sample of b lueberry mead Jennifer Herbert taking notes
at Green River Ambrosia Opposite Page Inside Artesa-
norsquos tasting room Artesanorsquos fermentation tanks
The last stop on this East Coast mead trip was Artesano Meadery in Groton Vermont
Offering samples of mead and their own ice
cream on a sunny Vermont Summer day a
visit to Artesano will inspire meadery owners
and mead fans alike I met Hilary Bumgarner
who provided one of the best tours anyone
cold ask for She works with the owners of
Artesano and not only pours samples in the
tasting room but is an accomplished meadmaker After tasting several fantastic meads
Hilary showed me Artesanorsquos stainless fer-
mentation tanks bottling machine and they
even have a custom made device which seals
the cork with a wax finish and then imprints
their logo in the wax
Artesano has won several awards and makes
the following meads Traditional Mead ChiliCinnamon Mead Essence Dry Mead Spiced
Mead Cranberry Mead Blueberry Mead
Blackberry Mead and Poetrsquos Mead which is
aged in bourbon barrels
Owner Mark Simakaski and his wife began
making mead while teaching bee keeping in
the Peace Corps in South America I asked
Mark about challenges he faced in startinga meadery He said ldquoThe time from start up
to your first bottle of mead has a long lead
time We needed to be sure there was enough
capital to make it throughrdquo In 2012 Artesano
produced 17000 500 ml bottles of mead Ap-
parently their hard work is paying off
Artesano self-distributes to 55 accounts in
Vermont and their most popular mead i
their Traditional Mead Mark also sells mea
and represents Artesano at farmerrsquos market
and a few wine events each year when aske
about what will help grow the mead indus
try Mark says ldquoGood mead makers and a lo
of consumer education As the availability o
mead increases so will its sales But it has t
be good meadrdquo
In visiting these three businesses makin
mead I was excited to see that mead univer
sally serves as a catharsis for the liquid artis
The creativity exibited by mead makers is as
tounding The success that these three mea
makers have developed is indicative of th
growth that can be expected in the mead in
dustry Meaderies are starting up across th
country but we are just beginning to catch
new wave in the alcohol industry
One hypothesis I had prior to this road tri
was that meaderies even in similar parts o
the country are relatively disconnected I be
lieve that the spirit of a business deciding tbegin a meadery is certainly an independen
spirit and perhaps geography may keep u
apart While some of the mead makers I vis
ited had been to other Eastern meaderies
and even to the Mazer Cup these meader
ies generally do their own thing In light o
this I keep asking myself a question that
will posit to you now ldquoIf there is strength i
numbers as the old saying goes what benefits can meaderies realize if we further ne
work and join togetherrdquo
I hope to see you at the Mazer Cup in 2013
Check out
wwwmountfelixcom
wwwgreenriverambrosiacom
wwwartesanomeadcom
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Liquid Assets
Mead For The Modern AgeBy Randy Clemens
ldquoMead is the ancient liquor of gods and
men the giver of knowledge and poetry
the healer of wounds and the bestower of
immortalityrdquo
George Robert Gayre Scottish anthropologist
Long before the advent of wine beer and spir-
its countless civilizations celebrated revered
and drank their fair share of mead an alcoholic
beverage forged out of the fermentation of na-
turersquos most miraculous sugar honey
ldquoWe see mead as a magical thingrdquo explainsFrank Golbeck co-founder of fledgling start-
up Golden Coast Mead based in San Diego ldquoIt
represents this synergy that has connected peo-
ple to agriculture and their environment Drink-
ing it is a culinary experience that has deep cul-
tural roots across the world and across timerdquo
Indeed honey has long been held in high re-
gard and one can only imagine that meadrsquos
intoxicating properties would make honey thatmuch more special to our early ancestors The
mind-altering effects were thought of as a kind
of transformation a journey into another world
that opened the brain to new thoughts and ex-
periences
ldquoA drink I took of the magic mead [hellip] then I
began to know and to be wise to grow and t
weave poemsrdquo
mdashOdin from the Norse Saga Runahal circ
1200 CE
Mead is believed by many to be the first alco
holic drink known to man likely a happy ac
cident caused by mixing water and honey in a
animal-skin canteen while out on a hunt Est
mates of its discovery range from 9000 year
ago to as far back as 20000 years ago Ancien
Greeks and Romans had a well documented a
finity for mead as did the Vikings the Egyp
tians and many other cultures across Europe
the East Indies and Africa Fast forwarding t
the present mead is not nearly as prevalent as
once was taking a back seat to the much mor
common potent potables of today beer wine
cider sake and the like But it holds a worl
of complexity just waiting to be explored Th
meadmakermdashalso known as a mazermdashha
at their fingertips a veritable blank canvas o
which to build
ldquoMead presents this huge spectrum of flavo
possibilitiesrdquo continues Golbeck ldquoThe hone
varietal is arguably the most important choic
in determining the profile of the mead but se
lecting a yeast strain deciding how sweet yoursquo
like it to be whether or not itrsquos sparkling and o
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course if yoursquod like to add in adjuncts such as
fruit or spices how long itrsquos aged and whether
or not thatrsquos on oakhellipthe combinations really
are unlimitedrdquo
In regards to the honey varietal Susan Ruud
and Gordon Strongmdashrecognized as Grand Mas-
ter level judges by the Beer Judge Certification
Programmdashconducted ldquoThe Great Honey Ex-
perimentrdquo which had a group of people gauge
six different meads identical in every respect
except for the type of honey used Their meads
presented and evaluated at the 2010 National
Homebrewers Conference had some common-
alities but also pointed out some very interest-
ing differences
Golden Coast is currently focusing on making
one mead and making it well Called Mirth in
a Bottle itrsquos obvious in talking with Golbeck
that he has an insatiable passion for his craft
ldquoFor me I want to show the best expression of
the honey varietalrdquo he waxes ldquoThatrsquos what Irsquom
afterrdquo
ldquoWe start with a wonderfully aromatic orange
blossom honey and make the mead semisweet
and sparkling which really makes the citrus fla
vor pop and that surprises a lot of people Th
character isnrsquot nearly as noticeable in the bas
honey but it comes through beautifully in th
finished mead We use a red-wine yeast for th
fermentation which adds these complex flor
notes that I just love But ultimately itrsquos all t
highlight the nuances naturally present in th
honeyrdquo
Are you reading this all in disbelief remem
bering a cloying sickeningly sweet mead th
you tried at ye olde Renaissance Faire Wel
I implore you to give it another shot There
a world of great meads out there waiting to b
enjoyed Some are sweet or semisweet whil
others can be quite dry with different carbon
ation levels ranging from still to sparking o
somewhere in between called semi-sparklin
or peacutetillant [Yoursquoll thank me when thatrsquos
question on Jeopardy some day] It might tak
a bit of searching but therersquos been a growin
buzz thatrsquos getting mead onto more and mor
shelves And while I can drone on and on fodays reading about them is nowhere near a
great as tasting them
HONEY VARIETAL SAMPLING OF AROMA FLAVOR CHARACTERISTIC
MESQUITE Pipe tobacco smoke wood earthy vanilla pepper cinnamon Cheddar cheese min
ORANGE BLOSSOM Citrus orange blossom honey 1047298oral pear vanilla apple white grape almon
TUPELO Apple pepper wood mint white grape cinnamon marshmallow caramel 1047298oral cider pe
WHITE SAGE Earthy minty menthol musty herbal pepper spicy light smoke sauerkrau
STAR THISTLE Floral grassy 1047297g cinnamon nutmeg lavender vanilla butter caramel pin
BASSWOOD Menthol thyme oregano white wine butter earthy wood caramel citrus pepp
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TALKING THE TALK
BRAGGOT A hybrid of mead and beer brewed with honey and malt
CYSER A hybrid of mead and cider made with honey and apple juice
HYDROMEL Lighter lower alcohol mead
MELOMEL Mead fermented with any variety of fruit
METHEGLIN Mead brewed with herbs spices or hops
PYMENT A hybrid of mead and wine made with honey and grape juice
SACK MEAD Higher alcohol mead typically above 14 abv
TEJ A popular Ethiopian style of mead made with a bitter species of buck
thorn known as Gesho
Golden Coast Mead is available for purchase
in several locations throughout San Diego
County but can be shipped nationwide
through wwwgoldencoastmeadcom Gol-beck also offered a list of some of his favor-
ite meads and meaderies B Nektar Meadery
(MI) WineHaven Stinger Honeywine (MN)
Mountain Meadows Mead (CA) Moonlight
Meadery (NH) and Redstone Meadery (CO)
And if yoursquore interested in making your own at
home Golbeck recommends picking up The
Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm
Randy Clemens is the author of The Sriracha
Cookbook and co-author of The Craft of Stone
Brewing Co Liquid Lore Epic Recipes and
Unabashed Arrogance He is also the Media amp
Communications Linchpin at Stone Brewing
Co If yoursquore bored you can follow his musings
on Twitter RandyClemensEsq
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
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Standing next to fifty-five gallon drums of
honey at Meadery of the Rockies in Pali-
sade Colorado mead maker and owner
Glenn Foster explains his secrets to successful
mead production ldquoWe start with 100 pure
natural orange-blossom honey This California
honey has been the standard since 1995 because
of its consistent tasterdquo describes Foster whose
award-wining melomels are very popular withconsumers Because the meadery -- originally
known as the Rocky Mountain Meadery -- does
so much with fruit-blended meads they needed
honey that would enhance flavors of many dif-
ferent fruits
Over time they found that orange-blossom
honey carried the flavors of a variety of fruits
better than other types of honey Fosterrsquos favo
ite way to make melomel is to blend the mea
with fruit wine
And it just so happens that he has unlimited ac
cess to many award-winning fruit wines Foste
and wife Natalie own and operate St Kathry
Cellars and Talon Winery also located in Pal
sade The small agricultural community is in thheart of western Coloradorsquos fruit country nea
Grand Junction The area is especially know
for its peaches which are shipped all over th
west and can be found in kitchens as high-brow
as Air Force One ndash the presidentrsquos ride Th
lush valley is designated as The Grand Valley
the oldest and largest AVA (American Viticu
ture Area) in Colorado
The Buzz at Coloradorsquos Oldest Meadery
Article and Photos By Stacey Wittig
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
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Water is in abundance at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains ndash Palisade is right on the Colorado
River ndash and the Fosters use pure Rocky Moun-
tain water for their entire mead making ldquoWelearned the old tricks and discovered some new
ones along the wayrdquo reveals Foster who
personally directs the production of each batch
of mead The mead maker brought some secrets
with him when he bought the meadery in 2008
He had previously worked as the of ficial wine-
maker at Twin Rivers Winery in Grand Junc-
tion and also in the California wine industryldquoMy father founded Ravenswood Winery [So-
noma] when I was twelve [in 1976] ldquoWe were
glass droppers as children I came to Colora-
do in rsquo82 to go to school In 1993 I went back
to Ravenwood In 1995 while visiting my in-
laws we discovered Grand Valley We decided
to move here that day and put a deposit on a
rental houserdquo laughs the impulsive vintner
He worked for various Grand Valley winerie
for about ten years until he got tired of makin
OPW (other peoplesrsquo wine)
Mead production has quadrupled since 1995
Foster is proud that his meadery is the fir
meadery in Colorado ldquoOur roots go way backMead is authentic ndash millennials are looking fo
something authentic and differentrdquo he say
Mead flavored with apricots peaches straw
berries cherries and raspberries are trendy righ
now The Cherries lsquon Honey just won Gold i
the 2012 Denver International Wine Compet
tion
Meadery of the Rockiesrsquo automated bottlinline can cork or screw cap thirty-six bottle
per minute Their twenty-three tanks range i
size from 160 to 3000 gallons Meads sell fo
$1195 ndash $3495 per bottle When you visi
sample up to five meads free in the comfy tas
ing room (only $1 per sample after that) Wh
might you see there Visitors from as far awa
as Japan mead lovers from California Colo
rado and Utah and maybe even Emilio Estevewho has been known to stop in for a taste
Meadery of the Rockies 3701 G Road
Palisade Colorado (970) 464-7899 Open Da
ly 10-5 wwwmeaderyoftherockiescom
Stacey Wittig is a travel writer based in Flag
staff AZ Her culinary adventures have led he
up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpilars and roasted guinea pig across the plains o
northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago en
joying steamed barnacles and through the vine
yards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classico
ldquoThe Grand Canyon State is a remarkable plac
to call homerdquo declares the wandering write
Get more travel tips at wwwVagabondinglulu
com
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Welcome Welcome
MMAMMA
Eastern Mead Eastern Mead
Mead and San Diego Mead and San Diego
Mountain Mead Mountain Mead
Letter from the Editor
Red BordersAmerican Mead Maker is published on a quarterly basis
For advertising information and submission guidelinescontact the editor superstitionmeaderyhotmailcom
Cover Artesano Meadery in Groton Vermont welcomesvisitors on a 1047297ne Summer day
4
5
8
16
20
A Trip to Some East Coast MeaderiesJeff Herbert
The Story Behind AMMAChris Webber
Liquid AssetsRandy Clemens
Meadery of the RockiesStacy Wittig
RED BORDERS American Mead Maker
Winter 2012
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Letter from the Editor
Mead has been around since before recorded history but only recently have we been able to unite and
form the American Mead Makerrsquos Association This
humble journal endeavors to bring mead makers together to share
resources and information In our first year we are planning to
conduct the first survey of the commercial mead industry in
America This baseline data will serve as a starting point to
track a variety of issues as mead grows in popularity We will
introduce you to meaderies across our country and the amazing
products they produce AMMA will promote and publish the
results of commercial and home made mead competitions We
will strive to introduce you to new mead recipes mead cocktailsand food pairing suggestions We also would like mead fans to
be involved with this publication So if you have organizational
writing or photography skills and passion for mead contact me
to get involved If you are reading this letter you probably have
enjoyed making and or drinking mead So spread the word buy
a bottle or 12 from your local meadery and help us put mead on
the map
--Jeff Herbert
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
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BY Chris Webber
The Story Behind AMMA
With the phenomenal growth in the mead in-dustry over the last several years many believethere is now not only a suffi cient base to sup-port a new mead organization but a great needas well Many have observed that the meadindustry is today where craft beer was somethirty years ago It was discussed for sometime among industry leaders and internet fo-
rums about once again puttingtogether an association BradDolhofer of B Nektar Meaderyin Ferndale Michigan createda Facebook page in January2011 for the American MeadMakers Association (AMMA)which started the ball roll-ing In October Chris Webber
of Dragonrsquos Lair Country Wines amp Meads inLakewood Washington (not yet bonded) puttogether a website to start formally bringingthe industry together
Part of the discussion was whether or not toactually form as an international associationso as to include other mead makers around theworld however in the end it was decided that
due to jurisdictional considerations for legisla-tive purposes the association should limit itsboundaries to the US and should an interna-tional organization be formed in the future the AMMA would become a member and support-er In the meantime non-US mead makers can join the AMMA as an Associate Member
There have been several attempts over the years
to create an association for the purpose of pro
moting and improving the mead industry Th
original American Mead Association (AMA
was founded in 1986 by Pamela Spence Ohi
beekeeper and author of Mad About Mead
Nectar of the Gods (ISBN 1-56718-683-1) an
other works as an alternative market for hone
Unfortunately it was a labor of love and the la
bor was a bit too muchIt was passed on to Susanne Pric
in 1993 who moved it to Colo
rado She built up the organiza
tion through her connection
with the American Homebrewer
Association as well as enlarge
the newsletter and soon made
a partnership with John ldquoJulian
Strekel Julian had established a honey suppl business and it seems that the intention was t
move the AMA from Pamela Spencersquos concep
tion as a nonprofit organization to a for profi
co-op After Susannersquos tragic death in earl
1996 it was left to Julian to run the organiza
tion
The association soon fell on hard times Th
newsletter ceased although the association wastill accepting dues honey suppliers were no
being paid and in short order the money was a
gone By March 1997 Julian gave up all inte
est in the AMA to Andrew LaMorte and Keit
and Sarah Wanless of Highlander Home Brew
in Littleton Colorado It soon became apparen
the organization was in a dire financial situa
tion and due also to some legal consideration
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a complete reorganization became necessaryTe task proved to be over-whelming and by mid-1998the association had fadedinto oblivion As is oft the
case when such organiza-tions fail it is a slow pain-ful death where many goodhonest people were leftwith a bad taste
In 1990 Ken Schrammauthor of Te CompleatMeadmaker (Brewers Pub-
lications 2003) Dan Mc-Connell and Mike OBrienfounded the Mazer CupMead Competition whichran for 12 years in Michi-gan Te original Mazer Cupwas sponsored by the Ann Arbor Brewers Guildthe National Honey Board and others and wasa BJCP and AHA sanctioned competition Te
1047297rst time the Mazer Cup is mentioned in theMead Lovers Digest is April 1993 It lists spon-sors as GW Kent Inc of Ann Arbor MI HomeWinery Supply of Dundee MI Te Ann ArborBrewers Guild and the American Mead Asso-ciation of Boulder CO
In 2001 the Mazer Cup was renamed the Pfei-ffer Mazer Cup in memory of friend mentor
and 1985 AHA Meadmaker of the Year Bill Pfei-ffer who lost his battle with cancer in 2000 In2002 Ray Daniels author of Designing GreatBeers Te Ultimate Guide to Brewing ClassicBeer Styles and other great beer books re-organized the Mazer Cup into the First Inter-national Mead Competition and Planet BuzzFestival in Chicago Illinois Tis would be the
largest mead only festival ever to that date
Te next year the festivawas picked up by David Myers and Redstone Meader
of Boulder Colorado anshortened to the International Mead Festival (IMFBy 2004 the Festival hasome 85 different meadfrom 32 companies in 7 diferent countries In 200the competition was expanded to include amateu
mead makers
In 2003 and 2004 meetingwere held during the IMcompetition to discuss chalenges facing the industr
and by late 2004 another attempt was madto create the International Mead Associatio(IMA) which basically assumed the IMF Com
mittees were formed and paperwork was 1047297ledbut by the end of 2007 the IMA was gone againhowever the IMF continued
In 2009 Myers and Redstone ended their stewardship of the Festival In the interest of preserving the momentum of this event VickRowe owner of the website GotMeadcom Petar Bakulic and others reorganized the compe
tition With the blessing of Schramm McConnell and OBrien it assumed the name of thMazer Cup International Mead Competitionand is today the largest mead-only compettion in the United States and indeed the world
Finally on May 1st 2012 the American MeaMakers Association (AMMA) was incorpo
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
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rated in the State of Washington with Chris
Webber as President pro tem Cheryl Webber
as Secretary and Woody Drake of Columbus
Ohio as Vice President In accordance with the Association Bylaws their mission is fourfold
to improve regulation that promotes the Meadindustry to educate consumers about Mead
to conduct research to improve the craft and
to promote Mead in general
In the short term the Associations plans are
to build its membership establish a website
domain and to start a newsletter Over time
the expectation will be to effect the Federal
regulations to recognize Mead as a fermentedbeverage separate from wine with labeling and
formula rules speci1047297c to the craft Tis will co-
incide with establishing style guidelines that
will also be used in sanctioned competitionsand judge certi1047297cations Te organization also
plans to work with wineries meaderies and
mead competitions around the country to de-
velop a program whereby Association mem-
bers can receive a discount
Much of the preceding information was gath-
ered through an exhaustive search of the ar-
chives of the Mead Lovers Digest an email fo-
rum which began September 25th 1992 underthe care of John A Dilley and continues un-
interrupted today with Dick Dunn as ldquoDigest
Janitorrdquo Tese archives can be found online
at the GotMeadcom website httpwwwgot-meadcommldarchiveshtml Other contribu-
tions came from discussions on the GotMeadcom forum and conversations with Mr Ken
Schramm
PREVIOUS PAGE Pam Spence
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A Road Trip in Search of Eas
Coast Mead
In June of 2012 I visited 3mead makers in MarylandMassachusetts and Ver-
mont My first stop was tothe magnificent estate win-ery of Mt Felix which is justoutside of Havre De Gracein Northeastern Maryland
When you park at Mt Fe-lix you are in the shadow ofa beautiful brick mansionbuilt in an era long past The tasting room and win-
ery compliment the style ofthe historic home and the views of the ChesapeakeBay are a rare treat Enjoy-ing a glass of wine while lis-tening to live music on the patio while scanning thefarm fields for wildlife be-fore a walk amongst severalacres of grapes is a wonder-ful way to spend a weekendafternoon
During my visit the propri-etor Peter Ianniello wasonsight to pour wines along with his staff who were each
well versed in the wine ming process and descriptiof their products The lis
products offered for tastiand for bottle purchases wextensive One stand and the best pumpkin wI have ever had was the Tra Maria It poured a cstraw color and tasted fall
When the folks at Mt lix heard that I was visi
from Arizona and had opened a meadery the p prietor vanished for a mment and returned witblueberry mead he mad years prior It was reallnice gesture to share a batch of mead he madelong ago While not for during my visit Mt F was aging a pyment m with their Chambourgrapes and fortified wgrappa What a concep vowed to return and tradbottle of my pyment on next visit
After leaving Marylanddrove north towards ru Western Massachusetts
visit the mead makers
Opposite Page Clockwise from Upper Left Artesano mead made with a variety
of blueberries Chambourcin grapes grow early in the season at Mt Felix Win-
ery the crew at Green River Ambrosia This Page Wax machine in operation at
Ar tesano Mt Felix Pumpkin wine Next Page Tasting room at Mt Felix and InsideGreen River Ambrosia
Article and Photos By Jeff Herbert
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Green River Ambrosia I had previously con-
tacted Garth Shaneyfelt to arange a tour and
tasting of Green Riverrsquos offerings It turned
out that the whole staff was onsite and full
of excitement for their growing business
mead and meeting new folks Along with
Garth Will Savitri Brendan Burns SamDribble and Sandy Pearson are liquid artists
using locally produced honey ex-Jack Dan-
iels barrels chamomile flowers local apple
cider and ginger to create innovative styles of
mead and
a l c o h o l -
ic gin-
ger soda
G r e e nRiver also
brews a
p o p u l a r
brand of
k o m b u -
cha tea
Ka t a lys t
K o m -
b u c h a which is a
fermented
pro-biotic
health elixir Garth joked ldquoWe are vertically
integrated with both toxifying and detoxify-
ing productsrdquo
Green River began making mead in order to
support local bee keepers and started with10 hives producing raw local honey Now
they self-distribute in over 65 package stores
and restaurants and are expanding Their
current line up follows
Liquid Sunshine A traditional semi-dry
mead made with local honey for a slightly
floral taste 12 abv
Chamomile A traditional semi-dry mead in
fused with organic chamomile flowers 12
abv (seasonal)
Winter Warmer A semi-sweet mead flavore
with our warming spice blend to get yo
through the cold dark winter Try it heated14 abv (winter seasonal)
Cyzer Our apple-icious mead made wit
fresh-pressed heritage cider from Clarkdal
Fruit Farms i
Deerfield MA
Light natura
effervescence
serve chilled12 abv (avai
able late Sum
mer - Fall)
Bourbon Cyz
er Our cyze
aged three-plu
months in fres
bourbon barrelSomewhat effe
vescent - kee
refrigerated 12
abv Winner of 2010 and 2011 Mazer Cu
Medals (Available late summer - fall)
Bourbon-Barrel Buckwheat Hearty buck
wheat honey mead mellowed over six month
in Jack Daniels Bourbon Barrels 14 abv(seasonal)
Ginger Libation Our hugely popular Liba
tion is somewhat like a spicy alcoholic ginge
soda but yoursquove just gotta try for yoursel
Sweetened with cane sugar pineapple an
citrus juices (not a mead) itrsquos fruity bubbl
and delicious Keep refrigerated bottle con
ditioned 8-9 abv
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Previous Pages Clockwise From Top Left Green River
Ambrosia Luke and Logan Herber t enjoy a glass of Kom-
bucha Tea Artesano Meadery Hilary Bumgarner pours a
sample of b lueberry mead Jennifer Herbert taking notes
at Green River Ambrosia Opposite Page Inside Artesa-
norsquos tasting room Artesanorsquos fermentation tanks
The last stop on this East Coast mead trip was Artesano Meadery in Groton Vermont
Offering samples of mead and their own ice
cream on a sunny Vermont Summer day a
visit to Artesano will inspire meadery owners
and mead fans alike I met Hilary Bumgarner
who provided one of the best tours anyone
cold ask for She works with the owners of
Artesano and not only pours samples in the
tasting room but is an accomplished meadmaker After tasting several fantastic meads
Hilary showed me Artesanorsquos stainless fer-
mentation tanks bottling machine and they
even have a custom made device which seals
the cork with a wax finish and then imprints
their logo in the wax
Artesano has won several awards and makes
the following meads Traditional Mead ChiliCinnamon Mead Essence Dry Mead Spiced
Mead Cranberry Mead Blueberry Mead
Blackberry Mead and Poetrsquos Mead which is
aged in bourbon barrels
Owner Mark Simakaski and his wife began
making mead while teaching bee keeping in
the Peace Corps in South America I asked
Mark about challenges he faced in startinga meadery He said ldquoThe time from start up
to your first bottle of mead has a long lead
time We needed to be sure there was enough
capital to make it throughrdquo In 2012 Artesano
produced 17000 500 ml bottles of mead Ap-
parently their hard work is paying off
Artesano self-distributes to 55 accounts in
Vermont and their most popular mead i
their Traditional Mead Mark also sells mea
and represents Artesano at farmerrsquos market
and a few wine events each year when aske
about what will help grow the mead indus
try Mark says ldquoGood mead makers and a lo
of consumer education As the availability o
mead increases so will its sales But it has t
be good meadrdquo
In visiting these three businesses makin
mead I was excited to see that mead univer
sally serves as a catharsis for the liquid artis
The creativity exibited by mead makers is as
tounding The success that these three mea
makers have developed is indicative of th
growth that can be expected in the mead in
dustry Meaderies are starting up across th
country but we are just beginning to catch
new wave in the alcohol industry
One hypothesis I had prior to this road tri
was that meaderies even in similar parts o
the country are relatively disconnected I be
lieve that the spirit of a business deciding tbegin a meadery is certainly an independen
spirit and perhaps geography may keep u
apart While some of the mead makers I vis
ited had been to other Eastern meaderies
and even to the Mazer Cup these meader
ies generally do their own thing In light o
this I keep asking myself a question that
will posit to you now ldquoIf there is strength i
numbers as the old saying goes what benefits can meaderies realize if we further ne
work and join togetherrdquo
I hope to see you at the Mazer Cup in 2013
Check out
wwwmountfelixcom
wwwgreenriverambrosiacom
wwwartesanomeadcom
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Liquid Assets
Mead For The Modern AgeBy Randy Clemens
ldquoMead is the ancient liquor of gods and
men the giver of knowledge and poetry
the healer of wounds and the bestower of
immortalityrdquo
George Robert Gayre Scottish anthropologist
Long before the advent of wine beer and spir-
its countless civilizations celebrated revered
and drank their fair share of mead an alcoholic
beverage forged out of the fermentation of na-
turersquos most miraculous sugar honey
ldquoWe see mead as a magical thingrdquo explainsFrank Golbeck co-founder of fledgling start-
up Golden Coast Mead based in San Diego ldquoIt
represents this synergy that has connected peo-
ple to agriculture and their environment Drink-
ing it is a culinary experience that has deep cul-
tural roots across the world and across timerdquo
Indeed honey has long been held in high re-
gard and one can only imagine that meadrsquos
intoxicating properties would make honey thatmuch more special to our early ancestors The
mind-altering effects were thought of as a kind
of transformation a journey into another world
that opened the brain to new thoughts and ex-
periences
ldquoA drink I took of the magic mead [hellip] then I
began to know and to be wise to grow and t
weave poemsrdquo
mdashOdin from the Norse Saga Runahal circ
1200 CE
Mead is believed by many to be the first alco
holic drink known to man likely a happy ac
cident caused by mixing water and honey in a
animal-skin canteen while out on a hunt Est
mates of its discovery range from 9000 year
ago to as far back as 20000 years ago Ancien
Greeks and Romans had a well documented a
finity for mead as did the Vikings the Egyp
tians and many other cultures across Europe
the East Indies and Africa Fast forwarding t
the present mead is not nearly as prevalent as
once was taking a back seat to the much mor
common potent potables of today beer wine
cider sake and the like But it holds a worl
of complexity just waiting to be explored Th
meadmakermdashalso known as a mazermdashha
at their fingertips a veritable blank canvas o
which to build
ldquoMead presents this huge spectrum of flavo
possibilitiesrdquo continues Golbeck ldquoThe hone
varietal is arguably the most important choic
in determining the profile of the mead but se
lecting a yeast strain deciding how sweet yoursquo
like it to be whether or not itrsquos sparkling and o
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course if yoursquod like to add in adjuncts such as
fruit or spices how long itrsquos aged and whether
or not thatrsquos on oakhellipthe combinations really
are unlimitedrdquo
In regards to the honey varietal Susan Ruud
and Gordon Strongmdashrecognized as Grand Mas-
ter level judges by the Beer Judge Certification
Programmdashconducted ldquoThe Great Honey Ex-
perimentrdquo which had a group of people gauge
six different meads identical in every respect
except for the type of honey used Their meads
presented and evaluated at the 2010 National
Homebrewers Conference had some common-
alities but also pointed out some very interest-
ing differences
Golden Coast is currently focusing on making
one mead and making it well Called Mirth in
a Bottle itrsquos obvious in talking with Golbeck
that he has an insatiable passion for his craft
ldquoFor me I want to show the best expression of
the honey varietalrdquo he waxes ldquoThatrsquos what Irsquom
afterrdquo
ldquoWe start with a wonderfully aromatic orange
blossom honey and make the mead semisweet
and sparkling which really makes the citrus fla
vor pop and that surprises a lot of people Th
character isnrsquot nearly as noticeable in the bas
honey but it comes through beautifully in th
finished mead We use a red-wine yeast for th
fermentation which adds these complex flor
notes that I just love But ultimately itrsquos all t
highlight the nuances naturally present in th
honeyrdquo
Are you reading this all in disbelief remem
bering a cloying sickeningly sweet mead th
you tried at ye olde Renaissance Faire Wel
I implore you to give it another shot There
a world of great meads out there waiting to b
enjoyed Some are sweet or semisweet whil
others can be quite dry with different carbon
ation levels ranging from still to sparking o
somewhere in between called semi-sparklin
or peacutetillant [Yoursquoll thank me when thatrsquos
question on Jeopardy some day] It might tak
a bit of searching but therersquos been a growin
buzz thatrsquos getting mead onto more and mor
shelves And while I can drone on and on fodays reading about them is nowhere near a
great as tasting them
HONEY VARIETAL SAMPLING OF AROMA FLAVOR CHARACTERISTIC
MESQUITE Pipe tobacco smoke wood earthy vanilla pepper cinnamon Cheddar cheese min
ORANGE BLOSSOM Citrus orange blossom honey 1047298oral pear vanilla apple white grape almon
TUPELO Apple pepper wood mint white grape cinnamon marshmallow caramel 1047298oral cider pe
WHITE SAGE Earthy minty menthol musty herbal pepper spicy light smoke sauerkrau
STAR THISTLE Floral grassy 1047297g cinnamon nutmeg lavender vanilla butter caramel pin
BASSWOOD Menthol thyme oregano white wine butter earthy wood caramel citrus pepp
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TALKING THE TALK
BRAGGOT A hybrid of mead and beer brewed with honey and malt
CYSER A hybrid of mead and cider made with honey and apple juice
HYDROMEL Lighter lower alcohol mead
MELOMEL Mead fermented with any variety of fruit
METHEGLIN Mead brewed with herbs spices or hops
PYMENT A hybrid of mead and wine made with honey and grape juice
SACK MEAD Higher alcohol mead typically above 14 abv
TEJ A popular Ethiopian style of mead made with a bitter species of buck
thorn known as Gesho
Golden Coast Mead is available for purchase
in several locations throughout San Diego
County but can be shipped nationwide
through wwwgoldencoastmeadcom Gol-beck also offered a list of some of his favor-
ite meads and meaderies B Nektar Meadery
(MI) WineHaven Stinger Honeywine (MN)
Mountain Meadows Mead (CA) Moonlight
Meadery (NH) and Redstone Meadery (CO)
And if yoursquore interested in making your own at
home Golbeck recommends picking up The
Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm
Randy Clemens is the author of The Sriracha
Cookbook and co-author of The Craft of Stone
Brewing Co Liquid Lore Epic Recipes and
Unabashed Arrogance He is also the Media amp
Communications Linchpin at Stone Brewing
Co If yoursquore bored you can follow his musings
on Twitter RandyClemensEsq
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
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Standing next to fifty-five gallon drums of
honey at Meadery of the Rockies in Pali-
sade Colorado mead maker and owner
Glenn Foster explains his secrets to successful
mead production ldquoWe start with 100 pure
natural orange-blossom honey This California
honey has been the standard since 1995 because
of its consistent tasterdquo describes Foster whose
award-wining melomels are very popular withconsumers Because the meadery -- originally
known as the Rocky Mountain Meadery -- does
so much with fruit-blended meads they needed
honey that would enhance flavors of many dif-
ferent fruits
Over time they found that orange-blossom
honey carried the flavors of a variety of fruits
better than other types of honey Fosterrsquos favo
ite way to make melomel is to blend the mea
with fruit wine
And it just so happens that he has unlimited ac
cess to many award-winning fruit wines Foste
and wife Natalie own and operate St Kathry
Cellars and Talon Winery also located in Pal
sade The small agricultural community is in thheart of western Coloradorsquos fruit country nea
Grand Junction The area is especially know
for its peaches which are shipped all over th
west and can be found in kitchens as high-brow
as Air Force One ndash the presidentrsquos ride Th
lush valley is designated as The Grand Valley
the oldest and largest AVA (American Viticu
ture Area) in Colorado
The Buzz at Coloradorsquos Oldest Meadery
Article and Photos By Stacey Wittig
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
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Water is in abundance at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains ndash Palisade is right on the Colorado
River ndash and the Fosters use pure Rocky Moun-
tain water for their entire mead making ldquoWelearned the old tricks and discovered some new
ones along the wayrdquo reveals Foster who
personally directs the production of each batch
of mead The mead maker brought some secrets
with him when he bought the meadery in 2008
He had previously worked as the of ficial wine-
maker at Twin Rivers Winery in Grand Junc-
tion and also in the California wine industryldquoMy father founded Ravenswood Winery [So-
noma] when I was twelve [in 1976] ldquoWe were
glass droppers as children I came to Colora-
do in rsquo82 to go to school In 1993 I went back
to Ravenwood In 1995 while visiting my in-
laws we discovered Grand Valley We decided
to move here that day and put a deposit on a
rental houserdquo laughs the impulsive vintner
He worked for various Grand Valley winerie
for about ten years until he got tired of makin
OPW (other peoplesrsquo wine)
Mead production has quadrupled since 1995
Foster is proud that his meadery is the fir
meadery in Colorado ldquoOur roots go way backMead is authentic ndash millennials are looking fo
something authentic and differentrdquo he say
Mead flavored with apricots peaches straw
berries cherries and raspberries are trendy righ
now The Cherries lsquon Honey just won Gold i
the 2012 Denver International Wine Compet
tion
Meadery of the Rockiesrsquo automated bottlinline can cork or screw cap thirty-six bottle
per minute Their twenty-three tanks range i
size from 160 to 3000 gallons Meads sell fo
$1195 ndash $3495 per bottle When you visi
sample up to five meads free in the comfy tas
ing room (only $1 per sample after that) Wh
might you see there Visitors from as far awa
as Japan mead lovers from California Colo
rado and Utah and maybe even Emilio Estevewho has been known to stop in for a taste
Meadery of the Rockies 3701 G Road
Palisade Colorado (970) 464-7899 Open Da
ly 10-5 wwwmeaderyoftherockiescom
Stacey Wittig is a travel writer based in Flag
staff AZ Her culinary adventures have led he
up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpilars and roasted guinea pig across the plains o
northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago en
joying steamed barnacles and through the vine
yards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classico
ldquoThe Grand Canyon State is a remarkable plac
to call homerdquo declares the wandering write
Get more travel tips at wwwVagabondinglulu
com
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Letter from the Editor
Mead has been around since before recorded history but only recently have we been able to unite and
form the American Mead Makerrsquos Association This
humble journal endeavors to bring mead makers together to share
resources and information In our first year we are planning to
conduct the first survey of the commercial mead industry in
America This baseline data will serve as a starting point to
track a variety of issues as mead grows in popularity We will
introduce you to meaderies across our country and the amazing
products they produce AMMA will promote and publish the
results of commercial and home made mead competitions We
will strive to introduce you to new mead recipes mead cocktailsand food pairing suggestions We also would like mead fans to
be involved with this publication So if you have organizational
writing or photography skills and passion for mead contact me
to get involved If you are reading this letter you probably have
enjoyed making and or drinking mead So spread the word buy
a bottle or 12 from your local meadery and help us put mead on
the map
--Jeff Herbert
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BY Chris Webber
The Story Behind AMMA
With the phenomenal growth in the mead in-dustry over the last several years many believethere is now not only a suffi cient base to sup-port a new mead organization but a great needas well Many have observed that the meadindustry is today where craft beer was somethirty years ago It was discussed for sometime among industry leaders and internet fo-
rums about once again puttingtogether an association BradDolhofer of B Nektar Meaderyin Ferndale Michigan createda Facebook page in January2011 for the American MeadMakers Association (AMMA)which started the ball roll-ing In October Chris Webber
of Dragonrsquos Lair Country Wines amp Meads inLakewood Washington (not yet bonded) puttogether a website to start formally bringingthe industry together
Part of the discussion was whether or not toactually form as an international associationso as to include other mead makers around theworld however in the end it was decided that
due to jurisdictional considerations for legisla-tive purposes the association should limit itsboundaries to the US and should an interna-tional organization be formed in the future the AMMA would become a member and support-er In the meantime non-US mead makers can join the AMMA as an Associate Member
There have been several attempts over the years
to create an association for the purpose of pro
moting and improving the mead industry Th
original American Mead Association (AMA
was founded in 1986 by Pamela Spence Ohi
beekeeper and author of Mad About Mead
Nectar of the Gods (ISBN 1-56718-683-1) an
other works as an alternative market for hone
Unfortunately it was a labor of love and the la
bor was a bit too muchIt was passed on to Susanne Pric
in 1993 who moved it to Colo
rado She built up the organiza
tion through her connection
with the American Homebrewer
Association as well as enlarge
the newsletter and soon made
a partnership with John ldquoJulian
Strekel Julian had established a honey suppl business and it seems that the intention was t
move the AMA from Pamela Spencersquos concep
tion as a nonprofit organization to a for profi
co-op After Susannersquos tragic death in earl
1996 it was left to Julian to run the organiza
tion
The association soon fell on hard times Th
newsletter ceased although the association wastill accepting dues honey suppliers were no
being paid and in short order the money was a
gone By March 1997 Julian gave up all inte
est in the AMA to Andrew LaMorte and Keit
and Sarah Wanless of Highlander Home Brew
in Littleton Colorado It soon became apparen
the organization was in a dire financial situa
tion and due also to some legal consideration
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
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a complete reorganization became necessaryTe task proved to be over-whelming and by mid-1998the association had fadedinto oblivion As is oft the
case when such organiza-tions fail it is a slow pain-ful death where many goodhonest people were leftwith a bad taste
In 1990 Ken Schrammauthor of Te CompleatMeadmaker (Brewers Pub-
lications 2003) Dan Mc-Connell and Mike OBrienfounded the Mazer CupMead Competition whichran for 12 years in Michi-gan Te original Mazer Cupwas sponsored by the Ann Arbor Brewers Guildthe National Honey Board and others and wasa BJCP and AHA sanctioned competition Te
1047297rst time the Mazer Cup is mentioned in theMead Lovers Digest is April 1993 It lists spon-sors as GW Kent Inc of Ann Arbor MI HomeWinery Supply of Dundee MI Te Ann ArborBrewers Guild and the American Mead Asso-ciation of Boulder CO
In 2001 the Mazer Cup was renamed the Pfei-ffer Mazer Cup in memory of friend mentor
and 1985 AHA Meadmaker of the Year Bill Pfei-ffer who lost his battle with cancer in 2000 In2002 Ray Daniels author of Designing GreatBeers Te Ultimate Guide to Brewing ClassicBeer Styles and other great beer books re-organized the Mazer Cup into the First Inter-national Mead Competition and Planet BuzzFestival in Chicago Illinois Tis would be the
largest mead only festival ever to that date
Te next year the festivawas picked up by David Myers and Redstone Meader
of Boulder Colorado anshortened to the International Mead Festival (IMFBy 2004 the Festival hasome 85 different meadfrom 32 companies in 7 diferent countries In 200the competition was expanded to include amateu
mead makers
In 2003 and 2004 meetingwere held during the IMcompetition to discuss chalenges facing the industr
and by late 2004 another attempt was madto create the International Mead Associatio(IMA) which basically assumed the IMF Com
mittees were formed and paperwork was 1047297ledbut by the end of 2007 the IMA was gone againhowever the IMF continued
In 2009 Myers and Redstone ended their stewardship of the Festival In the interest of preserving the momentum of this event VickRowe owner of the website GotMeadcom Petar Bakulic and others reorganized the compe
tition With the blessing of Schramm McConnell and OBrien it assumed the name of thMazer Cup International Mead Competitionand is today the largest mead-only compettion in the United States and indeed the world
Finally on May 1st 2012 the American MeaMakers Association (AMMA) was incorpo
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 722
rated in the State of Washington with Chris
Webber as President pro tem Cheryl Webber
as Secretary and Woody Drake of Columbus
Ohio as Vice President In accordance with the Association Bylaws their mission is fourfold
to improve regulation that promotes the Meadindustry to educate consumers about Mead
to conduct research to improve the craft and
to promote Mead in general
In the short term the Associations plans are
to build its membership establish a website
domain and to start a newsletter Over time
the expectation will be to effect the Federal
regulations to recognize Mead as a fermentedbeverage separate from wine with labeling and
formula rules speci1047297c to the craft Tis will co-
incide with establishing style guidelines that
will also be used in sanctioned competitionsand judge certi1047297cations Te organization also
plans to work with wineries meaderies and
mead competitions around the country to de-
velop a program whereby Association mem-
bers can receive a discount
Much of the preceding information was gath-
ered through an exhaustive search of the ar-
chives of the Mead Lovers Digest an email fo-
rum which began September 25th 1992 underthe care of John A Dilley and continues un-
interrupted today with Dick Dunn as ldquoDigest
Janitorrdquo Tese archives can be found online
at the GotMeadcom website httpwwwgot-meadcommldarchiveshtml Other contribu-
tions came from discussions on the GotMeadcom forum and conversations with Mr Ken
Schramm
PREVIOUS PAGE Pam Spence
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
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A Road Trip in Search of Eas
Coast Mead
In June of 2012 I visited 3mead makers in MarylandMassachusetts and Ver-
mont My first stop was tothe magnificent estate win-ery of Mt Felix which is justoutside of Havre De Gracein Northeastern Maryland
When you park at Mt Fe-lix you are in the shadow ofa beautiful brick mansionbuilt in an era long past The tasting room and win-
ery compliment the style ofthe historic home and the views of the ChesapeakeBay are a rare treat Enjoy-ing a glass of wine while lis-tening to live music on the patio while scanning thefarm fields for wildlife be-fore a walk amongst severalacres of grapes is a wonder-ful way to spend a weekendafternoon
During my visit the propri-etor Peter Ianniello wasonsight to pour wines along with his staff who were each
well versed in the wine ming process and descriptiof their products The lis
products offered for tastiand for bottle purchases wextensive One stand and the best pumpkin wI have ever had was the Tra Maria It poured a cstraw color and tasted fall
When the folks at Mt lix heard that I was visi
from Arizona and had opened a meadery the p prietor vanished for a mment and returned witblueberry mead he mad years prior It was reallnice gesture to share a batch of mead he madelong ago While not for during my visit Mt F was aging a pyment m with their Chambourgrapes and fortified wgrappa What a concep vowed to return and tradbottle of my pyment on next visit
After leaving Marylanddrove north towards ru Western Massachusetts
visit the mead makers
Opposite Page Clockwise from Upper Left Artesano mead made with a variety
of blueberries Chambourcin grapes grow early in the season at Mt Felix Win-
ery the crew at Green River Ambrosia This Page Wax machine in operation at
Ar tesano Mt Felix Pumpkin wine Next Page Tasting room at Mt Felix and InsideGreen River Ambrosia
Article and Photos By Jeff Herbert
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
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8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
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Green River Ambrosia I had previously con-
tacted Garth Shaneyfelt to arange a tour and
tasting of Green Riverrsquos offerings It turned
out that the whole staff was onsite and full
of excitement for their growing business
mead and meeting new folks Along with
Garth Will Savitri Brendan Burns SamDribble and Sandy Pearson are liquid artists
using locally produced honey ex-Jack Dan-
iels barrels chamomile flowers local apple
cider and ginger to create innovative styles of
mead and
a l c o h o l -
ic gin-
ger soda
G r e e nRiver also
brews a
p o p u l a r
brand of
k o m b u -
cha tea
Ka t a lys t
K o m -
b u c h a which is a
fermented
pro-biotic
health elixir Garth joked ldquoWe are vertically
integrated with both toxifying and detoxify-
ing productsrdquo
Green River began making mead in order to
support local bee keepers and started with10 hives producing raw local honey Now
they self-distribute in over 65 package stores
and restaurants and are expanding Their
current line up follows
Liquid Sunshine A traditional semi-dry
mead made with local honey for a slightly
floral taste 12 abv
Chamomile A traditional semi-dry mead in
fused with organic chamomile flowers 12
abv (seasonal)
Winter Warmer A semi-sweet mead flavore
with our warming spice blend to get yo
through the cold dark winter Try it heated14 abv (winter seasonal)
Cyzer Our apple-icious mead made wit
fresh-pressed heritage cider from Clarkdal
Fruit Farms i
Deerfield MA
Light natura
effervescence
serve chilled12 abv (avai
able late Sum
mer - Fall)
Bourbon Cyz
er Our cyze
aged three-plu
months in fres
bourbon barrelSomewhat effe
vescent - kee
refrigerated 12
abv Winner of 2010 and 2011 Mazer Cu
Medals (Available late summer - fall)
Bourbon-Barrel Buckwheat Hearty buck
wheat honey mead mellowed over six month
in Jack Daniels Bourbon Barrels 14 abv(seasonal)
Ginger Libation Our hugely popular Liba
tion is somewhat like a spicy alcoholic ginge
soda but yoursquove just gotta try for yoursel
Sweetened with cane sugar pineapple an
citrus juices (not a mead) itrsquos fruity bubbl
and delicious Keep refrigerated bottle con
ditioned 8-9 abv
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Previous Pages Clockwise From Top Left Green River
Ambrosia Luke and Logan Herber t enjoy a glass of Kom-
bucha Tea Artesano Meadery Hilary Bumgarner pours a
sample of b lueberry mead Jennifer Herbert taking notes
at Green River Ambrosia Opposite Page Inside Artesa-
norsquos tasting room Artesanorsquos fermentation tanks
The last stop on this East Coast mead trip was Artesano Meadery in Groton Vermont
Offering samples of mead and their own ice
cream on a sunny Vermont Summer day a
visit to Artesano will inspire meadery owners
and mead fans alike I met Hilary Bumgarner
who provided one of the best tours anyone
cold ask for She works with the owners of
Artesano and not only pours samples in the
tasting room but is an accomplished meadmaker After tasting several fantastic meads
Hilary showed me Artesanorsquos stainless fer-
mentation tanks bottling machine and they
even have a custom made device which seals
the cork with a wax finish and then imprints
their logo in the wax
Artesano has won several awards and makes
the following meads Traditional Mead ChiliCinnamon Mead Essence Dry Mead Spiced
Mead Cranberry Mead Blueberry Mead
Blackberry Mead and Poetrsquos Mead which is
aged in bourbon barrels
Owner Mark Simakaski and his wife began
making mead while teaching bee keeping in
the Peace Corps in South America I asked
Mark about challenges he faced in startinga meadery He said ldquoThe time from start up
to your first bottle of mead has a long lead
time We needed to be sure there was enough
capital to make it throughrdquo In 2012 Artesano
produced 17000 500 ml bottles of mead Ap-
parently their hard work is paying off
Artesano self-distributes to 55 accounts in
Vermont and their most popular mead i
their Traditional Mead Mark also sells mea
and represents Artesano at farmerrsquos market
and a few wine events each year when aske
about what will help grow the mead indus
try Mark says ldquoGood mead makers and a lo
of consumer education As the availability o
mead increases so will its sales But it has t
be good meadrdquo
In visiting these three businesses makin
mead I was excited to see that mead univer
sally serves as a catharsis for the liquid artis
The creativity exibited by mead makers is as
tounding The success that these three mea
makers have developed is indicative of th
growth that can be expected in the mead in
dustry Meaderies are starting up across th
country but we are just beginning to catch
new wave in the alcohol industry
One hypothesis I had prior to this road tri
was that meaderies even in similar parts o
the country are relatively disconnected I be
lieve that the spirit of a business deciding tbegin a meadery is certainly an independen
spirit and perhaps geography may keep u
apart While some of the mead makers I vis
ited had been to other Eastern meaderies
and even to the Mazer Cup these meader
ies generally do their own thing In light o
this I keep asking myself a question that
will posit to you now ldquoIf there is strength i
numbers as the old saying goes what benefits can meaderies realize if we further ne
work and join togetherrdquo
I hope to see you at the Mazer Cup in 2013
Check out
wwwmountfelixcom
wwwgreenriverambrosiacom
wwwartesanomeadcom
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
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Liquid Assets
Mead For The Modern AgeBy Randy Clemens
ldquoMead is the ancient liquor of gods and
men the giver of knowledge and poetry
the healer of wounds and the bestower of
immortalityrdquo
George Robert Gayre Scottish anthropologist
Long before the advent of wine beer and spir-
its countless civilizations celebrated revered
and drank their fair share of mead an alcoholic
beverage forged out of the fermentation of na-
turersquos most miraculous sugar honey
ldquoWe see mead as a magical thingrdquo explainsFrank Golbeck co-founder of fledgling start-
up Golden Coast Mead based in San Diego ldquoIt
represents this synergy that has connected peo-
ple to agriculture and their environment Drink-
ing it is a culinary experience that has deep cul-
tural roots across the world and across timerdquo
Indeed honey has long been held in high re-
gard and one can only imagine that meadrsquos
intoxicating properties would make honey thatmuch more special to our early ancestors The
mind-altering effects were thought of as a kind
of transformation a journey into another world
that opened the brain to new thoughts and ex-
periences
ldquoA drink I took of the magic mead [hellip] then I
began to know and to be wise to grow and t
weave poemsrdquo
mdashOdin from the Norse Saga Runahal circ
1200 CE
Mead is believed by many to be the first alco
holic drink known to man likely a happy ac
cident caused by mixing water and honey in a
animal-skin canteen while out on a hunt Est
mates of its discovery range from 9000 year
ago to as far back as 20000 years ago Ancien
Greeks and Romans had a well documented a
finity for mead as did the Vikings the Egyp
tians and many other cultures across Europe
the East Indies and Africa Fast forwarding t
the present mead is not nearly as prevalent as
once was taking a back seat to the much mor
common potent potables of today beer wine
cider sake and the like But it holds a worl
of complexity just waiting to be explored Th
meadmakermdashalso known as a mazermdashha
at their fingertips a veritable blank canvas o
which to build
ldquoMead presents this huge spectrum of flavo
possibilitiesrdquo continues Golbeck ldquoThe hone
varietal is arguably the most important choic
in determining the profile of the mead but se
lecting a yeast strain deciding how sweet yoursquo
like it to be whether or not itrsquos sparkling and o
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
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course if yoursquod like to add in adjuncts such as
fruit or spices how long itrsquos aged and whether
or not thatrsquos on oakhellipthe combinations really
are unlimitedrdquo
In regards to the honey varietal Susan Ruud
and Gordon Strongmdashrecognized as Grand Mas-
ter level judges by the Beer Judge Certification
Programmdashconducted ldquoThe Great Honey Ex-
perimentrdquo which had a group of people gauge
six different meads identical in every respect
except for the type of honey used Their meads
presented and evaluated at the 2010 National
Homebrewers Conference had some common-
alities but also pointed out some very interest-
ing differences
Golden Coast is currently focusing on making
one mead and making it well Called Mirth in
a Bottle itrsquos obvious in talking with Golbeck
that he has an insatiable passion for his craft
ldquoFor me I want to show the best expression of
the honey varietalrdquo he waxes ldquoThatrsquos what Irsquom
afterrdquo
ldquoWe start with a wonderfully aromatic orange
blossom honey and make the mead semisweet
and sparkling which really makes the citrus fla
vor pop and that surprises a lot of people Th
character isnrsquot nearly as noticeable in the bas
honey but it comes through beautifully in th
finished mead We use a red-wine yeast for th
fermentation which adds these complex flor
notes that I just love But ultimately itrsquos all t
highlight the nuances naturally present in th
honeyrdquo
Are you reading this all in disbelief remem
bering a cloying sickeningly sweet mead th
you tried at ye olde Renaissance Faire Wel
I implore you to give it another shot There
a world of great meads out there waiting to b
enjoyed Some are sweet or semisweet whil
others can be quite dry with different carbon
ation levels ranging from still to sparking o
somewhere in between called semi-sparklin
or peacutetillant [Yoursquoll thank me when thatrsquos
question on Jeopardy some day] It might tak
a bit of searching but therersquos been a growin
buzz thatrsquos getting mead onto more and mor
shelves And while I can drone on and on fodays reading about them is nowhere near a
great as tasting them
HONEY VARIETAL SAMPLING OF AROMA FLAVOR CHARACTERISTIC
MESQUITE Pipe tobacco smoke wood earthy vanilla pepper cinnamon Cheddar cheese min
ORANGE BLOSSOM Citrus orange blossom honey 1047298oral pear vanilla apple white grape almon
TUPELO Apple pepper wood mint white grape cinnamon marshmallow caramel 1047298oral cider pe
WHITE SAGE Earthy minty menthol musty herbal pepper spicy light smoke sauerkrau
STAR THISTLE Floral grassy 1047297g cinnamon nutmeg lavender vanilla butter caramel pin
BASSWOOD Menthol thyme oregano white wine butter earthy wood caramel citrus pepp
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
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TALKING THE TALK
BRAGGOT A hybrid of mead and beer brewed with honey and malt
CYSER A hybrid of mead and cider made with honey and apple juice
HYDROMEL Lighter lower alcohol mead
MELOMEL Mead fermented with any variety of fruit
METHEGLIN Mead brewed with herbs spices or hops
PYMENT A hybrid of mead and wine made with honey and grape juice
SACK MEAD Higher alcohol mead typically above 14 abv
TEJ A popular Ethiopian style of mead made with a bitter species of buck
thorn known as Gesho
Golden Coast Mead is available for purchase
in several locations throughout San Diego
County but can be shipped nationwide
through wwwgoldencoastmeadcom Gol-beck also offered a list of some of his favor-
ite meads and meaderies B Nektar Meadery
(MI) WineHaven Stinger Honeywine (MN)
Mountain Meadows Mead (CA) Moonlight
Meadery (NH) and Redstone Meadery (CO)
And if yoursquore interested in making your own at
home Golbeck recommends picking up The
Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm
Randy Clemens is the author of The Sriracha
Cookbook and co-author of The Craft of Stone
Brewing Co Liquid Lore Epic Recipes and
Unabashed Arrogance He is also the Media amp
Communications Linchpin at Stone Brewing
Co If yoursquore bored you can follow his musings
on Twitter RandyClemensEsq
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2022
Standing next to fifty-five gallon drums of
honey at Meadery of the Rockies in Pali-
sade Colorado mead maker and owner
Glenn Foster explains his secrets to successful
mead production ldquoWe start with 100 pure
natural orange-blossom honey This California
honey has been the standard since 1995 because
of its consistent tasterdquo describes Foster whose
award-wining melomels are very popular withconsumers Because the meadery -- originally
known as the Rocky Mountain Meadery -- does
so much with fruit-blended meads they needed
honey that would enhance flavors of many dif-
ferent fruits
Over time they found that orange-blossom
honey carried the flavors of a variety of fruits
better than other types of honey Fosterrsquos favo
ite way to make melomel is to blend the mea
with fruit wine
And it just so happens that he has unlimited ac
cess to many award-winning fruit wines Foste
and wife Natalie own and operate St Kathry
Cellars and Talon Winery also located in Pal
sade The small agricultural community is in thheart of western Coloradorsquos fruit country nea
Grand Junction The area is especially know
for its peaches which are shipped all over th
west and can be found in kitchens as high-brow
as Air Force One ndash the presidentrsquos ride Th
lush valley is designated as The Grand Valley
the oldest and largest AVA (American Viticu
ture Area) in Colorado
The Buzz at Coloradorsquos Oldest Meadery
Article and Photos By Stacey Wittig
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2122
Water is in abundance at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains ndash Palisade is right on the Colorado
River ndash and the Fosters use pure Rocky Moun-
tain water for their entire mead making ldquoWelearned the old tricks and discovered some new
ones along the wayrdquo reveals Foster who
personally directs the production of each batch
of mead The mead maker brought some secrets
with him when he bought the meadery in 2008
He had previously worked as the of ficial wine-
maker at Twin Rivers Winery in Grand Junc-
tion and also in the California wine industryldquoMy father founded Ravenswood Winery [So-
noma] when I was twelve [in 1976] ldquoWe were
glass droppers as children I came to Colora-
do in rsquo82 to go to school In 1993 I went back
to Ravenwood In 1995 while visiting my in-
laws we discovered Grand Valley We decided
to move here that day and put a deposit on a
rental houserdquo laughs the impulsive vintner
He worked for various Grand Valley winerie
for about ten years until he got tired of makin
OPW (other peoplesrsquo wine)
Mead production has quadrupled since 1995
Foster is proud that his meadery is the fir
meadery in Colorado ldquoOur roots go way backMead is authentic ndash millennials are looking fo
something authentic and differentrdquo he say
Mead flavored with apricots peaches straw
berries cherries and raspberries are trendy righ
now The Cherries lsquon Honey just won Gold i
the 2012 Denver International Wine Compet
tion
Meadery of the Rockiesrsquo automated bottlinline can cork or screw cap thirty-six bottle
per minute Their twenty-three tanks range i
size from 160 to 3000 gallons Meads sell fo
$1195 ndash $3495 per bottle When you visi
sample up to five meads free in the comfy tas
ing room (only $1 per sample after that) Wh
might you see there Visitors from as far awa
as Japan mead lovers from California Colo
rado and Utah and maybe even Emilio Estevewho has been known to stop in for a taste
Meadery of the Rockies 3701 G Road
Palisade Colorado (970) 464-7899 Open Da
ly 10-5 wwwmeaderyoftherockiescom
Stacey Wittig is a travel writer based in Flag
staff AZ Her culinary adventures have led he
up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpilars and roasted guinea pig across the plains o
northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago en
joying steamed barnacles and through the vine
yards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classico
ldquoThe Grand Canyon State is a remarkable plac
to call homerdquo declares the wandering write
Get more travel tips at wwwVagabondinglulu
com
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BY Chris Webber
The Story Behind AMMA
With the phenomenal growth in the mead in-dustry over the last several years many believethere is now not only a suffi cient base to sup-port a new mead organization but a great needas well Many have observed that the meadindustry is today where craft beer was somethirty years ago It was discussed for sometime among industry leaders and internet fo-
rums about once again puttingtogether an association BradDolhofer of B Nektar Meaderyin Ferndale Michigan createda Facebook page in January2011 for the American MeadMakers Association (AMMA)which started the ball roll-ing In October Chris Webber
of Dragonrsquos Lair Country Wines amp Meads inLakewood Washington (not yet bonded) puttogether a website to start formally bringingthe industry together
Part of the discussion was whether or not toactually form as an international associationso as to include other mead makers around theworld however in the end it was decided that
due to jurisdictional considerations for legisla-tive purposes the association should limit itsboundaries to the US and should an interna-tional organization be formed in the future the AMMA would become a member and support-er In the meantime non-US mead makers can join the AMMA as an Associate Member
There have been several attempts over the years
to create an association for the purpose of pro
moting and improving the mead industry Th
original American Mead Association (AMA
was founded in 1986 by Pamela Spence Ohi
beekeeper and author of Mad About Mead
Nectar of the Gods (ISBN 1-56718-683-1) an
other works as an alternative market for hone
Unfortunately it was a labor of love and the la
bor was a bit too muchIt was passed on to Susanne Pric
in 1993 who moved it to Colo
rado She built up the organiza
tion through her connection
with the American Homebrewer
Association as well as enlarge
the newsletter and soon made
a partnership with John ldquoJulian
Strekel Julian had established a honey suppl business and it seems that the intention was t
move the AMA from Pamela Spencersquos concep
tion as a nonprofit organization to a for profi
co-op After Susannersquos tragic death in earl
1996 it was left to Julian to run the organiza
tion
The association soon fell on hard times Th
newsletter ceased although the association wastill accepting dues honey suppliers were no
being paid and in short order the money was a
gone By March 1997 Julian gave up all inte
est in the AMA to Andrew LaMorte and Keit
and Sarah Wanless of Highlander Home Brew
in Littleton Colorado It soon became apparen
the organization was in a dire financial situa
tion and due also to some legal consideration
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 622
a complete reorganization became necessaryTe task proved to be over-whelming and by mid-1998the association had fadedinto oblivion As is oft the
case when such organiza-tions fail it is a slow pain-ful death where many goodhonest people were leftwith a bad taste
In 1990 Ken Schrammauthor of Te CompleatMeadmaker (Brewers Pub-
lications 2003) Dan Mc-Connell and Mike OBrienfounded the Mazer CupMead Competition whichran for 12 years in Michi-gan Te original Mazer Cupwas sponsored by the Ann Arbor Brewers Guildthe National Honey Board and others and wasa BJCP and AHA sanctioned competition Te
1047297rst time the Mazer Cup is mentioned in theMead Lovers Digest is April 1993 It lists spon-sors as GW Kent Inc of Ann Arbor MI HomeWinery Supply of Dundee MI Te Ann ArborBrewers Guild and the American Mead Asso-ciation of Boulder CO
In 2001 the Mazer Cup was renamed the Pfei-ffer Mazer Cup in memory of friend mentor
and 1985 AHA Meadmaker of the Year Bill Pfei-ffer who lost his battle with cancer in 2000 In2002 Ray Daniels author of Designing GreatBeers Te Ultimate Guide to Brewing ClassicBeer Styles and other great beer books re-organized the Mazer Cup into the First Inter-national Mead Competition and Planet BuzzFestival in Chicago Illinois Tis would be the
largest mead only festival ever to that date
Te next year the festivawas picked up by David Myers and Redstone Meader
of Boulder Colorado anshortened to the International Mead Festival (IMFBy 2004 the Festival hasome 85 different meadfrom 32 companies in 7 diferent countries In 200the competition was expanded to include amateu
mead makers
In 2003 and 2004 meetingwere held during the IMcompetition to discuss chalenges facing the industr
and by late 2004 another attempt was madto create the International Mead Associatio(IMA) which basically assumed the IMF Com
mittees were formed and paperwork was 1047297ledbut by the end of 2007 the IMA was gone againhowever the IMF continued
In 2009 Myers and Redstone ended their stewardship of the Festival In the interest of preserving the momentum of this event VickRowe owner of the website GotMeadcom Petar Bakulic and others reorganized the compe
tition With the blessing of Schramm McConnell and OBrien it assumed the name of thMazer Cup International Mead Competitionand is today the largest mead-only compettion in the United States and indeed the world
Finally on May 1st 2012 the American MeaMakers Association (AMMA) was incorpo
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 722
rated in the State of Washington with Chris
Webber as President pro tem Cheryl Webber
as Secretary and Woody Drake of Columbus
Ohio as Vice President In accordance with the Association Bylaws their mission is fourfold
to improve regulation that promotes the Meadindustry to educate consumers about Mead
to conduct research to improve the craft and
to promote Mead in general
In the short term the Associations plans are
to build its membership establish a website
domain and to start a newsletter Over time
the expectation will be to effect the Federal
regulations to recognize Mead as a fermentedbeverage separate from wine with labeling and
formula rules speci1047297c to the craft Tis will co-
incide with establishing style guidelines that
will also be used in sanctioned competitionsand judge certi1047297cations Te organization also
plans to work with wineries meaderies and
mead competitions around the country to de-
velop a program whereby Association mem-
bers can receive a discount
Much of the preceding information was gath-
ered through an exhaustive search of the ar-
chives of the Mead Lovers Digest an email fo-
rum which began September 25th 1992 underthe care of John A Dilley and continues un-
interrupted today with Dick Dunn as ldquoDigest
Janitorrdquo Tese archives can be found online
at the GotMeadcom website httpwwwgot-meadcommldarchiveshtml Other contribu-
tions came from discussions on the GotMeadcom forum and conversations with Mr Ken
Schramm
PREVIOUS PAGE Pam Spence
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 822
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 922
A Road Trip in Search of Eas
Coast Mead
In June of 2012 I visited 3mead makers in MarylandMassachusetts and Ver-
mont My first stop was tothe magnificent estate win-ery of Mt Felix which is justoutside of Havre De Gracein Northeastern Maryland
When you park at Mt Fe-lix you are in the shadow ofa beautiful brick mansionbuilt in an era long past The tasting room and win-
ery compliment the style ofthe historic home and the views of the ChesapeakeBay are a rare treat Enjoy-ing a glass of wine while lis-tening to live music on the patio while scanning thefarm fields for wildlife be-fore a walk amongst severalacres of grapes is a wonder-ful way to spend a weekendafternoon
During my visit the propri-etor Peter Ianniello wasonsight to pour wines along with his staff who were each
well versed in the wine ming process and descriptiof their products The lis
products offered for tastiand for bottle purchases wextensive One stand and the best pumpkin wI have ever had was the Tra Maria It poured a cstraw color and tasted fall
When the folks at Mt lix heard that I was visi
from Arizona and had opened a meadery the p prietor vanished for a mment and returned witblueberry mead he mad years prior It was reallnice gesture to share a batch of mead he madelong ago While not for during my visit Mt F was aging a pyment m with their Chambourgrapes and fortified wgrappa What a concep vowed to return and tradbottle of my pyment on next visit
After leaving Marylanddrove north towards ru Western Massachusetts
visit the mead makers
Opposite Page Clockwise from Upper Left Artesano mead made with a variety
of blueberries Chambourcin grapes grow early in the season at Mt Felix Win-
ery the crew at Green River Ambrosia This Page Wax machine in operation at
Ar tesano Mt Felix Pumpkin wine Next Page Tasting room at Mt Felix and InsideGreen River Ambrosia
Article and Photos By Jeff Herbert
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1022
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1122
Green River Ambrosia I had previously con-
tacted Garth Shaneyfelt to arange a tour and
tasting of Green Riverrsquos offerings It turned
out that the whole staff was onsite and full
of excitement for their growing business
mead and meeting new folks Along with
Garth Will Savitri Brendan Burns SamDribble and Sandy Pearson are liquid artists
using locally produced honey ex-Jack Dan-
iels barrels chamomile flowers local apple
cider and ginger to create innovative styles of
mead and
a l c o h o l -
ic gin-
ger soda
G r e e nRiver also
brews a
p o p u l a r
brand of
k o m b u -
cha tea
Ka t a lys t
K o m -
b u c h a which is a
fermented
pro-biotic
health elixir Garth joked ldquoWe are vertically
integrated with both toxifying and detoxify-
ing productsrdquo
Green River began making mead in order to
support local bee keepers and started with10 hives producing raw local honey Now
they self-distribute in over 65 package stores
and restaurants and are expanding Their
current line up follows
Liquid Sunshine A traditional semi-dry
mead made with local honey for a slightly
floral taste 12 abv
Chamomile A traditional semi-dry mead in
fused with organic chamomile flowers 12
abv (seasonal)
Winter Warmer A semi-sweet mead flavore
with our warming spice blend to get yo
through the cold dark winter Try it heated14 abv (winter seasonal)
Cyzer Our apple-icious mead made wit
fresh-pressed heritage cider from Clarkdal
Fruit Farms i
Deerfield MA
Light natura
effervescence
serve chilled12 abv (avai
able late Sum
mer - Fall)
Bourbon Cyz
er Our cyze
aged three-plu
months in fres
bourbon barrelSomewhat effe
vescent - kee
refrigerated 12
abv Winner of 2010 and 2011 Mazer Cu
Medals (Available late summer - fall)
Bourbon-Barrel Buckwheat Hearty buck
wheat honey mead mellowed over six month
in Jack Daniels Bourbon Barrels 14 abv(seasonal)
Ginger Libation Our hugely popular Liba
tion is somewhat like a spicy alcoholic ginge
soda but yoursquove just gotta try for yoursel
Sweetened with cane sugar pineapple an
citrus juices (not a mead) itrsquos fruity bubbl
and delicious Keep refrigerated bottle con
ditioned 8-9 abv
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1322
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1422
Previous Pages Clockwise From Top Left Green River
Ambrosia Luke and Logan Herber t enjoy a glass of Kom-
bucha Tea Artesano Meadery Hilary Bumgarner pours a
sample of b lueberry mead Jennifer Herbert taking notes
at Green River Ambrosia Opposite Page Inside Artesa-
norsquos tasting room Artesanorsquos fermentation tanks
The last stop on this East Coast mead trip was Artesano Meadery in Groton Vermont
Offering samples of mead and their own ice
cream on a sunny Vermont Summer day a
visit to Artesano will inspire meadery owners
and mead fans alike I met Hilary Bumgarner
who provided one of the best tours anyone
cold ask for She works with the owners of
Artesano and not only pours samples in the
tasting room but is an accomplished meadmaker After tasting several fantastic meads
Hilary showed me Artesanorsquos stainless fer-
mentation tanks bottling machine and they
even have a custom made device which seals
the cork with a wax finish and then imprints
their logo in the wax
Artesano has won several awards and makes
the following meads Traditional Mead ChiliCinnamon Mead Essence Dry Mead Spiced
Mead Cranberry Mead Blueberry Mead
Blackberry Mead and Poetrsquos Mead which is
aged in bourbon barrels
Owner Mark Simakaski and his wife began
making mead while teaching bee keeping in
the Peace Corps in South America I asked
Mark about challenges he faced in startinga meadery He said ldquoThe time from start up
to your first bottle of mead has a long lead
time We needed to be sure there was enough
capital to make it throughrdquo In 2012 Artesano
produced 17000 500 ml bottles of mead Ap-
parently their hard work is paying off
Artesano self-distributes to 55 accounts in
Vermont and their most popular mead i
their Traditional Mead Mark also sells mea
and represents Artesano at farmerrsquos market
and a few wine events each year when aske
about what will help grow the mead indus
try Mark says ldquoGood mead makers and a lo
of consumer education As the availability o
mead increases so will its sales But it has t
be good meadrdquo
In visiting these three businesses makin
mead I was excited to see that mead univer
sally serves as a catharsis for the liquid artis
The creativity exibited by mead makers is as
tounding The success that these three mea
makers have developed is indicative of th
growth that can be expected in the mead in
dustry Meaderies are starting up across th
country but we are just beginning to catch
new wave in the alcohol industry
One hypothesis I had prior to this road tri
was that meaderies even in similar parts o
the country are relatively disconnected I be
lieve that the spirit of a business deciding tbegin a meadery is certainly an independen
spirit and perhaps geography may keep u
apart While some of the mead makers I vis
ited had been to other Eastern meaderies
and even to the Mazer Cup these meader
ies generally do their own thing In light o
this I keep asking myself a question that
will posit to you now ldquoIf there is strength i
numbers as the old saying goes what benefits can meaderies realize if we further ne
work and join togetherrdquo
I hope to see you at the Mazer Cup in 2013
Check out
wwwmountfelixcom
wwwgreenriverambrosiacom
wwwartesanomeadcom
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1522
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1622
Liquid Assets
Mead For The Modern AgeBy Randy Clemens
ldquoMead is the ancient liquor of gods and
men the giver of knowledge and poetry
the healer of wounds and the bestower of
immortalityrdquo
George Robert Gayre Scottish anthropologist
Long before the advent of wine beer and spir-
its countless civilizations celebrated revered
and drank their fair share of mead an alcoholic
beverage forged out of the fermentation of na-
turersquos most miraculous sugar honey
ldquoWe see mead as a magical thingrdquo explainsFrank Golbeck co-founder of fledgling start-
up Golden Coast Mead based in San Diego ldquoIt
represents this synergy that has connected peo-
ple to agriculture and their environment Drink-
ing it is a culinary experience that has deep cul-
tural roots across the world and across timerdquo
Indeed honey has long been held in high re-
gard and one can only imagine that meadrsquos
intoxicating properties would make honey thatmuch more special to our early ancestors The
mind-altering effects were thought of as a kind
of transformation a journey into another world
that opened the brain to new thoughts and ex-
periences
ldquoA drink I took of the magic mead [hellip] then I
began to know and to be wise to grow and t
weave poemsrdquo
mdashOdin from the Norse Saga Runahal circ
1200 CE
Mead is believed by many to be the first alco
holic drink known to man likely a happy ac
cident caused by mixing water and honey in a
animal-skin canteen while out on a hunt Est
mates of its discovery range from 9000 year
ago to as far back as 20000 years ago Ancien
Greeks and Romans had a well documented a
finity for mead as did the Vikings the Egyp
tians and many other cultures across Europe
the East Indies and Africa Fast forwarding t
the present mead is not nearly as prevalent as
once was taking a back seat to the much mor
common potent potables of today beer wine
cider sake and the like But it holds a worl
of complexity just waiting to be explored Th
meadmakermdashalso known as a mazermdashha
at their fingertips a veritable blank canvas o
which to build
ldquoMead presents this huge spectrum of flavo
possibilitiesrdquo continues Golbeck ldquoThe hone
varietal is arguably the most important choic
in determining the profile of the mead but se
lecting a yeast strain deciding how sweet yoursquo
like it to be whether or not itrsquos sparkling and o
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1722
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1822
course if yoursquod like to add in adjuncts such as
fruit or spices how long itrsquos aged and whether
or not thatrsquos on oakhellipthe combinations really
are unlimitedrdquo
In regards to the honey varietal Susan Ruud
and Gordon Strongmdashrecognized as Grand Mas-
ter level judges by the Beer Judge Certification
Programmdashconducted ldquoThe Great Honey Ex-
perimentrdquo which had a group of people gauge
six different meads identical in every respect
except for the type of honey used Their meads
presented and evaluated at the 2010 National
Homebrewers Conference had some common-
alities but also pointed out some very interest-
ing differences
Golden Coast is currently focusing on making
one mead and making it well Called Mirth in
a Bottle itrsquos obvious in talking with Golbeck
that he has an insatiable passion for his craft
ldquoFor me I want to show the best expression of
the honey varietalrdquo he waxes ldquoThatrsquos what Irsquom
afterrdquo
ldquoWe start with a wonderfully aromatic orange
blossom honey and make the mead semisweet
and sparkling which really makes the citrus fla
vor pop and that surprises a lot of people Th
character isnrsquot nearly as noticeable in the bas
honey but it comes through beautifully in th
finished mead We use a red-wine yeast for th
fermentation which adds these complex flor
notes that I just love But ultimately itrsquos all t
highlight the nuances naturally present in th
honeyrdquo
Are you reading this all in disbelief remem
bering a cloying sickeningly sweet mead th
you tried at ye olde Renaissance Faire Wel
I implore you to give it another shot There
a world of great meads out there waiting to b
enjoyed Some are sweet or semisweet whil
others can be quite dry with different carbon
ation levels ranging from still to sparking o
somewhere in between called semi-sparklin
or peacutetillant [Yoursquoll thank me when thatrsquos
question on Jeopardy some day] It might tak
a bit of searching but therersquos been a growin
buzz thatrsquos getting mead onto more and mor
shelves And while I can drone on and on fodays reading about them is nowhere near a
great as tasting them
HONEY VARIETAL SAMPLING OF AROMA FLAVOR CHARACTERISTIC
MESQUITE Pipe tobacco smoke wood earthy vanilla pepper cinnamon Cheddar cheese min
ORANGE BLOSSOM Citrus orange blossom honey 1047298oral pear vanilla apple white grape almon
TUPELO Apple pepper wood mint white grape cinnamon marshmallow caramel 1047298oral cider pe
WHITE SAGE Earthy minty menthol musty herbal pepper spicy light smoke sauerkrau
STAR THISTLE Floral grassy 1047297g cinnamon nutmeg lavender vanilla butter caramel pin
BASSWOOD Menthol thyme oregano white wine butter earthy wood caramel citrus pepp
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1922
TALKING THE TALK
BRAGGOT A hybrid of mead and beer brewed with honey and malt
CYSER A hybrid of mead and cider made with honey and apple juice
HYDROMEL Lighter lower alcohol mead
MELOMEL Mead fermented with any variety of fruit
METHEGLIN Mead brewed with herbs spices or hops
PYMENT A hybrid of mead and wine made with honey and grape juice
SACK MEAD Higher alcohol mead typically above 14 abv
TEJ A popular Ethiopian style of mead made with a bitter species of buck
thorn known as Gesho
Golden Coast Mead is available for purchase
in several locations throughout San Diego
County but can be shipped nationwide
through wwwgoldencoastmeadcom Gol-beck also offered a list of some of his favor-
ite meads and meaderies B Nektar Meadery
(MI) WineHaven Stinger Honeywine (MN)
Mountain Meadows Mead (CA) Moonlight
Meadery (NH) and Redstone Meadery (CO)
And if yoursquore interested in making your own at
home Golbeck recommends picking up The
Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm
Randy Clemens is the author of The Sriracha
Cookbook and co-author of The Craft of Stone
Brewing Co Liquid Lore Epic Recipes and
Unabashed Arrogance He is also the Media amp
Communications Linchpin at Stone Brewing
Co If yoursquore bored you can follow his musings
on Twitter RandyClemensEsq
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2022
Standing next to fifty-five gallon drums of
honey at Meadery of the Rockies in Pali-
sade Colorado mead maker and owner
Glenn Foster explains his secrets to successful
mead production ldquoWe start with 100 pure
natural orange-blossom honey This California
honey has been the standard since 1995 because
of its consistent tasterdquo describes Foster whose
award-wining melomels are very popular withconsumers Because the meadery -- originally
known as the Rocky Mountain Meadery -- does
so much with fruit-blended meads they needed
honey that would enhance flavors of many dif-
ferent fruits
Over time they found that orange-blossom
honey carried the flavors of a variety of fruits
better than other types of honey Fosterrsquos favo
ite way to make melomel is to blend the mea
with fruit wine
And it just so happens that he has unlimited ac
cess to many award-winning fruit wines Foste
and wife Natalie own and operate St Kathry
Cellars and Talon Winery also located in Pal
sade The small agricultural community is in thheart of western Coloradorsquos fruit country nea
Grand Junction The area is especially know
for its peaches which are shipped all over th
west and can be found in kitchens as high-brow
as Air Force One ndash the presidentrsquos ride Th
lush valley is designated as The Grand Valley
the oldest and largest AVA (American Viticu
ture Area) in Colorado
The Buzz at Coloradorsquos Oldest Meadery
Article and Photos By Stacey Wittig
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2122
Water is in abundance at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains ndash Palisade is right on the Colorado
River ndash and the Fosters use pure Rocky Moun-
tain water for their entire mead making ldquoWelearned the old tricks and discovered some new
ones along the wayrdquo reveals Foster who
personally directs the production of each batch
of mead The mead maker brought some secrets
with him when he bought the meadery in 2008
He had previously worked as the of ficial wine-
maker at Twin Rivers Winery in Grand Junc-
tion and also in the California wine industryldquoMy father founded Ravenswood Winery [So-
noma] when I was twelve [in 1976] ldquoWe were
glass droppers as children I came to Colora-
do in rsquo82 to go to school In 1993 I went back
to Ravenwood In 1995 while visiting my in-
laws we discovered Grand Valley We decided
to move here that day and put a deposit on a
rental houserdquo laughs the impulsive vintner
He worked for various Grand Valley winerie
for about ten years until he got tired of makin
OPW (other peoplesrsquo wine)
Mead production has quadrupled since 1995
Foster is proud that his meadery is the fir
meadery in Colorado ldquoOur roots go way backMead is authentic ndash millennials are looking fo
something authentic and differentrdquo he say
Mead flavored with apricots peaches straw
berries cherries and raspberries are trendy righ
now The Cherries lsquon Honey just won Gold i
the 2012 Denver International Wine Compet
tion
Meadery of the Rockiesrsquo automated bottlinline can cork or screw cap thirty-six bottle
per minute Their twenty-three tanks range i
size from 160 to 3000 gallons Meads sell fo
$1195 ndash $3495 per bottle When you visi
sample up to five meads free in the comfy tas
ing room (only $1 per sample after that) Wh
might you see there Visitors from as far awa
as Japan mead lovers from California Colo
rado and Utah and maybe even Emilio Estevewho has been known to stop in for a taste
Meadery of the Rockies 3701 G Road
Palisade Colorado (970) 464-7899 Open Da
ly 10-5 wwwmeaderyoftherockiescom
Stacey Wittig is a travel writer based in Flag
staff AZ Her culinary adventures have led he
up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpilars and roasted guinea pig across the plains o
northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago en
joying steamed barnacles and through the vine
yards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classico
ldquoThe Grand Canyon State is a remarkable plac
to call homerdquo declares the wandering write
Get more travel tips at wwwVagabondinglulu
com
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 622
a complete reorganization became necessaryTe task proved to be over-whelming and by mid-1998the association had fadedinto oblivion As is oft the
case when such organiza-tions fail it is a slow pain-ful death where many goodhonest people were leftwith a bad taste
In 1990 Ken Schrammauthor of Te CompleatMeadmaker (Brewers Pub-
lications 2003) Dan Mc-Connell and Mike OBrienfounded the Mazer CupMead Competition whichran for 12 years in Michi-gan Te original Mazer Cupwas sponsored by the Ann Arbor Brewers Guildthe National Honey Board and others and wasa BJCP and AHA sanctioned competition Te
1047297rst time the Mazer Cup is mentioned in theMead Lovers Digest is April 1993 It lists spon-sors as GW Kent Inc of Ann Arbor MI HomeWinery Supply of Dundee MI Te Ann ArborBrewers Guild and the American Mead Asso-ciation of Boulder CO
In 2001 the Mazer Cup was renamed the Pfei-ffer Mazer Cup in memory of friend mentor
and 1985 AHA Meadmaker of the Year Bill Pfei-ffer who lost his battle with cancer in 2000 In2002 Ray Daniels author of Designing GreatBeers Te Ultimate Guide to Brewing ClassicBeer Styles and other great beer books re-organized the Mazer Cup into the First Inter-national Mead Competition and Planet BuzzFestival in Chicago Illinois Tis would be the
largest mead only festival ever to that date
Te next year the festivawas picked up by David Myers and Redstone Meader
of Boulder Colorado anshortened to the International Mead Festival (IMFBy 2004 the Festival hasome 85 different meadfrom 32 companies in 7 diferent countries In 200the competition was expanded to include amateu
mead makers
In 2003 and 2004 meetingwere held during the IMcompetition to discuss chalenges facing the industr
and by late 2004 another attempt was madto create the International Mead Associatio(IMA) which basically assumed the IMF Com
mittees were formed and paperwork was 1047297ledbut by the end of 2007 the IMA was gone againhowever the IMF continued
In 2009 Myers and Redstone ended their stewardship of the Festival In the interest of preserving the momentum of this event VickRowe owner of the website GotMeadcom Petar Bakulic and others reorganized the compe
tition With the blessing of Schramm McConnell and OBrien it assumed the name of thMazer Cup International Mead Competitionand is today the largest mead-only compettion in the United States and indeed the world
Finally on May 1st 2012 the American MeaMakers Association (AMMA) was incorpo
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 722
rated in the State of Washington with Chris
Webber as President pro tem Cheryl Webber
as Secretary and Woody Drake of Columbus
Ohio as Vice President In accordance with the Association Bylaws their mission is fourfold
to improve regulation that promotes the Meadindustry to educate consumers about Mead
to conduct research to improve the craft and
to promote Mead in general
In the short term the Associations plans are
to build its membership establish a website
domain and to start a newsletter Over time
the expectation will be to effect the Federal
regulations to recognize Mead as a fermentedbeverage separate from wine with labeling and
formula rules speci1047297c to the craft Tis will co-
incide with establishing style guidelines that
will also be used in sanctioned competitionsand judge certi1047297cations Te organization also
plans to work with wineries meaderies and
mead competitions around the country to de-
velop a program whereby Association mem-
bers can receive a discount
Much of the preceding information was gath-
ered through an exhaustive search of the ar-
chives of the Mead Lovers Digest an email fo-
rum which began September 25th 1992 underthe care of John A Dilley and continues un-
interrupted today with Dick Dunn as ldquoDigest
Janitorrdquo Tese archives can be found online
at the GotMeadcom website httpwwwgot-meadcommldarchiveshtml Other contribu-
tions came from discussions on the GotMeadcom forum and conversations with Mr Ken
Schramm
PREVIOUS PAGE Pam Spence
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 822
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 922
A Road Trip in Search of Eas
Coast Mead
In June of 2012 I visited 3mead makers in MarylandMassachusetts and Ver-
mont My first stop was tothe magnificent estate win-ery of Mt Felix which is justoutside of Havre De Gracein Northeastern Maryland
When you park at Mt Fe-lix you are in the shadow ofa beautiful brick mansionbuilt in an era long past The tasting room and win-
ery compliment the style ofthe historic home and the views of the ChesapeakeBay are a rare treat Enjoy-ing a glass of wine while lis-tening to live music on the patio while scanning thefarm fields for wildlife be-fore a walk amongst severalacres of grapes is a wonder-ful way to spend a weekendafternoon
During my visit the propri-etor Peter Ianniello wasonsight to pour wines along with his staff who were each
well versed in the wine ming process and descriptiof their products The lis
products offered for tastiand for bottle purchases wextensive One stand and the best pumpkin wI have ever had was the Tra Maria It poured a cstraw color and tasted fall
When the folks at Mt lix heard that I was visi
from Arizona and had opened a meadery the p prietor vanished for a mment and returned witblueberry mead he mad years prior It was reallnice gesture to share a batch of mead he madelong ago While not for during my visit Mt F was aging a pyment m with their Chambourgrapes and fortified wgrappa What a concep vowed to return and tradbottle of my pyment on next visit
After leaving Marylanddrove north towards ru Western Massachusetts
visit the mead makers
Opposite Page Clockwise from Upper Left Artesano mead made with a variety
of blueberries Chambourcin grapes grow early in the season at Mt Felix Win-
ery the crew at Green River Ambrosia This Page Wax machine in operation at
Ar tesano Mt Felix Pumpkin wine Next Page Tasting room at Mt Felix and InsideGreen River Ambrosia
Article and Photos By Jeff Herbert
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1022
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1122
Green River Ambrosia I had previously con-
tacted Garth Shaneyfelt to arange a tour and
tasting of Green Riverrsquos offerings It turned
out that the whole staff was onsite and full
of excitement for their growing business
mead and meeting new folks Along with
Garth Will Savitri Brendan Burns SamDribble and Sandy Pearson are liquid artists
using locally produced honey ex-Jack Dan-
iels barrels chamomile flowers local apple
cider and ginger to create innovative styles of
mead and
a l c o h o l -
ic gin-
ger soda
G r e e nRiver also
brews a
p o p u l a r
brand of
k o m b u -
cha tea
Ka t a lys t
K o m -
b u c h a which is a
fermented
pro-biotic
health elixir Garth joked ldquoWe are vertically
integrated with both toxifying and detoxify-
ing productsrdquo
Green River began making mead in order to
support local bee keepers and started with10 hives producing raw local honey Now
they self-distribute in over 65 package stores
and restaurants and are expanding Their
current line up follows
Liquid Sunshine A traditional semi-dry
mead made with local honey for a slightly
floral taste 12 abv
Chamomile A traditional semi-dry mead in
fused with organic chamomile flowers 12
abv (seasonal)
Winter Warmer A semi-sweet mead flavore
with our warming spice blend to get yo
through the cold dark winter Try it heated14 abv (winter seasonal)
Cyzer Our apple-icious mead made wit
fresh-pressed heritage cider from Clarkdal
Fruit Farms i
Deerfield MA
Light natura
effervescence
serve chilled12 abv (avai
able late Sum
mer - Fall)
Bourbon Cyz
er Our cyze
aged three-plu
months in fres
bourbon barrelSomewhat effe
vescent - kee
refrigerated 12
abv Winner of 2010 and 2011 Mazer Cu
Medals (Available late summer - fall)
Bourbon-Barrel Buckwheat Hearty buck
wheat honey mead mellowed over six month
in Jack Daniels Bourbon Barrels 14 abv(seasonal)
Ginger Libation Our hugely popular Liba
tion is somewhat like a spicy alcoholic ginge
soda but yoursquove just gotta try for yoursel
Sweetened with cane sugar pineapple an
citrus juices (not a mead) itrsquos fruity bubbl
and delicious Keep refrigerated bottle con
ditioned 8-9 abv
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1322
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1422
Previous Pages Clockwise From Top Left Green River
Ambrosia Luke and Logan Herber t enjoy a glass of Kom-
bucha Tea Artesano Meadery Hilary Bumgarner pours a
sample of b lueberry mead Jennifer Herbert taking notes
at Green River Ambrosia Opposite Page Inside Artesa-
norsquos tasting room Artesanorsquos fermentation tanks
The last stop on this East Coast mead trip was Artesano Meadery in Groton Vermont
Offering samples of mead and their own ice
cream on a sunny Vermont Summer day a
visit to Artesano will inspire meadery owners
and mead fans alike I met Hilary Bumgarner
who provided one of the best tours anyone
cold ask for She works with the owners of
Artesano and not only pours samples in the
tasting room but is an accomplished meadmaker After tasting several fantastic meads
Hilary showed me Artesanorsquos stainless fer-
mentation tanks bottling machine and they
even have a custom made device which seals
the cork with a wax finish and then imprints
their logo in the wax
Artesano has won several awards and makes
the following meads Traditional Mead ChiliCinnamon Mead Essence Dry Mead Spiced
Mead Cranberry Mead Blueberry Mead
Blackberry Mead and Poetrsquos Mead which is
aged in bourbon barrels
Owner Mark Simakaski and his wife began
making mead while teaching bee keeping in
the Peace Corps in South America I asked
Mark about challenges he faced in startinga meadery He said ldquoThe time from start up
to your first bottle of mead has a long lead
time We needed to be sure there was enough
capital to make it throughrdquo In 2012 Artesano
produced 17000 500 ml bottles of mead Ap-
parently their hard work is paying off
Artesano self-distributes to 55 accounts in
Vermont and their most popular mead i
their Traditional Mead Mark also sells mea
and represents Artesano at farmerrsquos market
and a few wine events each year when aske
about what will help grow the mead indus
try Mark says ldquoGood mead makers and a lo
of consumer education As the availability o
mead increases so will its sales But it has t
be good meadrdquo
In visiting these three businesses makin
mead I was excited to see that mead univer
sally serves as a catharsis for the liquid artis
The creativity exibited by mead makers is as
tounding The success that these three mea
makers have developed is indicative of th
growth that can be expected in the mead in
dustry Meaderies are starting up across th
country but we are just beginning to catch
new wave in the alcohol industry
One hypothesis I had prior to this road tri
was that meaderies even in similar parts o
the country are relatively disconnected I be
lieve that the spirit of a business deciding tbegin a meadery is certainly an independen
spirit and perhaps geography may keep u
apart While some of the mead makers I vis
ited had been to other Eastern meaderies
and even to the Mazer Cup these meader
ies generally do their own thing In light o
this I keep asking myself a question that
will posit to you now ldquoIf there is strength i
numbers as the old saying goes what benefits can meaderies realize if we further ne
work and join togetherrdquo
I hope to see you at the Mazer Cup in 2013
Check out
wwwmountfelixcom
wwwgreenriverambrosiacom
wwwartesanomeadcom
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1522
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1622
Liquid Assets
Mead For The Modern AgeBy Randy Clemens
ldquoMead is the ancient liquor of gods and
men the giver of knowledge and poetry
the healer of wounds and the bestower of
immortalityrdquo
George Robert Gayre Scottish anthropologist
Long before the advent of wine beer and spir-
its countless civilizations celebrated revered
and drank their fair share of mead an alcoholic
beverage forged out of the fermentation of na-
turersquos most miraculous sugar honey
ldquoWe see mead as a magical thingrdquo explainsFrank Golbeck co-founder of fledgling start-
up Golden Coast Mead based in San Diego ldquoIt
represents this synergy that has connected peo-
ple to agriculture and their environment Drink-
ing it is a culinary experience that has deep cul-
tural roots across the world and across timerdquo
Indeed honey has long been held in high re-
gard and one can only imagine that meadrsquos
intoxicating properties would make honey thatmuch more special to our early ancestors The
mind-altering effects were thought of as a kind
of transformation a journey into another world
that opened the brain to new thoughts and ex-
periences
ldquoA drink I took of the magic mead [hellip] then I
began to know and to be wise to grow and t
weave poemsrdquo
mdashOdin from the Norse Saga Runahal circ
1200 CE
Mead is believed by many to be the first alco
holic drink known to man likely a happy ac
cident caused by mixing water and honey in a
animal-skin canteen while out on a hunt Est
mates of its discovery range from 9000 year
ago to as far back as 20000 years ago Ancien
Greeks and Romans had a well documented a
finity for mead as did the Vikings the Egyp
tians and many other cultures across Europe
the East Indies and Africa Fast forwarding t
the present mead is not nearly as prevalent as
once was taking a back seat to the much mor
common potent potables of today beer wine
cider sake and the like But it holds a worl
of complexity just waiting to be explored Th
meadmakermdashalso known as a mazermdashha
at their fingertips a veritable blank canvas o
which to build
ldquoMead presents this huge spectrum of flavo
possibilitiesrdquo continues Golbeck ldquoThe hone
varietal is arguably the most important choic
in determining the profile of the mead but se
lecting a yeast strain deciding how sweet yoursquo
like it to be whether or not itrsquos sparkling and o
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1722
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1822
course if yoursquod like to add in adjuncts such as
fruit or spices how long itrsquos aged and whether
or not thatrsquos on oakhellipthe combinations really
are unlimitedrdquo
In regards to the honey varietal Susan Ruud
and Gordon Strongmdashrecognized as Grand Mas-
ter level judges by the Beer Judge Certification
Programmdashconducted ldquoThe Great Honey Ex-
perimentrdquo which had a group of people gauge
six different meads identical in every respect
except for the type of honey used Their meads
presented and evaluated at the 2010 National
Homebrewers Conference had some common-
alities but also pointed out some very interest-
ing differences
Golden Coast is currently focusing on making
one mead and making it well Called Mirth in
a Bottle itrsquos obvious in talking with Golbeck
that he has an insatiable passion for his craft
ldquoFor me I want to show the best expression of
the honey varietalrdquo he waxes ldquoThatrsquos what Irsquom
afterrdquo
ldquoWe start with a wonderfully aromatic orange
blossom honey and make the mead semisweet
and sparkling which really makes the citrus fla
vor pop and that surprises a lot of people Th
character isnrsquot nearly as noticeable in the bas
honey but it comes through beautifully in th
finished mead We use a red-wine yeast for th
fermentation which adds these complex flor
notes that I just love But ultimately itrsquos all t
highlight the nuances naturally present in th
honeyrdquo
Are you reading this all in disbelief remem
bering a cloying sickeningly sweet mead th
you tried at ye olde Renaissance Faire Wel
I implore you to give it another shot There
a world of great meads out there waiting to b
enjoyed Some are sweet or semisweet whil
others can be quite dry with different carbon
ation levels ranging from still to sparking o
somewhere in between called semi-sparklin
or peacutetillant [Yoursquoll thank me when thatrsquos
question on Jeopardy some day] It might tak
a bit of searching but therersquos been a growin
buzz thatrsquos getting mead onto more and mor
shelves And while I can drone on and on fodays reading about them is nowhere near a
great as tasting them
HONEY VARIETAL SAMPLING OF AROMA FLAVOR CHARACTERISTIC
MESQUITE Pipe tobacco smoke wood earthy vanilla pepper cinnamon Cheddar cheese min
ORANGE BLOSSOM Citrus orange blossom honey 1047298oral pear vanilla apple white grape almon
TUPELO Apple pepper wood mint white grape cinnamon marshmallow caramel 1047298oral cider pe
WHITE SAGE Earthy minty menthol musty herbal pepper spicy light smoke sauerkrau
STAR THISTLE Floral grassy 1047297g cinnamon nutmeg lavender vanilla butter caramel pin
BASSWOOD Menthol thyme oregano white wine butter earthy wood caramel citrus pepp
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1922
TALKING THE TALK
BRAGGOT A hybrid of mead and beer brewed with honey and malt
CYSER A hybrid of mead and cider made with honey and apple juice
HYDROMEL Lighter lower alcohol mead
MELOMEL Mead fermented with any variety of fruit
METHEGLIN Mead brewed with herbs spices or hops
PYMENT A hybrid of mead and wine made with honey and grape juice
SACK MEAD Higher alcohol mead typically above 14 abv
TEJ A popular Ethiopian style of mead made with a bitter species of buck
thorn known as Gesho
Golden Coast Mead is available for purchase
in several locations throughout San Diego
County but can be shipped nationwide
through wwwgoldencoastmeadcom Gol-beck also offered a list of some of his favor-
ite meads and meaderies B Nektar Meadery
(MI) WineHaven Stinger Honeywine (MN)
Mountain Meadows Mead (CA) Moonlight
Meadery (NH) and Redstone Meadery (CO)
And if yoursquore interested in making your own at
home Golbeck recommends picking up The
Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm
Randy Clemens is the author of The Sriracha
Cookbook and co-author of The Craft of Stone
Brewing Co Liquid Lore Epic Recipes and
Unabashed Arrogance He is also the Media amp
Communications Linchpin at Stone Brewing
Co If yoursquore bored you can follow his musings
on Twitter RandyClemensEsq
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2022
Standing next to fifty-five gallon drums of
honey at Meadery of the Rockies in Pali-
sade Colorado mead maker and owner
Glenn Foster explains his secrets to successful
mead production ldquoWe start with 100 pure
natural orange-blossom honey This California
honey has been the standard since 1995 because
of its consistent tasterdquo describes Foster whose
award-wining melomels are very popular withconsumers Because the meadery -- originally
known as the Rocky Mountain Meadery -- does
so much with fruit-blended meads they needed
honey that would enhance flavors of many dif-
ferent fruits
Over time they found that orange-blossom
honey carried the flavors of a variety of fruits
better than other types of honey Fosterrsquos favo
ite way to make melomel is to blend the mea
with fruit wine
And it just so happens that he has unlimited ac
cess to many award-winning fruit wines Foste
and wife Natalie own and operate St Kathry
Cellars and Talon Winery also located in Pal
sade The small agricultural community is in thheart of western Coloradorsquos fruit country nea
Grand Junction The area is especially know
for its peaches which are shipped all over th
west and can be found in kitchens as high-brow
as Air Force One ndash the presidentrsquos ride Th
lush valley is designated as The Grand Valley
the oldest and largest AVA (American Viticu
ture Area) in Colorado
The Buzz at Coloradorsquos Oldest Meadery
Article and Photos By Stacey Wittig
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2122
Water is in abundance at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains ndash Palisade is right on the Colorado
River ndash and the Fosters use pure Rocky Moun-
tain water for their entire mead making ldquoWelearned the old tricks and discovered some new
ones along the wayrdquo reveals Foster who
personally directs the production of each batch
of mead The mead maker brought some secrets
with him when he bought the meadery in 2008
He had previously worked as the of ficial wine-
maker at Twin Rivers Winery in Grand Junc-
tion and also in the California wine industryldquoMy father founded Ravenswood Winery [So-
noma] when I was twelve [in 1976] ldquoWe were
glass droppers as children I came to Colora-
do in rsquo82 to go to school In 1993 I went back
to Ravenwood In 1995 while visiting my in-
laws we discovered Grand Valley We decided
to move here that day and put a deposit on a
rental houserdquo laughs the impulsive vintner
He worked for various Grand Valley winerie
for about ten years until he got tired of makin
OPW (other peoplesrsquo wine)
Mead production has quadrupled since 1995
Foster is proud that his meadery is the fir
meadery in Colorado ldquoOur roots go way backMead is authentic ndash millennials are looking fo
something authentic and differentrdquo he say
Mead flavored with apricots peaches straw
berries cherries and raspberries are trendy righ
now The Cherries lsquon Honey just won Gold i
the 2012 Denver International Wine Compet
tion
Meadery of the Rockiesrsquo automated bottlinline can cork or screw cap thirty-six bottle
per minute Their twenty-three tanks range i
size from 160 to 3000 gallons Meads sell fo
$1195 ndash $3495 per bottle When you visi
sample up to five meads free in the comfy tas
ing room (only $1 per sample after that) Wh
might you see there Visitors from as far awa
as Japan mead lovers from California Colo
rado and Utah and maybe even Emilio Estevewho has been known to stop in for a taste
Meadery of the Rockies 3701 G Road
Palisade Colorado (970) 464-7899 Open Da
ly 10-5 wwwmeaderyoftherockiescom
Stacey Wittig is a travel writer based in Flag
staff AZ Her culinary adventures have led he
up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpilars and roasted guinea pig across the plains o
northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago en
joying steamed barnacles and through the vine
yards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classico
ldquoThe Grand Canyon State is a remarkable plac
to call homerdquo declares the wandering write
Get more travel tips at wwwVagabondinglulu
com
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
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8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 722
rated in the State of Washington with Chris
Webber as President pro tem Cheryl Webber
as Secretary and Woody Drake of Columbus
Ohio as Vice President In accordance with the Association Bylaws their mission is fourfold
to improve regulation that promotes the Meadindustry to educate consumers about Mead
to conduct research to improve the craft and
to promote Mead in general
In the short term the Associations plans are
to build its membership establish a website
domain and to start a newsletter Over time
the expectation will be to effect the Federal
regulations to recognize Mead as a fermentedbeverage separate from wine with labeling and
formula rules speci1047297c to the craft Tis will co-
incide with establishing style guidelines that
will also be used in sanctioned competitionsand judge certi1047297cations Te organization also
plans to work with wineries meaderies and
mead competitions around the country to de-
velop a program whereby Association mem-
bers can receive a discount
Much of the preceding information was gath-
ered through an exhaustive search of the ar-
chives of the Mead Lovers Digest an email fo-
rum which began September 25th 1992 underthe care of John A Dilley and continues un-
interrupted today with Dick Dunn as ldquoDigest
Janitorrdquo Tese archives can be found online
at the GotMeadcom website httpwwwgot-meadcommldarchiveshtml Other contribu-
tions came from discussions on the GotMeadcom forum and conversations with Mr Ken
Schramm
PREVIOUS PAGE Pam Spence
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 822
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 922
A Road Trip in Search of Eas
Coast Mead
In June of 2012 I visited 3mead makers in MarylandMassachusetts and Ver-
mont My first stop was tothe magnificent estate win-ery of Mt Felix which is justoutside of Havre De Gracein Northeastern Maryland
When you park at Mt Fe-lix you are in the shadow ofa beautiful brick mansionbuilt in an era long past The tasting room and win-
ery compliment the style ofthe historic home and the views of the ChesapeakeBay are a rare treat Enjoy-ing a glass of wine while lis-tening to live music on the patio while scanning thefarm fields for wildlife be-fore a walk amongst severalacres of grapes is a wonder-ful way to spend a weekendafternoon
During my visit the propri-etor Peter Ianniello wasonsight to pour wines along with his staff who were each
well versed in the wine ming process and descriptiof their products The lis
products offered for tastiand for bottle purchases wextensive One stand and the best pumpkin wI have ever had was the Tra Maria It poured a cstraw color and tasted fall
When the folks at Mt lix heard that I was visi
from Arizona and had opened a meadery the p prietor vanished for a mment and returned witblueberry mead he mad years prior It was reallnice gesture to share a batch of mead he madelong ago While not for during my visit Mt F was aging a pyment m with their Chambourgrapes and fortified wgrappa What a concep vowed to return and tradbottle of my pyment on next visit
After leaving Marylanddrove north towards ru Western Massachusetts
visit the mead makers
Opposite Page Clockwise from Upper Left Artesano mead made with a variety
of blueberries Chambourcin grapes grow early in the season at Mt Felix Win-
ery the crew at Green River Ambrosia This Page Wax machine in operation at
Ar tesano Mt Felix Pumpkin wine Next Page Tasting room at Mt Felix and InsideGreen River Ambrosia
Article and Photos By Jeff Herbert
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1022
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1122
Green River Ambrosia I had previously con-
tacted Garth Shaneyfelt to arange a tour and
tasting of Green Riverrsquos offerings It turned
out that the whole staff was onsite and full
of excitement for their growing business
mead and meeting new folks Along with
Garth Will Savitri Brendan Burns SamDribble and Sandy Pearson are liquid artists
using locally produced honey ex-Jack Dan-
iels barrels chamomile flowers local apple
cider and ginger to create innovative styles of
mead and
a l c o h o l -
ic gin-
ger soda
G r e e nRiver also
brews a
p o p u l a r
brand of
k o m b u -
cha tea
Ka t a lys t
K o m -
b u c h a which is a
fermented
pro-biotic
health elixir Garth joked ldquoWe are vertically
integrated with both toxifying and detoxify-
ing productsrdquo
Green River began making mead in order to
support local bee keepers and started with10 hives producing raw local honey Now
they self-distribute in over 65 package stores
and restaurants and are expanding Their
current line up follows
Liquid Sunshine A traditional semi-dry
mead made with local honey for a slightly
floral taste 12 abv
Chamomile A traditional semi-dry mead in
fused with organic chamomile flowers 12
abv (seasonal)
Winter Warmer A semi-sweet mead flavore
with our warming spice blend to get yo
through the cold dark winter Try it heated14 abv (winter seasonal)
Cyzer Our apple-icious mead made wit
fresh-pressed heritage cider from Clarkdal
Fruit Farms i
Deerfield MA
Light natura
effervescence
serve chilled12 abv (avai
able late Sum
mer - Fall)
Bourbon Cyz
er Our cyze
aged three-plu
months in fres
bourbon barrelSomewhat effe
vescent - kee
refrigerated 12
abv Winner of 2010 and 2011 Mazer Cu
Medals (Available late summer - fall)
Bourbon-Barrel Buckwheat Hearty buck
wheat honey mead mellowed over six month
in Jack Daniels Bourbon Barrels 14 abv(seasonal)
Ginger Libation Our hugely popular Liba
tion is somewhat like a spicy alcoholic ginge
soda but yoursquove just gotta try for yoursel
Sweetened with cane sugar pineapple an
citrus juices (not a mead) itrsquos fruity bubbl
and delicious Keep refrigerated bottle con
ditioned 8-9 abv
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1322
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
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Previous Pages Clockwise From Top Left Green River
Ambrosia Luke and Logan Herber t enjoy a glass of Kom-
bucha Tea Artesano Meadery Hilary Bumgarner pours a
sample of b lueberry mead Jennifer Herbert taking notes
at Green River Ambrosia Opposite Page Inside Artesa-
norsquos tasting room Artesanorsquos fermentation tanks
The last stop on this East Coast mead trip was Artesano Meadery in Groton Vermont
Offering samples of mead and their own ice
cream on a sunny Vermont Summer day a
visit to Artesano will inspire meadery owners
and mead fans alike I met Hilary Bumgarner
who provided one of the best tours anyone
cold ask for She works with the owners of
Artesano and not only pours samples in the
tasting room but is an accomplished meadmaker After tasting several fantastic meads
Hilary showed me Artesanorsquos stainless fer-
mentation tanks bottling machine and they
even have a custom made device which seals
the cork with a wax finish and then imprints
their logo in the wax
Artesano has won several awards and makes
the following meads Traditional Mead ChiliCinnamon Mead Essence Dry Mead Spiced
Mead Cranberry Mead Blueberry Mead
Blackberry Mead and Poetrsquos Mead which is
aged in bourbon barrels
Owner Mark Simakaski and his wife began
making mead while teaching bee keeping in
the Peace Corps in South America I asked
Mark about challenges he faced in startinga meadery He said ldquoThe time from start up
to your first bottle of mead has a long lead
time We needed to be sure there was enough
capital to make it throughrdquo In 2012 Artesano
produced 17000 500 ml bottles of mead Ap-
parently their hard work is paying off
Artesano self-distributes to 55 accounts in
Vermont and their most popular mead i
their Traditional Mead Mark also sells mea
and represents Artesano at farmerrsquos market
and a few wine events each year when aske
about what will help grow the mead indus
try Mark says ldquoGood mead makers and a lo
of consumer education As the availability o
mead increases so will its sales But it has t
be good meadrdquo
In visiting these three businesses makin
mead I was excited to see that mead univer
sally serves as a catharsis for the liquid artis
The creativity exibited by mead makers is as
tounding The success that these three mea
makers have developed is indicative of th
growth that can be expected in the mead in
dustry Meaderies are starting up across th
country but we are just beginning to catch
new wave in the alcohol industry
One hypothesis I had prior to this road tri
was that meaderies even in similar parts o
the country are relatively disconnected I be
lieve that the spirit of a business deciding tbegin a meadery is certainly an independen
spirit and perhaps geography may keep u
apart While some of the mead makers I vis
ited had been to other Eastern meaderies
and even to the Mazer Cup these meader
ies generally do their own thing In light o
this I keep asking myself a question that
will posit to you now ldquoIf there is strength i
numbers as the old saying goes what benefits can meaderies realize if we further ne
work and join togetherrdquo
I hope to see you at the Mazer Cup in 2013
Check out
wwwmountfelixcom
wwwgreenriverambrosiacom
wwwartesanomeadcom
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1522
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1622
Liquid Assets
Mead For The Modern AgeBy Randy Clemens
ldquoMead is the ancient liquor of gods and
men the giver of knowledge and poetry
the healer of wounds and the bestower of
immortalityrdquo
George Robert Gayre Scottish anthropologist
Long before the advent of wine beer and spir-
its countless civilizations celebrated revered
and drank their fair share of mead an alcoholic
beverage forged out of the fermentation of na-
turersquos most miraculous sugar honey
ldquoWe see mead as a magical thingrdquo explainsFrank Golbeck co-founder of fledgling start-
up Golden Coast Mead based in San Diego ldquoIt
represents this synergy that has connected peo-
ple to agriculture and their environment Drink-
ing it is a culinary experience that has deep cul-
tural roots across the world and across timerdquo
Indeed honey has long been held in high re-
gard and one can only imagine that meadrsquos
intoxicating properties would make honey thatmuch more special to our early ancestors The
mind-altering effects were thought of as a kind
of transformation a journey into another world
that opened the brain to new thoughts and ex-
periences
ldquoA drink I took of the magic mead [hellip] then I
began to know and to be wise to grow and t
weave poemsrdquo
mdashOdin from the Norse Saga Runahal circ
1200 CE
Mead is believed by many to be the first alco
holic drink known to man likely a happy ac
cident caused by mixing water and honey in a
animal-skin canteen while out on a hunt Est
mates of its discovery range from 9000 year
ago to as far back as 20000 years ago Ancien
Greeks and Romans had a well documented a
finity for mead as did the Vikings the Egyp
tians and many other cultures across Europe
the East Indies and Africa Fast forwarding t
the present mead is not nearly as prevalent as
once was taking a back seat to the much mor
common potent potables of today beer wine
cider sake and the like But it holds a worl
of complexity just waiting to be explored Th
meadmakermdashalso known as a mazermdashha
at their fingertips a veritable blank canvas o
which to build
ldquoMead presents this huge spectrum of flavo
possibilitiesrdquo continues Golbeck ldquoThe hone
varietal is arguably the most important choic
in determining the profile of the mead but se
lecting a yeast strain deciding how sweet yoursquo
like it to be whether or not itrsquos sparkling and o
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1722
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1822
course if yoursquod like to add in adjuncts such as
fruit or spices how long itrsquos aged and whether
or not thatrsquos on oakhellipthe combinations really
are unlimitedrdquo
In regards to the honey varietal Susan Ruud
and Gordon Strongmdashrecognized as Grand Mas-
ter level judges by the Beer Judge Certification
Programmdashconducted ldquoThe Great Honey Ex-
perimentrdquo which had a group of people gauge
six different meads identical in every respect
except for the type of honey used Their meads
presented and evaluated at the 2010 National
Homebrewers Conference had some common-
alities but also pointed out some very interest-
ing differences
Golden Coast is currently focusing on making
one mead and making it well Called Mirth in
a Bottle itrsquos obvious in talking with Golbeck
that he has an insatiable passion for his craft
ldquoFor me I want to show the best expression of
the honey varietalrdquo he waxes ldquoThatrsquos what Irsquom
afterrdquo
ldquoWe start with a wonderfully aromatic orange
blossom honey and make the mead semisweet
and sparkling which really makes the citrus fla
vor pop and that surprises a lot of people Th
character isnrsquot nearly as noticeable in the bas
honey but it comes through beautifully in th
finished mead We use a red-wine yeast for th
fermentation which adds these complex flor
notes that I just love But ultimately itrsquos all t
highlight the nuances naturally present in th
honeyrdquo
Are you reading this all in disbelief remem
bering a cloying sickeningly sweet mead th
you tried at ye olde Renaissance Faire Wel
I implore you to give it another shot There
a world of great meads out there waiting to b
enjoyed Some are sweet or semisweet whil
others can be quite dry with different carbon
ation levels ranging from still to sparking o
somewhere in between called semi-sparklin
or peacutetillant [Yoursquoll thank me when thatrsquos
question on Jeopardy some day] It might tak
a bit of searching but therersquos been a growin
buzz thatrsquos getting mead onto more and mor
shelves And while I can drone on and on fodays reading about them is nowhere near a
great as tasting them
HONEY VARIETAL SAMPLING OF AROMA FLAVOR CHARACTERISTIC
MESQUITE Pipe tobacco smoke wood earthy vanilla pepper cinnamon Cheddar cheese min
ORANGE BLOSSOM Citrus orange blossom honey 1047298oral pear vanilla apple white grape almon
TUPELO Apple pepper wood mint white grape cinnamon marshmallow caramel 1047298oral cider pe
WHITE SAGE Earthy minty menthol musty herbal pepper spicy light smoke sauerkrau
STAR THISTLE Floral grassy 1047297g cinnamon nutmeg lavender vanilla butter caramel pin
BASSWOOD Menthol thyme oregano white wine butter earthy wood caramel citrus pepp
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1922
TALKING THE TALK
BRAGGOT A hybrid of mead and beer brewed with honey and malt
CYSER A hybrid of mead and cider made with honey and apple juice
HYDROMEL Lighter lower alcohol mead
MELOMEL Mead fermented with any variety of fruit
METHEGLIN Mead brewed with herbs spices or hops
PYMENT A hybrid of mead and wine made with honey and grape juice
SACK MEAD Higher alcohol mead typically above 14 abv
TEJ A popular Ethiopian style of mead made with a bitter species of buck
thorn known as Gesho
Golden Coast Mead is available for purchase
in several locations throughout San Diego
County but can be shipped nationwide
through wwwgoldencoastmeadcom Gol-beck also offered a list of some of his favor-
ite meads and meaderies B Nektar Meadery
(MI) WineHaven Stinger Honeywine (MN)
Mountain Meadows Mead (CA) Moonlight
Meadery (NH) and Redstone Meadery (CO)
And if yoursquore interested in making your own at
home Golbeck recommends picking up The
Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm
Randy Clemens is the author of The Sriracha
Cookbook and co-author of The Craft of Stone
Brewing Co Liquid Lore Epic Recipes and
Unabashed Arrogance He is also the Media amp
Communications Linchpin at Stone Brewing
Co If yoursquore bored you can follow his musings
on Twitter RandyClemensEsq
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2022
Standing next to fifty-five gallon drums of
honey at Meadery of the Rockies in Pali-
sade Colorado mead maker and owner
Glenn Foster explains his secrets to successful
mead production ldquoWe start with 100 pure
natural orange-blossom honey This California
honey has been the standard since 1995 because
of its consistent tasterdquo describes Foster whose
award-wining melomels are very popular withconsumers Because the meadery -- originally
known as the Rocky Mountain Meadery -- does
so much with fruit-blended meads they needed
honey that would enhance flavors of many dif-
ferent fruits
Over time they found that orange-blossom
honey carried the flavors of a variety of fruits
better than other types of honey Fosterrsquos favo
ite way to make melomel is to blend the mea
with fruit wine
And it just so happens that he has unlimited ac
cess to many award-winning fruit wines Foste
and wife Natalie own and operate St Kathry
Cellars and Talon Winery also located in Pal
sade The small agricultural community is in thheart of western Coloradorsquos fruit country nea
Grand Junction The area is especially know
for its peaches which are shipped all over th
west and can be found in kitchens as high-brow
as Air Force One ndash the presidentrsquos ride Th
lush valley is designated as The Grand Valley
the oldest and largest AVA (American Viticu
ture Area) in Colorado
The Buzz at Coloradorsquos Oldest Meadery
Article and Photos By Stacey Wittig
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2122
Water is in abundance at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains ndash Palisade is right on the Colorado
River ndash and the Fosters use pure Rocky Moun-
tain water for their entire mead making ldquoWelearned the old tricks and discovered some new
ones along the wayrdquo reveals Foster who
personally directs the production of each batch
of mead The mead maker brought some secrets
with him when he bought the meadery in 2008
He had previously worked as the of ficial wine-
maker at Twin Rivers Winery in Grand Junc-
tion and also in the California wine industryldquoMy father founded Ravenswood Winery [So-
noma] when I was twelve [in 1976] ldquoWe were
glass droppers as children I came to Colora-
do in rsquo82 to go to school In 1993 I went back
to Ravenwood In 1995 while visiting my in-
laws we discovered Grand Valley We decided
to move here that day and put a deposit on a
rental houserdquo laughs the impulsive vintner
He worked for various Grand Valley winerie
for about ten years until he got tired of makin
OPW (other peoplesrsquo wine)
Mead production has quadrupled since 1995
Foster is proud that his meadery is the fir
meadery in Colorado ldquoOur roots go way backMead is authentic ndash millennials are looking fo
something authentic and differentrdquo he say
Mead flavored with apricots peaches straw
berries cherries and raspberries are trendy righ
now The Cherries lsquon Honey just won Gold i
the 2012 Denver International Wine Compet
tion
Meadery of the Rockiesrsquo automated bottlinline can cork or screw cap thirty-six bottle
per minute Their twenty-three tanks range i
size from 160 to 3000 gallons Meads sell fo
$1195 ndash $3495 per bottle When you visi
sample up to five meads free in the comfy tas
ing room (only $1 per sample after that) Wh
might you see there Visitors from as far awa
as Japan mead lovers from California Colo
rado and Utah and maybe even Emilio Estevewho has been known to stop in for a taste
Meadery of the Rockies 3701 G Road
Palisade Colorado (970) 464-7899 Open Da
ly 10-5 wwwmeaderyoftherockiescom
Stacey Wittig is a travel writer based in Flag
staff AZ Her culinary adventures have led he
up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpilars and roasted guinea pig across the plains o
northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago en
joying steamed barnacles and through the vine
yards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classico
ldquoThe Grand Canyon State is a remarkable plac
to call homerdquo declares the wandering write
Get more travel tips at wwwVagabondinglulu
com
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 822
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 922
A Road Trip in Search of Eas
Coast Mead
In June of 2012 I visited 3mead makers in MarylandMassachusetts and Ver-
mont My first stop was tothe magnificent estate win-ery of Mt Felix which is justoutside of Havre De Gracein Northeastern Maryland
When you park at Mt Fe-lix you are in the shadow ofa beautiful brick mansionbuilt in an era long past The tasting room and win-
ery compliment the style ofthe historic home and the views of the ChesapeakeBay are a rare treat Enjoy-ing a glass of wine while lis-tening to live music on the patio while scanning thefarm fields for wildlife be-fore a walk amongst severalacres of grapes is a wonder-ful way to spend a weekendafternoon
During my visit the propri-etor Peter Ianniello wasonsight to pour wines along with his staff who were each
well versed in the wine ming process and descriptiof their products The lis
products offered for tastiand for bottle purchases wextensive One stand and the best pumpkin wI have ever had was the Tra Maria It poured a cstraw color and tasted fall
When the folks at Mt lix heard that I was visi
from Arizona and had opened a meadery the p prietor vanished for a mment and returned witblueberry mead he mad years prior It was reallnice gesture to share a batch of mead he madelong ago While not for during my visit Mt F was aging a pyment m with their Chambourgrapes and fortified wgrappa What a concep vowed to return and tradbottle of my pyment on next visit
After leaving Marylanddrove north towards ru Western Massachusetts
visit the mead makers
Opposite Page Clockwise from Upper Left Artesano mead made with a variety
of blueberries Chambourcin grapes grow early in the season at Mt Felix Win-
ery the crew at Green River Ambrosia This Page Wax machine in operation at
Ar tesano Mt Felix Pumpkin wine Next Page Tasting room at Mt Felix and InsideGreen River Ambrosia
Article and Photos By Jeff Herbert
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1022
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1122
Green River Ambrosia I had previously con-
tacted Garth Shaneyfelt to arange a tour and
tasting of Green Riverrsquos offerings It turned
out that the whole staff was onsite and full
of excitement for their growing business
mead and meeting new folks Along with
Garth Will Savitri Brendan Burns SamDribble and Sandy Pearson are liquid artists
using locally produced honey ex-Jack Dan-
iels barrels chamomile flowers local apple
cider and ginger to create innovative styles of
mead and
a l c o h o l -
ic gin-
ger soda
G r e e nRiver also
brews a
p o p u l a r
brand of
k o m b u -
cha tea
Ka t a lys t
K o m -
b u c h a which is a
fermented
pro-biotic
health elixir Garth joked ldquoWe are vertically
integrated with both toxifying and detoxify-
ing productsrdquo
Green River began making mead in order to
support local bee keepers and started with10 hives producing raw local honey Now
they self-distribute in over 65 package stores
and restaurants and are expanding Their
current line up follows
Liquid Sunshine A traditional semi-dry
mead made with local honey for a slightly
floral taste 12 abv
Chamomile A traditional semi-dry mead in
fused with organic chamomile flowers 12
abv (seasonal)
Winter Warmer A semi-sweet mead flavore
with our warming spice blend to get yo
through the cold dark winter Try it heated14 abv (winter seasonal)
Cyzer Our apple-icious mead made wit
fresh-pressed heritage cider from Clarkdal
Fruit Farms i
Deerfield MA
Light natura
effervescence
serve chilled12 abv (avai
able late Sum
mer - Fall)
Bourbon Cyz
er Our cyze
aged three-plu
months in fres
bourbon barrelSomewhat effe
vescent - kee
refrigerated 12
abv Winner of 2010 and 2011 Mazer Cu
Medals (Available late summer - fall)
Bourbon-Barrel Buckwheat Hearty buck
wheat honey mead mellowed over six month
in Jack Daniels Bourbon Barrels 14 abv(seasonal)
Ginger Libation Our hugely popular Liba
tion is somewhat like a spicy alcoholic ginge
soda but yoursquove just gotta try for yoursel
Sweetened with cane sugar pineapple an
citrus juices (not a mead) itrsquos fruity bubbl
and delicious Keep refrigerated bottle con
ditioned 8-9 abv
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1322
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1422
Previous Pages Clockwise From Top Left Green River
Ambrosia Luke and Logan Herber t enjoy a glass of Kom-
bucha Tea Artesano Meadery Hilary Bumgarner pours a
sample of b lueberry mead Jennifer Herbert taking notes
at Green River Ambrosia Opposite Page Inside Artesa-
norsquos tasting room Artesanorsquos fermentation tanks
The last stop on this East Coast mead trip was Artesano Meadery in Groton Vermont
Offering samples of mead and their own ice
cream on a sunny Vermont Summer day a
visit to Artesano will inspire meadery owners
and mead fans alike I met Hilary Bumgarner
who provided one of the best tours anyone
cold ask for She works with the owners of
Artesano and not only pours samples in the
tasting room but is an accomplished meadmaker After tasting several fantastic meads
Hilary showed me Artesanorsquos stainless fer-
mentation tanks bottling machine and they
even have a custom made device which seals
the cork with a wax finish and then imprints
their logo in the wax
Artesano has won several awards and makes
the following meads Traditional Mead ChiliCinnamon Mead Essence Dry Mead Spiced
Mead Cranberry Mead Blueberry Mead
Blackberry Mead and Poetrsquos Mead which is
aged in bourbon barrels
Owner Mark Simakaski and his wife began
making mead while teaching bee keeping in
the Peace Corps in South America I asked
Mark about challenges he faced in startinga meadery He said ldquoThe time from start up
to your first bottle of mead has a long lead
time We needed to be sure there was enough
capital to make it throughrdquo In 2012 Artesano
produced 17000 500 ml bottles of mead Ap-
parently their hard work is paying off
Artesano self-distributes to 55 accounts in
Vermont and their most popular mead i
their Traditional Mead Mark also sells mea
and represents Artesano at farmerrsquos market
and a few wine events each year when aske
about what will help grow the mead indus
try Mark says ldquoGood mead makers and a lo
of consumer education As the availability o
mead increases so will its sales But it has t
be good meadrdquo
In visiting these three businesses makin
mead I was excited to see that mead univer
sally serves as a catharsis for the liquid artis
The creativity exibited by mead makers is as
tounding The success that these three mea
makers have developed is indicative of th
growth that can be expected in the mead in
dustry Meaderies are starting up across th
country but we are just beginning to catch
new wave in the alcohol industry
One hypothesis I had prior to this road tri
was that meaderies even in similar parts o
the country are relatively disconnected I be
lieve that the spirit of a business deciding tbegin a meadery is certainly an independen
spirit and perhaps geography may keep u
apart While some of the mead makers I vis
ited had been to other Eastern meaderies
and even to the Mazer Cup these meader
ies generally do their own thing In light o
this I keep asking myself a question that
will posit to you now ldquoIf there is strength i
numbers as the old saying goes what benefits can meaderies realize if we further ne
work and join togetherrdquo
I hope to see you at the Mazer Cup in 2013
Check out
wwwmountfelixcom
wwwgreenriverambrosiacom
wwwartesanomeadcom
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1522
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1622
Liquid Assets
Mead For The Modern AgeBy Randy Clemens
ldquoMead is the ancient liquor of gods and
men the giver of knowledge and poetry
the healer of wounds and the bestower of
immortalityrdquo
George Robert Gayre Scottish anthropologist
Long before the advent of wine beer and spir-
its countless civilizations celebrated revered
and drank their fair share of mead an alcoholic
beverage forged out of the fermentation of na-
turersquos most miraculous sugar honey
ldquoWe see mead as a magical thingrdquo explainsFrank Golbeck co-founder of fledgling start-
up Golden Coast Mead based in San Diego ldquoIt
represents this synergy that has connected peo-
ple to agriculture and their environment Drink-
ing it is a culinary experience that has deep cul-
tural roots across the world and across timerdquo
Indeed honey has long been held in high re-
gard and one can only imagine that meadrsquos
intoxicating properties would make honey thatmuch more special to our early ancestors The
mind-altering effects were thought of as a kind
of transformation a journey into another world
that opened the brain to new thoughts and ex-
periences
ldquoA drink I took of the magic mead [hellip] then I
began to know and to be wise to grow and t
weave poemsrdquo
mdashOdin from the Norse Saga Runahal circ
1200 CE
Mead is believed by many to be the first alco
holic drink known to man likely a happy ac
cident caused by mixing water and honey in a
animal-skin canteen while out on a hunt Est
mates of its discovery range from 9000 year
ago to as far back as 20000 years ago Ancien
Greeks and Romans had a well documented a
finity for mead as did the Vikings the Egyp
tians and many other cultures across Europe
the East Indies and Africa Fast forwarding t
the present mead is not nearly as prevalent as
once was taking a back seat to the much mor
common potent potables of today beer wine
cider sake and the like But it holds a worl
of complexity just waiting to be explored Th
meadmakermdashalso known as a mazermdashha
at their fingertips a veritable blank canvas o
which to build
ldquoMead presents this huge spectrum of flavo
possibilitiesrdquo continues Golbeck ldquoThe hone
varietal is arguably the most important choic
in determining the profile of the mead but se
lecting a yeast strain deciding how sweet yoursquo
like it to be whether or not itrsquos sparkling and o
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1722
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1822
course if yoursquod like to add in adjuncts such as
fruit or spices how long itrsquos aged and whether
or not thatrsquos on oakhellipthe combinations really
are unlimitedrdquo
In regards to the honey varietal Susan Ruud
and Gordon Strongmdashrecognized as Grand Mas-
ter level judges by the Beer Judge Certification
Programmdashconducted ldquoThe Great Honey Ex-
perimentrdquo which had a group of people gauge
six different meads identical in every respect
except for the type of honey used Their meads
presented and evaluated at the 2010 National
Homebrewers Conference had some common-
alities but also pointed out some very interest-
ing differences
Golden Coast is currently focusing on making
one mead and making it well Called Mirth in
a Bottle itrsquos obvious in talking with Golbeck
that he has an insatiable passion for his craft
ldquoFor me I want to show the best expression of
the honey varietalrdquo he waxes ldquoThatrsquos what Irsquom
afterrdquo
ldquoWe start with a wonderfully aromatic orange
blossom honey and make the mead semisweet
and sparkling which really makes the citrus fla
vor pop and that surprises a lot of people Th
character isnrsquot nearly as noticeable in the bas
honey but it comes through beautifully in th
finished mead We use a red-wine yeast for th
fermentation which adds these complex flor
notes that I just love But ultimately itrsquos all t
highlight the nuances naturally present in th
honeyrdquo
Are you reading this all in disbelief remem
bering a cloying sickeningly sweet mead th
you tried at ye olde Renaissance Faire Wel
I implore you to give it another shot There
a world of great meads out there waiting to b
enjoyed Some are sweet or semisweet whil
others can be quite dry with different carbon
ation levels ranging from still to sparking o
somewhere in between called semi-sparklin
or peacutetillant [Yoursquoll thank me when thatrsquos
question on Jeopardy some day] It might tak
a bit of searching but therersquos been a growin
buzz thatrsquos getting mead onto more and mor
shelves And while I can drone on and on fodays reading about them is nowhere near a
great as tasting them
HONEY VARIETAL SAMPLING OF AROMA FLAVOR CHARACTERISTIC
MESQUITE Pipe tobacco smoke wood earthy vanilla pepper cinnamon Cheddar cheese min
ORANGE BLOSSOM Citrus orange blossom honey 1047298oral pear vanilla apple white grape almon
TUPELO Apple pepper wood mint white grape cinnamon marshmallow caramel 1047298oral cider pe
WHITE SAGE Earthy minty menthol musty herbal pepper spicy light smoke sauerkrau
STAR THISTLE Floral grassy 1047297g cinnamon nutmeg lavender vanilla butter caramel pin
BASSWOOD Menthol thyme oregano white wine butter earthy wood caramel citrus pepp
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1922
TALKING THE TALK
BRAGGOT A hybrid of mead and beer brewed with honey and malt
CYSER A hybrid of mead and cider made with honey and apple juice
HYDROMEL Lighter lower alcohol mead
MELOMEL Mead fermented with any variety of fruit
METHEGLIN Mead brewed with herbs spices or hops
PYMENT A hybrid of mead and wine made with honey and grape juice
SACK MEAD Higher alcohol mead typically above 14 abv
TEJ A popular Ethiopian style of mead made with a bitter species of buck
thorn known as Gesho
Golden Coast Mead is available for purchase
in several locations throughout San Diego
County but can be shipped nationwide
through wwwgoldencoastmeadcom Gol-beck also offered a list of some of his favor-
ite meads and meaderies B Nektar Meadery
(MI) WineHaven Stinger Honeywine (MN)
Mountain Meadows Mead (CA) Moonlight
Meadery (NH) and Redstone Meadery (CO)
And if yoursquore interested in making your own at
home Golbeck recommends picking up The
Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm
Randy Clemens is the author of The Sriracha
Cookbook and co-author of The Craft of Stone
Brewing Co Liquid Lore Epic Recipes and
Unabashed Arrogance He is also the Media amp
Communications Linchpin at Stone Brewing
Co If yoursquore bored you can follow his musings
on Twitter RandyClemensEsq
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2022
Standing next to fifty-five gallon drums of
honey at Meadery of the Rockies in Pali-
sade Colorado mead maker and owner
Glenn Foster explains his secrets to successful
mead production ldquoWe start with 100 pure
natural orange-blossom honey This California
honey has been the standard since 1995 because
of its consistent tasterdquo describes Foster whose
award-wining melomels are very popular withconsumers Because the meadery -- originally
known as the Rocky Mountain Meadery -- does
so much with fruit-blended meads they needed
honey that would enhance flavors of many dif-
ferent fruits
Over time they found that orange-blossom
honey carried the flavors of a variety of fruits
better than other types of honey Fosterrsquos favo
ite way to make melomel is to blend the mea
with fruit wine
And it just so happens that he has unlimited ac
cess to many award-winning fruit wines Foste
and wife Natalie own and operate St Kathry
Cellars and Talon Winery also located in Pal
sade The small agricultural community is in thheart of western Coloradorsquos fruit country nea
Grand Junction The area is especially know
for its peaches which are shipped all over th
west and can be found in kitchens as high-brow
as Air Force One ndash the presidentrsquos ride Th
lush valley is designated as The Grand Valley
the oldest and largest AVA (American Viticu
ture Area) in Colorado
The Buzz at Coloradorsquos Oldest Meadery
Article and Photos By Stacey Wittig
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2122
Water is in abundance at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains ndash Palisade is right on the Colorado
River ndash and the Fosters use pure Rocky Moun-
tain water for their entire mead making ldquoWelearned the old tricks and discovered some new
ones along the wayrdquo reveals Foster who
personally directs the production of each batch
of mead The mead maker brought some secrets
with him when he bought the meadery in 2008
He had previously worked as the of ficial wine-
maker at Twin Rivers Winery in Grand Junc-
tion and also in the California wine industryldquoMy father founded Ravenswood Winery [So-
noma] when I was twelve [in 1976] ldquoWe were
glass droppers as children I came to Colora-
do in rsquo82 to go to school In 1993 I went back
to Ravenwood In 1995 while visiting my in-
laws we discovered Grand Valley We decided
to move here that day and put a deposit on a
rental houserdquo laughs the impulsive vintner
He worked for various Grand Valley winerie
for about ten years until he got tired of makin
OPW (other peoplesrsquo wine)
Mead production has quadrupled since 1995
Foster is proud that his meadery is the fir
meadery in Colorado ldquoOur roots go way backMead is authentic ndash millennials are looking fo
something authentic and differentrdquo he say
Mead flavored with apricots peaches straw
berries cherries and raspberries are trendy righ
now The Cherries lsquon Honey just won Gold i
the 2012 Denver International Wine Compet
tion
Meadery of the Rockiesrsquo automated bottlinline can cork or screw cap thirty-six bottle
per minute Their twenty-three tanks range i
size from 160 to 3000 gallons Meads sell fo
$1195 ndash $3495 per bottle When you visi
sample up to five meads free in the comfy tas
ing room (only $1 per sample after that) Wh
might you see there Visitors from as far awa
as Japan mead lovers from California Colo
rado and Utah and maybe even Emilio Estevewho has been known to stop in for a taste
Meadery of the Rockies 3701 G Road
Palisade Colorado (970) 464-7899 Open Da
ly 10-5 wwwmeaderyoftherockiescom
Stacey Wittig is a travel writer based in Flag
staff AZ Her culinary adventures have led he
up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpilars and roasted guinea pig across the plains o
northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago en
joying steamed barnacles and through the vine
yards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classico
ldquoThe Grand Canyon State is a remarkable plac
to call homerdquo declares the wandering write
Get more travel tips at wwwVagabondinglulu
com
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 922
A Road Trip in Search of Eas
Coast Mead
In June of 2012 I visited 3mead makers in MarylandMassachusetts and Ver-
mont My first stop was tothe magnificent estate win-ery of Mt Felix which is justoutside of Havre De Gracein Northeastern Maryland
When you park at Mt Fe-lix you are in the shadow ofa beautiful brick mansionbuilt in an era long past The tasting room and win-
ery compliment the style ofthe historic home and the views of the ChesapeakeBay are a rare treat Enjoy-ing a glass of wine while lis-tening to live music on the patio while scanning thefarm fields for wildlife be-fore a walk amongst severalacres of grapes is a wonder-ful way to spend a weekendafternoon
During my visit the propri-etor Peter Ianniello wasonsight to pour wines along with his staff who were each
well versed in the wine ming process and descriptiof their products The lis
products offered for tastiand for bottle purchases wextensive One stand and the best pumpkin wI have ever had was the Tra Maria It poured a cstraw color and tasted fall
When the folks at Mt lix heard that I was visi
from Arizona and had opened a meadery the p prietor vanished for a mment and returned witblueberry mead he mad years prior It was reallnice gesture to share a batch of mead he madelong ago While not for during my visit Mt F was aging a pyment m with their Chambourgrapes and fortified wgrappa What a concep vowed to return and tradbottle of my pyment on next visit
After leaving Marylanddrove north towards ru Western Massachusetts
visit the mead makers
Opposite Page Clockwise from Upper Left Artesano mead made with a variety
of blueberries Chambourcin grapes grow early in the season at Mt Felix Win-
ery the crew at Green River Ambrosia This Page Wax machine in operation at
Ar tesano Mt Felix Pumpkin wine Next Page Tasting room at Mt Felix and InsideGreen River Ambrosia
Article and Photos By Jeff Herbert
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1022
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1122
Green River Ambrosia I had previously con-
tacted Garth Shaneyfelt to arange a tour and
tasting of Green Riverrsquos offerings It turned
out that the whole staff was onsite and full
of excitement for their growing business
mead and meeting new folks Along with
Garth Will Savitri Brendan Burns SamDribble and Sandy Pearson are liquid artists
using locally produced honey ex-Jack Dan-
iels barrels chamomile flowers local apple
cider and ginger to create innovative styles of
mead and
a l c o h o l -
ic gin-
ger soda
G r e e nRiver also
brews a
p o p u l a r
brand of
k o m b u -
cha tea
Ka t a lys t
K o m -
b u c h a which is a
fermented
pro-biotic
health elixir Garth joked ldquoWe are vertically
integrated with both toxifying and detoxify-
ing productsrdquo
Green River began making mead in order to
support local bee keepers and started with10 hives producing raw local honey Now
they self-distribute in over 65 package stores
and restaurants and are expanding Their
current line up follows
Liquid Sunshine A traditional semi-dry
mead made with local honey for a slightly
floral taste 12 abv
Chamomile A traditional semi-dry mead in
fused with organic chamomile flowers 12
abv (seasonal)
Winter Warmer A semi-sweet mead flavore
with our warming spice blend to get yo
through the cold dark winter Try it heated14 abv (winter seasonal)
Cyzer Our apple-icious mead made wit
fresh-pressed heritage cider from Clarkdal
Fruit Farms i
Deerfield MA
Light natura
effervescence
serve chilled12 abv (avai
able late Sum
mer - Fall)
Bourbon Cyz
er Our cyze
aged three-plu
months in fres
bourbon barrelSomewhat effe
vescent - kee
refrigerated 12
abv Winner of 2010 and 2011 Mazer Cu
Medals (Available late summer - fall)
Bourbon-Barrel Buckwheat Hearty buck
wheat honey mead mellowed over six month
in Jack Daniels Bourbon Barrels 14 abv(seasonal)
Ginger Libation Our hugely popular Liba
tion is somewhat like a spicy alcoholic ginge
soda but yoursquove just gotta try for yoursel
Sweetened with cane sugar pineapple an
citrus juices (not a mead) itrsquos fruity bubbl
and delicious Keep refrigerated bottle con
ditioned 8-9 abv
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1322
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1422
Previous Pages Clockwise From Top Left Green River
Ambrosia Luke and Logan Herber t enjoy a glass of Kom-
bucha Tea Artesano Meadery Hilary Bumgarner pours a
sample of b lueberry mead Jennifer Herbert taking notes
at Green River Ambrosia Opposite Page Inside Artesa-
norsquos tasting room Artesanorsquos fermentation tanks
The last stop on this East Coast mead trip was Artesano Meadery in Groton Vermont
Offering samples of mead and their own ice
cream on a sunny Vermont Summer day a
visit to Artesano will inspire meadery owners
and mead fans alike I met Hilary Bumgarner
who provided one of the best tours anyone
cold ask for She works with the owners of
Artesano and not only pours samples in the
tasting room but is an accomplished meadmaker After tasting several fantastic meads
Hilary showed me Artesanorsquos stainless fer-
mentation tanks bottling machine and they
even have a custom made device which seals
the cork with a wax finish and then imprints
their logo in the wax
Artesano has won several awards and makes
the following meads Traditional Mead ChiliCinnamon Mead Essence Dry Mead Spiced
Mead Cranberry Mead Blueberry Mead
Blackberry Mead and Poetrsquos Mead which is
aged in bourbon barrels
Owner Mark Simakaski and his wife began
making mead while teaching bee keeping in
the Peace Corps in South America I asked
Mark about challenges he faced in startinga meadery He said ldquoThe time from start up
to your first bottle of mead has a long lead
time We needed to be sure there was enough
capital to make it throughrdquo In 2012 Artesano
produced 17000 500 ml bottles of mead Ap-
parently their hard work is paying off
Artesano self-distributes to 55 accounts in
Vermont and their most popular mead i
their Traditional Mead Mark also sells mea
and represents Artesano at farmerrsquos market
and a few wine events each year when aske
about what will help grow the mead indus
try Mark says ldquoGood mead makers and a lo
of consumer education As the availability o
mead increases so will its sales But it has t
be good meadrdquo
In visiting these three businesses makin
mead I was excited to see that mead univer
sally serves as a catharsis for the liquid artis
The creativity exibited by mead makers is as
tounding The success that these three mea
makers have developed is indicative of th
growth that can be expected in the mead in
dustry Meaderies are starting up across th
country but we are just beginning to catch
new wave in the alcohol industry
One hypothesis I had prior to this road tri
was that meaderies even in similar parts o
the country are relatively disconnected I be
lieve that the spirit of a business deciding tbegin a meadery is certainly an independen
spirit and perhaps geography may keep u
apart While some of the mead makers I vis
ited had been to other Eastern meaderies
and even to the Mazer Cup these meader
ies generally do their own thing In light o
this I keep asking myself a question that
will posit to you now ldquoIf there is strength i
numbers as the old saying goes what benefits can meaderies realize if we further ne
work and join togetherrdquo
I hope to see you at the Mazer Cup in 2013
Check out
wwwmountfelixcom
wwwgreenriverambrosiacom
wwwartesanomeadcom
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1522
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1622
Liquid Assets
Mead For The Modern AgeBy Randy Clemens
ldquoMead is the ancient liquor of gods and
men the giver of knowledge and poetry
the healer of wounds and the bestower of
immortalityrdquo
George Robert Gayre Scottish anthropologist
Long before the advent of wine beer and spir-
its countless civilizations celebrated revered
and drank their fair share of mead an alcoholic
beverage forged out of the fermentation of na-
turersquos most miraculous sugar honey
ldquoWe see mead as a magical thingrdquo explainsFrank Golbeck co-founder of fledgling start-
up Golden Coast Mead based in San Diego ldquoIt
represents this synergy that has connected peo-
ple to agriculture and their environment Drink-
ing it is a culinary experience that has deep cul-
tural roots across the world and across timerdquo
Indeed honey has long been held in high re-
gard and one can only imagine that meadrsquos
intoxicating properties would make honey thatmuch more special to our early ancestors The
mind-altering effects were thought of as a kind
of transformation a journey into another world
that opened the brain to new thoughts and ex-
periences
ldquoA drink I took of the magic mead [hellip] then I
began to know and to be wise to grow and t
weave poemsrdquo
mdashOdin from the Norse Saga Runahal circ
1200 CE
Mead is believed by many to be the first alco
holic drink known to man likely a happy ac
cident caused by mixing water and honey in a
animal-skin canteen while out on a hunt Est
mates of its discovery range from 9000 year
ago to as far back as 20000 years ago Ancien
Greeks and Romans had a well documented a
finity for mead as did the Vikings the Egyp
tians and many other cultures across Europe
the East Indies and Africa Fast forwarding t
the present mead is not nearly as prevalent as
once was taking a back seat to the much mor
common potent potables of today beer wine
cider sake and the like But it holds a worl
of complexity just waiting to be explored Th
meadmakermdashalso known as a mazermdashha
at their fingertips a veritable blank canvas o
which to build
ldquoMead presents this huge spectrum of flavo
possibilitiesrdquo continues Golbeck ldquoThe hone
varietal is arguably the most important choic
in determining the profile of the mead but se
lecting a yeast strain deciding how sweet yoursquo
like it to be whether or not itrsquos sparkling and o
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1722
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1822
course if yoursquod like to add in adjuncts such as
fruit or spices how long itrsquos aged and whether
or not thatrsquos on oakhellipthe combinations really
are unlimitedrdquo
In regards to the honey varietal Susan Ruud
and Gordon Strongmdashrecognized as Grand Mas-
ter level judges by the Beer Judge Certification
Programmdashconducted ldquoThe Great Honey Ex-
perimentrdquo which had a group of people gauge
six different meads identical in every respect
except for the type of honey used Their meads
presented and evaluated at the 2010 National
Homebrewers Conference had some common-
alities but also pointed out some very interest-
ing differences
Golden Coast is currently focusing on making
one mead and making it well Called Mirth in
a Bottle itrsquos obvious in talking with Golbeck
that he has an insatiable passion for his craft
ldquoFor me I want to show the best expression of
the honey varietalrdquo he waxes ldquoThatrsquos what Irsquom
afterrdquo
ldquoWe start with a wonderfully aromatic orange
blossom honey and make the mead semisweet
and sparkling which really makes the citrus fla
vor pop and that surprises a lot of people Th
character isnrsquot nearly as noticeable in the bas
honey but it comes through beautifully in th
finished mead We use a red-wine yeast for th
fermentation which adds these complex flor
notes that I just love But ultimately itrsquos all t
highlight the nuances naturally present in th
honeyrdquo
Are you reading this all in disbelief remem
bering a cloying sickeningly sweet mead th
you tried at ye olde Renaissance Faire Wel
I implore you to give it another shot There
a world of great meads out there waiting to b
enjoyed Some are sweet or semisweet whil
others can be quite dry with different carbon
ation levels ranging from still to sparking o
somewhere in between called semi-sparklin
or peacutetillant [Yoursquoll thank me when thatrsquos
question on Jeopardy some day] It might tak
a bit of searching but therersquos been a growin
buzz thatrsquos getting mead onto more and mor
shelves And while I can drone on and on fodays reading about them is nowhere near a
great as tasting them
HONEY VARIETAL SAMPLING OF AROMA FLAVOR CHARACTERISTIC
MESQUITE Pipe tobacco smoke wood earthy vanilla pepper cinnamon Cheddar cheese min
ORANGE BLOSSOM Citrus orange blossom honey 1047298oral pear vanilla apple white grape almon
TUPELO Apple pepper wood mint white grape cinnamon marshmallow caramel 1047298oral cider pe
WHITE SAGE Earthy minty menthol musty herbal pepper spicy light smoke sauerkrau
STAR THISTLE Floral grassy 1047297g cinnamon nutmeg lavender vanilla butter caramel pin
BASSWOOD Menthol thyme oregano white wine butter earthy wood caramel citrus pepp
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1922
TALKING THE TALK
BRAGGOT A hybrid of mead and beer brewed with honey and malt
CYSER A hybrid of mead and cider made with honey and apple juice
HYDROMEL Lighter lower alcohol mead
MELOMEL Mead fermented with any variety of fruit
METHEGLIN Mead brewed with herbs spices or hops
PYMENT A hybrid of mead and wine made with honey and grape juice
SACK MEAD Higher alcohol mead typically above 14 abv
TEJ A popular Ethiopian style of mead made with a bitter species of buck
thorn known as Gesho
Golden Coast Mead is available for purchase
in several locations throughout San Diego
County but can be shipped nationwide
through wwwgoldencoastmeadcom Gol-beck also offered a list of some of his favor-
ite meads and meaderies B Nektar Meadery
(MI) WineHaven Stinger Honeywine (MN)
Mountain Meadows Mead (CA) Moonlight
Meadery (NH) and Redstone Meadery (CO)
And if yoursquore interested in making your own at
home Golbeck recommends picking up The
Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm
Randy Clemens is the author of The Sriracha
Cookbook and co-author of The Craft of Stone
Brewing Co Liquid Lore Epic Recipes and
Unabashed Arrogance He is also the Media amp
Communications Linchpin at Stone Brewing
Co If yoursquore bored you can follow his musings
on Twitter RandyClemensEsq
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2022
Standing next to fifty-five gallon drums of
honey at Meadery of the Rockies in Pali-
sade Colorado mead maker and owner
Glenn Foster explains his secrets to successful
mead production ldquoWe start with 100 pure
natural orange-blossom honey This California
honey has been the standard since 1995 because
of its consistent tasterdquo describes Foster whose
award-wining melomels are very popular withconsumers Because the meadery -- originally
known as the Rocky Mountain Meadery -- does
so much with fruit-blended meads they needed
honey that would enhance flavors of many dif-
ferent fruits
Over time they found that orange-blossom
honey carried the flavors of a variety of fruits
better than other types of honey Fosterrsquos favo
ite way to make melomel is to blend the mea
with fruit wine
And it just so happens that he has unlimited ac
cess to many award-winning fruit wines Foste
and wife Natalie own and operate St Kathry
Cellars and Talon Winery also located in Pal
sade The small agricultural community is in thheart of western Coloradorsquos fruit country nea
Grand Junction The area is especially know
for its peaches which are shipped all over th
west and can be found in kitchens as high-brow
as Air Force One ndash the presidentrsquos ride Th
lush valley is designated as The Grand Valley
the oldest and largest AVA (American Viticu
ture Area) in Colorado
The Buzz at Coloradorsquos Oldest Meadery
Article and Photos By Stacey Wittig
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2122
Water is in abundance at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains ndash Palisade is right on the Colorado
River ndash and the Fosters use pure Rocky Moun-
tain water for their entire mead making ldquoWelearned the old tricks and discovered some new
ones along the wayrdquo reveals Foster who
personally directs the production of each batch
of mead The mead maker brought some secrets
with him when he bought the meadery in 2008
He had previously worked as the of ficial wine-
maker at Twin Rivers Winery in Grand Junc-
tion and also in the California wine industryldquoMy father founded Ravenswood Winery [So-
noma] when I was twelve [in 1976] ldquoWe were
glass droppers as children I came to Colora-
do in rsquo82 to go to school In 1993 I went back
to Ravenwood In 1995 while visiting my in-
laws we discovered Grand Valley We decided
to move here that day and put a deposit on a
rental houserdquo laughs the impulsive vintner
He worked for various Grand Valley winerie
for about ten years until he got tired of makin
OPW (other peoplesrsquo wine)
Mead production has quadrupled since 1995
Foster is proud that his meadery is the fir
meadery in Colorado ldquoOur roots go way backMead is authentic ndash millennials are looking fo
something authentic and differentrdquo he say
Mead flavored with apricots peaches straw
berries cherries and raspberries are trendy righ
now The Cherries lsquon Honey just won Gold i
the 2012 Denver International Wine Compet
tion
Meadery of the Rockiesrsquo automated bottlinline can cork or screw cap thirty-six bottle
per minute Their twenty-three tanks range i
size from 160 to 3000 gallons Meads sell fo
$1195 ndash $3495 per bottle When you visi
sample up to five meads free in the comfy tas
ing room (only $1 per sample after that) Wh
might you see there Visitors from as far awa
as Japan mead lovers from California Colo
rado and Utah and maybe even Emilio Estevewho has been known to stop in for a taste
Meadery of the Rockies 3701 G Road
Palisade Colorado (970) 464-7899 Open Da
ly 10-5 wwwmeaderyoftherockiescom
Stacey Wittig is a travel writer based in Flag
staff AZ Her culinary adventures have led he
up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpilars and roasted guinea pig across the plains o
northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago en
joying steamed barnacles and through the vine
yards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classico
ldquoThe Grand Canyon State is a remarkable plac
to call homerdquo declares the wandering write
Get more travel tips at wwwVagabondinglulu
com
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1022
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1122
Green River Ambrosia I had previously con-
tacted Garth Shaneyfelt to arange a tour and
tasting of Green Riverrsquos offerings It turned
out that the whole staff was onsite and full
of excitement for their growing business
mead and meeting new folks Along with
Garth Will Savitri Brendan Burns SamDribble and Sandy Pearson are liquid artists
using locally produced honey ex-Jack Dan-
iels barrels chamomile flowers local apple
cider and ginger to create innovative styles of
mead and
a l c o h o l -
ic gin-
ger soda
G r e e nRiver also
brews a
p o p u l a r
brand of
k o m b u -
cha tea
Ka t a lys t
K o m -
b u c h a which is a
fermented
pro-biotic
health elixir Garth joked ldquoWe are vertically
integrated with both toxifying and detoxify-
ing productsrdquo
Green River began making mead in order to
support local bee keepers and started with10 hives producing raw local honey Now
they self-distribute in over 65 package stores
and restaurants and are expanding Their
current line up follows
Liquid Sunshine A traditional semi-dry
mead made with local honey for a slightly
floral taste 12 abv
Chamomile A traditional semi-dry mead in
fused with organic chamomile flowers 12
abv (seasonal)
Winter Warmer A semi-sweet mead flavore
with our warming spice blend to get yo
through the cold dark winter Try it heated14 abv (winter seasonal)
Cyzer Our apple-icious mead made wit
fresh-pressed heritage cider from Clarkdal
Fruit Farms i
Deerfield MA
Light natura
effervescence
serve chilled12 abv (avai
able late Sum
mer - Fall)
Bourbon Cyz
er Our cyze
aged three-plu
months in fres
bourbon barrelSomewhat effe
vescent - kee
refrigerated 12
abv Winner of 2010 and 2011 Mazer Cu
Medals (Available late summer - fall)
Bourbon-Barrel Buckwheat Hearty buck
wheat honey mead mellowed over six month
in Jack Daniels Bourbon Barrels 14 abv(seasonal)
Ginger Libation Our hugely popular Liba
tion is somewhat like a spicy alcoholic ginge
soda but yoursquove just gotta try for yoursel
Sweetened with cane sugar pineapple an
citrus juices (not a mead) itrsquos fruity bubbl
and delicious Keep refrigerated bottle con
ditioned 8-9 abv
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1322
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1422
Previous Pages Clockwise From Top Left Green River
Ambrosia Luke and Logan Herber t enjoy a glass of Kom-
bucha Tea Artesano Meadery Hilary Bumgarner pours a
sample of b lueberry mead Jennifer Herbert taking notes
at Green River Ambrosia Opposite Page Inside Artesa-
norsquos tasting room Artesanorsquos fermentation tanks
The last stop on this East Coast mead trip was Artesano Meadery in Groton Vermont
Offering samples of mead and their own ice
cream on a sunny Vermont Summer day a
visit to Artesano will inspire meadery owners
and mead fans alike I met Hilary Bumgarner
who provided one of the best tours anyone
cold ask for She works with the owners of
Artesano and not only pours samples in the
tasting room but is an accomplished meadmaker After tasting several fantastic meads
Hilary showed me Artesanorsquos stainless fer-
mentation tanks bottling machine and they
even have a custom made device which seals
the cork with a wax finish and then imprints
their logo in the wax
Artesano has won several awards and makes
the following meads Traditional Mead ChiliCinnamon Mead Essence Dry Mead Spiced
Mead Cranberry Mead Blueberry Mead
Blackberry Mead and Poetrsquos Mead which is
aged in bourbon barrels
Owner Mark Simakaski and his wife began
making mead while teaching bee keeping in
the Peace Corps in South America I asked
Mark about challenges he faced in startinga meadery He said ldquoThe time from start up
to your first bottle of mead has a long lead
time We needed to be sure there was enough
capital to make it throughrdquo In 2012 Artesano
produced 17000 500 ml bottles of mead Ap-
parently their hard work is paying off
Artesano self-distributes to 55 accounts in
Vermont and their most popular mead i
their Traditional Mead Mark also sells mea
and represents Artesano at farmerrsquos market
and a few wine events each year when aske
about what will help grow the mead indus
try Mark says ldquoGood mead makers and a lo
of consumer education As the availability o
mead increases so will its sales But it has t
be good meadrdquo
In visiting these three businesses makin
mead I was excited to see that mead univer
sally serves as a catharsis for the liquid artis
The creativity exibited by mead makers is as
tounding The success that these three mea
makers have developed is indicative of th
growth that can be expected in the mead in
dustry Meaderies are starting up across th
country but we are just beginning to catch
new wave in the alcohol industry
One hypothesis I had prior to this road tri
was that meaderies even in similar parts o
the country are relatively disconnected I be
lieve that the spirit of a business deciding tbegin a meadery is certainly an independen
spirit and perhaps geography may keep u
apart While some of the mead makers I vis
ited had been to other Eastern meaderies
and even to the Mazer Cup these meader
ies generally do their own thing In light o
this I keep asking myself a question that
will posit to you now ldquoIf there is strength i
numbers as the old saying goes what benefits can meaderies realize if we further ne
work and join togetherrdquo
I hope to see you at the Mazer Cup in 2013
Check out
wwwmountfelixcom
wwwgreenriverambrosiacom
wwwartesanomeadcom
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1522
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1622
Liquid Assets
Mead For The Modern AgeBy Randy Clemens
ldquoMead is the ancient liquor of gods and
men the giver of knowledge and poetry
the healer of wounds and the bestower of
immortalityrdquo
George Robert Gayre Scottish anthropologist
Long before the advent of wine beer and spir-
its countless civilizations celebrated revered
and drank their fair share of mead an alcoholic
beverage forged out of the fermentation of na-
turersquos most miraculous sugar honey
ldquoWe see mead as a magical thingrdquo explainsFrank Golbeck co-founder of fledgling start-
up Golden Coast Mead based in San Diego ldquoIt
represents this synergy that has connected peo-
ple to agriculture and their environment Drink-
ing it is a culinary experience that has deep cul-
tural roots across the world and across timerdquo
Indeed honey has long been held in high re-
gard and one can only imagine that meadrsquos
intoxicating properties would make honey thatmuch more special to our early ancestors The
mind-altering effects were thought of as a kind
of transformation a journey into another world
that opened the brain to new thoughts and ex-
periences
ldquoA drink I took of the magic mead [hellip] then I
began to know and to be wise to grow and t
weave poemsrdquo
mdashOdin from the Norse Saga Runahal circ
1200 CE
Mead is believed by many to be the first alco
holic drink known to man likely a happy ac
cident caused by mixing water and honey in a
animal-skin canteen while out on a hunt Est
mates of its discovery range from 9000 year
ago to as far back as 20000 years ago Ancien
Greeks and Romans had a well documented a
finity for mead as did the Vikings the Egyp
tians and many other cultures across Europe
the East Indies and Africa Fast forwarding t
the present mead is not nearly as prevalent as
once was taking a back seat to the much mor
common potent potables of today beer wine
cider sake and the like But it holds a worl
of complexity just waiting to be explored Th
meadmakermdashalso known as a mazermdashha
at their fingertips a veritable blank canvas o
which to build
ldquoMead presents this huge spectrum of flavo
possibilitiesrdquo continues Golbeck ldquoThe hone
varietal is arguably the most important choic
in determining the profile of the mead but se
lecting a yeast strain deciding how sweet yoursquo
like it to be whether or not itrsquos sparkling and o
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1722
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1822
course if yoursquod like to add in adjuncts such as
fruit or spices how long itrsquos aged and whether
or not thatrsquos on oakhellipthe combinations really
are unlimitedrdquo
In regards to the honey varietal Susan Ruud
and Gordon Strongmdashrecognized as Grand Mas-
ter level judges by the Beer Judge Certification
Programmdashconducted ldquoThe Great Honey Ex-
perimentrdquo which had a group of people gauge
six different meads identical in every respect
except for the type of honey used Their meads
presented and evaluated at the 2010 National
Homebrewers Conference had some common-
alities but also pointed out some very interest-
ing differences
Golden Coast is currently focusing on making
one mead and making it well Called Mirth in
a Bottle itrsquos obvious in talking with Golbeck
that he has an insatiable passion for his craft
ldquoFor me I want to show the best expression of
the honey varietalrdquo he waxes ldquoThatrsquos what Irsquom
afterrdquo
ldquoWe start with a wonderfully aromatic orange
blossom honey and make the mead semisweet
and sparkling which really makes the citrus fla
vor pop and that surprises a lot of people Th
character isnrsquot nearly as noticeable in the bas
honey but it comes through beautifully in th
finished mead We use a red-wine yeast for th
fermentation which adds these complex flor
notes that I just love But ultimately itrsquos all t
highlight the nuances naturally present in th
honeyrdquo
Are you reading this all in disbelief remem
bering a cloying sickeningly sweet mead th
you tried at ye olde Renaissance Faire Wel
I implore you to give it another shot There
a world of great meads out there waiting to b
enjoyed Some are sweet or semisweet whil
others can be quite dry with different carbon
ation levels ranging from still to sparking o
somewhere in between called semi-sparklin
or peacutetillant [Yoursquoll thank me when thatrsquos
question on Jeopardy some day] It might tak
a bit of searching but therersquos been a growin
buzz thatrsquos getting mead onto more and mor
shelves And while I can drone on and on fodays reading about them is nowhere near a
great as tasting them
HONEY VARIETAL SAMPLING OF AROMA FLAVOR CHARACTERISTIC
MESQUITE Pipe tobacco smoke wood earthy vanilla pepper cinnamon Cheddar cheese min
ORANGE BLOSSOM Citrus orange blossom honey 1047298oral pear vanilla apple white grape almon
TUPELO Apple pepper wood mint white grape cinnamon marshmallow caramel 1047298oral cider pe
WHITE SAGE Earthy minty menthol musty herbal pepper spicy light smoke sauerkrau
STAR THISTLE Floral grassy 1047297g cinnamon nutmeg lavender vanilla butter caramel pin
BASSWOOD Menthol thyme oregano white wine butter earthy wood caramel citrus pepp
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1922
TALKING THE TALK
BRAGGOT A hybrid of mead and beer brewed with honey and malt
CYSER A hybrid of mead and cider made with honey and apple juice
HYDROMEL Lighter lower alcohol mead
MELOMEL Mead fermented with any variety of fruit
METHEGLIN Mead brewed with herbs spices or hops
PYMENT A hybrid of mead and wine made with honey and grape juice
SACK MEAD Higher alcohol mead typically above 14 abv
TEJ A popular Ethiopian style of mead made with a bitter species of buck
thorn known as Gesho
Golden Coast Mead is available for purchase
in several locations throughout San Diego
County but can be shipped nationwide
through wwwgoldencoastmeadcom Gol-beck also offered a list of some of his favor-
ite meads and meaderies B Nektar Meadery
(MI) WineHaven Stinger Honeywine (MN)
Mountain Meadows Mead (CA) Moonlight
Meadery (NH) and Redstone Meadery (CO)
And if yoursquore interested in making your own at
home Golbeck recommends picking up The
Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm
Randy Clemens is the author of The Sriracha
Cookbook and co-author of The Craft of Stone
Brewing Co Liquid Lore Epic Recipes and
Unabashed Arrogance He is also the Media amp
Communications Linchpin at Stone Brewing
Co If yoursquore bored you can follow his musings
on Twitter RandyClemensEsq
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2022
Standing next to fifty-five gallon drums of
honey at Meadery of the Rockies in Pali-
sade Colorado mead maker and owner
Glenn Foster explains his secrets to successful
mead production ldquoWe start with 100 pure
natural orange-blossom honey This California
honey has been the standard since 1995 because
of its consistent tasterdquo describes Foster whose
award-wining melomels are very popular withconsumers Because the meadery -- originally
known as the Rocky Mountain Meadery -- does
so much with fruit-blended meads they needed
honey that would enhance flavors of many dif-
ferent fruits
Over time they found that orange-blossom
honey carried the flavors of a variety of fruits
better than other types of honey Fosterrsquos favo
ite way to make melomel is to blend the mea
with fruit wine
And it just so happens that he has unlimited ac
cess to many award-winning fruit wines Foste
and wife Natalie own and operate St Kathry
Cellars and Talon Winery also located in Pal
sade The small agricultural community is in thheart of western Coloradorsquos fruit country nea
Grand Junction The area is especially know
for its peaches which are shipped all over th
west and can be found in kitchens as high-brow
as Air Force One ndash the presidentrsquos ride Th
lush valley is designated as The Grand Valley
the oldest and largest AVA (American Viticu
ture Area) in Colorado
The Buzz at Coloradorsquos Oldest Meadery
Article and Photos By Stacey Wittig
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2122
Water is in abundance at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains ndash Palisade is right on the Colorado
River ndash and the Fosters use pure Rocky Moun-
tain water for their entire mead making ldquoWelearned the old tricks and discovered some new
ones along the wayrdquo reveals Foster who
personally directs the production of each batch
of mead The mead maker brought some secrets
with him when he bought the meadery in 2008
He had previously worked as the of ficial wine-
maker at Twin Rivers Winery in Grand Junc-
tion and also in the California wine industryldquoMy father founded Ravenswood Winery [So-
noma] when I was twelve [in 1976] ldquoWe were
glass droppers as children I came to Colora-
do in rsquo82 to go to school In 1993 I went back
to Ravenwood In 1995 while visiting my in-
laws we discovered Grand Valley We decided
to move here that day and put a deposit on a
rental houserdquo laughs the impulsive vintner
He worked for various Grand Valley winerie
for about ten years until he got tired of makin
OPW (other peoplesrsquo wine)
Mead production has quadrupled since 1995
Foster is proud that his meadery is the fir
meadery in Colorado ldquoOur roots go way backMead is authentic ndash millennials are looking fo
something authentic and differentrdquo he say
Mead flavored with apricots peaches straw
berries cherries and raspberries are trendy righ
now The Cherries lsquon Honey just won Gold i
the 2012 Denver International Wine Compet
tion
Meadery of the Rockiesrsquo automated bottlinline can cork or screw cap thirty-six bottle
per minute Their twenty-three tanks range i
size from 160 to 3000 gallons Meads sell fo
$1195 ndash $3495 per bottle When you visi
sample up to five meads free in the comfy tas
ing room (only $1 per sample after that) Wh
might you see there Visitors from as far awa
as Japan mead lovers from California Colo
rado and Utah and maybe even Emilio Estevewho has been known to stop in for a taste
Meadery of the Rockies 3701 G Road
Palisade Colorado (970) 464-7899 Open Da
ly 10-5 wwwmeaderyoftherockiescom
Stacey Wittig is a travel writer based in Flag
staff AZ Her culinary adventures have led he
up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpilars and roasted guinea pig across the plains o
northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago en
joying steamed barnacles and through the vine
yards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classico
ldquoThe Grand Canyon State is a remarkable plac
to call homerdquo declares the wandering write
Get more travel tips at wwwVagabondinglulu
com
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1122
Green River Ambrosia I had previously con-
tacted Garth Shaneyfelt to arange a tour and
tasting of Green Riverrsquos offerings It turned
out that the whole staff was onsite and full
of excitement for their growing business
mead and meeting new folks Along with
Garth Will Savitri Brendan Burns SamDribble and Sandy Pearson are liquid artists
using locally produced honey ex-Jack Dan-
iels barrels chamomile flowers local apple
cider and ginger to create innovative styles of
mead and
a l c o h o l -
ic gin-
ger soda
G r e e nRiver also
brews a
p o p u l a r
brand of
k o m b u -
cha tea
Ka t a lys t
K o m -
b u c h a which is a
fermented
pro-biotic
health elixir Garth joked ldquoWe are vertically
integrated with both toxifying and detoxify-
ing productsrdquo
Green River began making mead in order to
support local bee keepers and started with10 hives producing raw local honey Now
they self-distribute in over 65 package stores
and restaurants and are expanding Their
current line up follows
Liquid Sunshine A traditional semi-dry
mead made with local honey for a slightly
floral taste 12 abv
Chamomile A traditional semi-dry mead in
fused with organic chamomile flowers 12
abv (seasonal)
Winter Warmer A semi-sweet mead flavore
with our warming spice blend to get yo
through the cold dark winter Try it heated14 abv (winter seasonal)
Cyzer Our apple-icious mead made wit
fresh-pressed heritage cider from Clarkdal
Fruit Farms i
Deerfield MA
Light natura
effervescence
serve chilled12 abv (avai
able late Sum
mer - Fall)
Bourbon Cyz
er Our cyze
aged three-plu
months in fres
bourbon barrelSomewhat effe
vescent - kee
refrigerated 12
abv Winner of 2010 and 2011 Mazer Cu
Medals (Available late summer - fall)
Bourbon-Barrel Buckwheat Hearty buck
wheat honey mead mellowed over six month
in Jack Daniels Bourbon Barrels 14 abv(seasonal)
Ginger Libation Our hugely popular Liba
tion is somewhat like a spicy alcoholic ginge
soda but yoursquove just gotta try for yoursel
Sweetened with cane sugar pineapple an
citrus juices (not a mead) itrsquos fruity bubbl
and delicious Keep refrigerated bottle con
ditioned 8-9 abv
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1322
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1422
Previous Pages Clockwise From Top Left Green River
Ambrosia Luke and Logan Herber t enjoy a glass of Kom-
bucha Tea Artesano Meadery Hilary Bumgarner pours a
sample of b lueberry mead Jennifer Herbert taking notes
at Green River Ambrosia Opposite Page Inside Artesa-
norsquos tasting room Artesanorsquos fermentation tanks
The last stop on this East Coast mead trip was Artesano Meadery in Groton Vermont
Offering samples of mead and their own ice
cream on a sunny Vermont Summer day a
visit to Artesano will inspire meadery owners
and mead fans alike I met Hilary Bumgarner
who provided one of the best tours anyone
cold ask for She works with the owners of
Artesano and not only pours samples in the
tasting room but is an accomplished meadmaker After tasting several fantastic meads
Hilary showed me Artesanorsquos stainless fer-
mentation tanks bottling machine and they
even have a custom made device which seals
the cork with a wax finish and then imprints
their logo in the wax
Artesano has won several awards and makes
the following meads Traditional Mead ChiliCinnamon Mead Essence Dry Mead Spiced
Mead Cranberry Mead Blueberry Mead
Blackberry Mead and Poetrsquos Mead which is
aged in bourbon barrels
Owner Mark Simakaski and his wife began
making mead while teaching bee keeping in
the Peace Corps in South America I asked
Mark about challenges he faced in startinga meadery He said ldquoThe time from start up
to your first bottle of mead has a long lead
time We needed to be sure there was enough
capital to make it throughrdquo In 2012 Artesano
produced 17000 500 ml bottles of mead Ap-
parently their hard work is paying off
Artesano self-distributes to 55 accounts in
Vermont and their most popular mead i
their Traditional Mead Mark also sells mea
and represents Artesano at farmerrsquos market
and a few wine events each year when aske
about what will help grow the mead indus
try Mark says ldquoGood mead makers and a lo
of consumer education As the availability o
mead increases so will its sales But it has t
be good meadrdquo
In visiting these three businesses makin
mead I was excited to see that mead univer
sally serves as a catharsis for the liquid artis
The creativity exibited by mead makers is as
tounding The success that these three mea
makers have developed is indicative of th
growth that can be expected in the mead in
dustry Meaderies are starting up across th
country but we are just beginning to catch
new wave in the alcohol industry
One hypothesis I had prior to this road tri
was that meaderies even in similar parts o
the country are relatively disconnected I be
lieve that the spirit of a business deciding tbegin a meadery is certainly an independen
spirit and perhaps geography may keep u
apart While some of the mead makers I vis
ited had been to other Eastern meaderies
and even to the Mazer Cup these meader
ies generally do their own thing In light o
this I keep asking myself a question that
will posit to you now ldquoIf there is strength i
numbers as the old saying goes what benefits can meaderies realize if we further ne
work and join togetherrdquo
I hope to see you at the Mazer Cup in 2013
Check out
wwwmountfelixcom
wwwgreenriverambrosiacom
wwwartesanomeadcom
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1522
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1622
Liquid Assets
Mead For The Modern AgeBy Randy Clemens
ldquoMead is the ancient liquor of gods and
men the giver of knowledge and poetry
the healer of wounds and the bestower of
immortalityrdquo
George Robert Gayre Scottish anthropologist
Long before the advent of wine beer and spir-
its countless civilizations celebrated revered
and drank their fair share of mead an alcoholic
beverage forged out of the fermentation of na-
turersquos most miraculous sugar honey
ldquoWe see mead as a magical thingrdquo explainsFrank Golbeck co-founder of fledgling start-
up Golden Coast Mead based in San Diego ldquoIt
represents this synergy that has connected peo-
ple to agriculture and their environment Drink-
ing it is a culinary experience that has deep cul-
tural roots across the world and across timerdquo
Indeed honey has long been held in high re-
gard and one can only imagine that meadrsquos
intoxicating properties would make honey thatmuch more special to our early ancestors The
mind-altering effects were thought of as a kind
of transformation a journey into another world
that opened the brain to new thoughts and ex-
periences
ldquoA drink I took of the magic mead [hellip] then I
began to know and to be wise to grow and t
weave poemsrdquo
mdashOdin from the Norse Saga Runahal circ
1200 CE
Mead is believed by many to be the first alco
holic drink known to man likely a happy ac
cident caused by mixing water and honey in a
animal-skin canteen while out on a hunt Est
mates of its discovery range from 9000 year
ago to as far back as 20000 years ago Ancien
Greeks and Romans had a well documented a
finity for mead as did the Vikings the Egyp
tians and many other cultures across Europe
the East Indies and Africa Fast forwarding t
the present mead is not nearly as prevalent as
once was taking a back seat to the much mor
common potent potables of today beer wine
cider sake and the like But it holds a worl
of complexity just waiting to be explored Th
meadmakermdashalso known as a mazermdashha
at their fingertips a veritable blank canvas o
which to build
ldquoMead presents this huge spectrum of flavo
possibilitiesrdquo continues Golbeck ldquoThe hone
varietal is arguably the most important choic
in determining the profile of the mead but se
lecting a yeast strain deciding how sweet yoursquo
like it to be whether or not itrsquos sparkling and o
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1722
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1822
course if yoursquod like to add in adjuncts such as
fruit or spices how long itrsquos aged and whether
or not thatrsquos on oakhellipthe combinations really
are unlimitedrdquo
In regards to the honey varietal Susan Ruud
and Gordon Strongmdashrecognized as Grand Mas-
ter level judges by the Beer Judge Certification
Programmdashconducted ldquoThe Great Honey Ex-
perimentrdquo which had a group of people gauge
six different meads identical in every respect
except for the type of honey used Their meads
presented and evaluated at the 2010 National
Homebrewers Conference had some common-
alities but also pointed out some very interest-
ing differences
Golden Coast is currently focusing on making
one mead and making it well Called Mirth in
a Bottle itrsquos obvious in talking with Golbeck
that he has an insatiable passion for his craft
ldquoFor me I want to show the best expression of
the honey varietalrdquo he waxes ldquoThatrsquos what Irsquom
afterrdquo
ldquoWe start with a wonderfully aromatic orange
blossom honey and make the mead semisweet
and sparkling which really makes the citrus fla
vor pop and that surprises a lot of people Th
character isnrsquot nearly as noticeable in the bas
honey but it comes through beautifully in th
finished mead We use a red-wine yeast for th
fermentation which adds these complex flor
notes that I just love But ultimately itrsquos all t
highlight the nuances naturally present in th
honeyrdquo
Are you reading this all in disbelief remem
bering a cloying sickeningly sweet mead th
you tried at ye olde Renaissance Faire Wel
I implore you to give it another shot There
a world of great meads out there waiting to b
enjoyed Some are sweet or semisweet whil
others can be quite dry with different carbon
ation levels ranging from still to sparking o
somewhere in between called semi-sparklin
or peacutetillant [Yoursquoll thank me when thatrsquos
question on Jeopardy some day] It might tak
a bit of searching but therersquos been a growin
buzz thatrsquos getting mead onto more and mor
shelves And while I can drone on and on fodays reading about them is nowhere near a
great as tasting them
HONEY VARIETAL SAMPLING OF AROMA FLAVOR CHARACTERISTIC
MESQUITE Pipe tobacco smoke wood earthy vanilla pepper cinnamon Cheddar cheese min
ORANGE BLOSSOM Citrus orange blossom honey 1047298oral pear vanilla apple white grape almon
TUPELO Apple pepper wood mint white grape cinnamon marshmallow caramel 1047298oral cider pe
WHITE SAGE Earthy minty menthol musty herbal pepper spicy light smoke sauerkrau
STAR THISTLE Floral grassy 1047297g cinnamon nutmeg lavender vanilla butter caramel pin
BASSWOOD Menthol thyme oregano white wine butter earthy wood caramel citrus pepp
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1922
TALKING THE TALK
BRAGGOT A hybrid of mead and beer brewed with honey and malt
CYSER A hybrid of mead and cider made with honey and apple juice
HYDROMEL Lighter lower alcohol mead
MELOMEL Mead fermented with any variety of fruit
METHEGLIN Mead brewed with herbs spices or hops
PYMENT A hybrid of mead and wine made with honey and grape juice
SACK MEAD Higher alcohol mead typically above 14 abv
TEJ A popular Ethiopian style of mead made with a bitter species of buck
thorn known as Gesho
Golden Coast Mead is available for purchase
in several locations throughout San Diego
County but can be shipped nationwide
through wwwgoldencoastmeadcom Gol-beck also offered a list of some of his favor-
ite meads and meaderies B Nektar Meadery
(MI) WineHaven Stinger Honeywine (MN)
Mountain Meadows Mead (CA) Moonlight
Meadery (NH) and Redstone Meadery (CO)
And if yoursquore interested in making your own at
home Golbeck recommends picking up The
Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm
Randy Clemens is the author of The Sriracha
Cookbook and co-author of The Craft of Stone
Brewing Co Liquid Lore Epic Recipes and
Unabashed Arrogance He is also the Media amp
Communications Linchpin at Stone Brewing
Co If yoursquore bored you can follow his musings
on Twitter RandyClemensEsq
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2022
Standing next to fifty-five gallon drums of
honey at Meadery of the Rockies in Pali-
sade Colorado mead maker and owner
Glenn Foster explains his secrets to successful
mead production ldquoWe start with 100 pure
natural orange-blossom honey This California
honey has been the standard since 1995 because
of its consistent tasterdquo describes Foster whose
award-wining melomels are very popular withconsumers Because the meadery -- originally
known as the Rocky Mountain Meadery -- does
so much with fruit-blended meads they needed
honey that would enhance flavors of many dif-
ferent fruits
Over time they found that orange-blossom
honey carried the flavors of a variety of fruits
better than other types of honey Fosterrsquos favo
ite way to make melomel is to blend the mea
with fruit wine
And it just so happens that he has unlimited ac
cess to many award-winning fruit wines Foste
and wife Natalie own and operate St Kathry
Cellars and Talon Winery also located in Pal
sade The small agricultural community is in thheart of western Coloradorsquos fruit country nea
Grand Junction The area is especially know
for its peaches which are shipped all over th
west and can be found in kitchens as high-brow
as Air Force One ndash the presidentrsquos ride Th
lush valley is designated as The Grand Valley
the oldest and largest AVA (American Viticu
ture Area) in Colorado
The Buzz at Coloradorsquos Oldest Meadery
Article and Photos By Stacey Wittig
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2122
Water is in abundance at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains ndash Palisade is right on the Colorado
River ndash and the Fosters use pure Rocky Moun-
tain water for their entire mead making ldquoWelearned the old tricks and discovered some new
ones along the wayrdquo reveals Foster who
personally directs the production of each batch
of mead The mead maker brought some secrets
with him when he bought the meadery in 2008
He had previously worked as the of ficial wine-
maker at Twin Rivers Winery in Grand Junc-
tion and also in the California wine industryldquoMy father founded Ravenswood Winery [So-
noma] when I was twelve [in 1976] ldquoWe were
glass droppers as children I came to Colora-
do in rsquo82 to go to school In 1993 I went back
to Ravenwood In 1995 while visiting my in-
laws we discovered Grand Valley We decided
to move here that day and put a deposit on a
rental houserdquo laughs the impulsive vintner
He worked for various Grand Valley winerie
for about ten years until he got tired of makin
OPW (other peoplesrsquo wine)
Mead production has quadrupled since 1995
Foster is proud that his meadery is the fir
meadery in Colorado ldquoOur roots go way backMead is authentic ndash millennials are looking fo
something authentic and differentrdquo he say
Mead flavored with apricots peaches straw
berries cherries and raspberries are trendy righ
now The Cherries lsquon Honey just won Gold i
the 2012 Denver International Wine Compet
tion
Meadery of the Rockiesrsquo automated bottlinline can cork or screw cap thirty-six bottle
per minute Their twenty-three tanks range i
size from 160 to 3000 gallons Meads sell fo
$1195 ndash $3495 per bottle When you visi
sample up to five meads free in the comfy tas
ing room (only $1 per sample after that) Wh
might you see there Visitors from as far awa
as Japan mead lovers from California Colo
rado and Utah and maybe even Emilio Estevewho has been known to stop in for a taste
Meadery of the Rockies 3701 G Road
Palisade Colorado (970) 464-7899 Open Da
ly 10-5 wwwmeaderyoftherockiescom
Stacey Wittig is a travel writer based in Flag
staff AZ Her culinary adventures have led he
up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpilars and roasted guinea pig across the plains o
northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago en
joying steamed barnacles and through the vine
yards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classico
ldquoThe Grand Canyon State is a remarkable plac
to call homerdquo declares the wandering write
Get more travel tips at wwwVagabondinglulu
com
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1322
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1422
Previous Pages Clockwise From Top Left Green River
Ambrosia Luke and Logan Herber t enjoy a glass of Kom-
bucha Tea Artesano Meadery Hilary Bumgarner pours a
sample of b lueberry mead Jennifer Herbert taking notes
at Green River Ambrosia Opposite Page Inside Artesa-
norsquos tasting room Artesanorsquos fermentation tanks
The last stop on this East Coast mead trip was Artesano Meadery in Groton Vermont
Offering samples of mead and their own ice
cream on a sunny Vermont Summer day a
visit to Artesano will inspire meadery owners
and mead fans alike I met Hilary Bumgarner
who provided one of the best tours anyone
cold ask for She works with the owners of
Artesano and not only pours samples in the
tasting room but is an accomplished meadmaker After tasting several fantastic meads
Hilary showed me Artesanorsquos stainless fer-
mentation tanks bottling machine and they
even have a custom made device which seals
the cork with a wax finish and then imprints
their logo in the wax
Artesano has won several awards and makes
the following meads Traditional Mead ChiliCinnamon Mead Essence Dry Mead Spiced
Mead Cranberry Mead Blueberry Mead
Blackberry Mead and Poetrsquos Mead which is
aged in bourbon barrels
Owner Mark Simakaski and his wife began
making mead while teaching bee keeping in
the Peace Corps in South America I asked
Mark about challenges he faced in startinga meadery He said ldquoThe time from start up
to your first bottle of mead has a long lead
time We needed to be sure there was enough
capital to make it throughrdquo In 2012 Artesano
produced 17000 500 ml bottles of mead Ap-
parently their hard work is paying off
Artesano self-distributes to 55 accounts in
Vermont and their most popular mead i
their Traditional Mead Mark also sells mea
and represents Artesano at farmerrsquos market
and a few wine events each year when aske
about what will help grow the mead indus
try Mark says ldquoGood mead makers and a lo
of consumer education As the availability o
mead increases so will its sales But it has t
be good meadrdquo
In visiting these three businesses makin
mead I was excited to see that mead univer
sally serves as a catharsis for the liquid artis
The creativity exibited by mead makers is as
tounding The success that these three mea
makers have developed is indicative of th
growth that can be expected in the mead in
dustry Meaderies are starting up across th
country but we are just beginning to catch
new wave in the alcohol industry
One hypothesis I had prior to this road tri
was that meaderies even in similar parts o
the country are relatively disconnected I be
lieve that the spirit of a business deciding tbegin a meadery is certainly an independen
spirit and perhaps geography may keep u
apart While some of the mead makers I vis
ited had been to other Eastern meaderies
and even to the Mazer Cup these meader
ies generally do their own thing In light o
this I keep asking myself a question that
will posit to you now ldquoIf there is strength i
numbers as the old saying goes what benefits can meaderies realize if we further ne
work and join togetherrdquo
I hope to see you at the Mazer Cup in 2013
Check out
wwwmountfelixcom
wwwgreenriverambrosiacom
wwwartesanomeadcom
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1522
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1622
Liquid Assets
Mead For The Modern AgeBy Randy Clemens
ldquoMead is the ancient liquor of gods and
men the giver of knowledge and poetry
the healer of wounds and the bestower of
immortalityrdquo
George Robert Gayre Scottish anthropologist
Long before the advent of wine beer and spir-
its countless civilizations celebrated revered
and drank their fair share of mead an alcoholic
beverage forged out of the fermentation of na-
turersquos most miraculous sugar honey
ldquoWe see mead as a magical thingrdquo explainsFrank Golbeck co-founder of fledgling start-
up Golden Coast Mead based in San Diego ldquoIt
represents this synergy that has connected peo-
ple to agriculture and their environment Drink-
ing it is a culinary experience that has deep cul-
tural roots across the world and across timerdquo
Indeed honey has long been held in high re-
gard and one can only imagine that meadrsquos
intoxicating properties would make honey thatmuch more special to our early ancestors The
mind-altering effects were thought of as a kind
of transformation a journey into another world
that opened the brain to new thoughts and ex-
periences
ldquoA drink I took of the magic mead [hellip] then I
began to know and to be wise to grow and t
weave poemsrdquo
mdashOdin from the Norse Saga Runahal circ
1200 CE
Mead is believed by many to be the first alco
holic drink known to man likely a happy ac
cident caused by mixing water and honey in a
animal-skin canteen while out on a hunt Est
mates of its discovery range from 9000 year
ago to as far back as 20000 years ago Ancien
Greeks and Romans had a well documented a
finity for mead as did the Vikings the Egyp
tians and many other cultures across Europe
the East Indies and Africa Fast forwarding t
the present mead is not nearly as prevalent as
once was taking a back seat to the much mor
common potent potables of today beer wine
cider sake and the like But it holds a worl
of complexity just waiting to be explored Th
meadmakermdashalso known as a mazermdashha
at their fingertips a veritable blank canvas o
which to build
ldquoMead presents this huge spectrum of flavo
possibilitiesrdquo continues Golbeck ldquoThe hone
varietal is arguably the most important choic
in determining the profile of the mead but se
lecting a yeast strain deciding how sweet yoursquo
like it to be whether or not itrsquos sparkling and o
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1722
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1822
course if yoursquod like to add in adjuncts such as
fruit or spices how long itrsquos aged and whether
or not thatrsquos on oakhellipthe combinations really
are unlimitedrdquo
In regards to the honey varietal Susan Ruud
and Gordon Strongmdashrecognized as Grand Mas-
ter level judges by the Beer Judge Certification
Programmdashconducted ldquoThe Great Honey Ex-
perimentrdquo which had a group of people gauge
six different meads identical in every respect
except for the type of honey used Their meads
presented and evaluated at the 2010 National
Homebrewers Conference had some common-
alities but also pointed out some very interest-
ing differences
Golden Coast is currently focusing on making
one mead and making it well Called Mirth in
a Bottle itrsquos obvious in talking with Golbeck
that he has an insatiable passion for his craft
ldquoFor me I want to show the best expression of
the honey varietalrdquo he waxes ldquoThatrsquos what Irsquom
afterrdquo
ldquoWe start with a wonderfully aromatic orange
blossom honey and make the mead semisweet
and sparkling which really makes the citrus fla
vor pop and that surprises a lot of people Th
character isnrsquot nearly as noticeable in the bas
honey but it comes through beautifully in th
finished mead We use a red-wine yeast for th
fermentation which adds these complex flor
notes that I just love But ultimately itrsquos all t
highlight the nuances naturally present in th
honeyrdquo
Are you reading this all in disbelief remem
bering a cloying sickeningly sweet mead th
you tried at ye olde Renaissance Faire Wel
I implore you to give it another shot There
a world of great meads out there waiting to b
enjoyed Some are sweet or semisweet whil
others can be quite dry with different carbon
ation levels ranging from still to sparking o
somewhere in between called semi-sparklin
or peacutetillant [Yoursquoll thank me when thatrsquos
question on Jeopardy some day] It might tak
a bit of searching but therersquos been a growin
buzz thatrsquos getting mead onto more and mor
shelves And while I can drone on and on fodays reading about them is nowhere near a
great as tasting them
HONEY VARIETAL SAMPLING OF AROMA FLAVOR CHARACTERISTIC
MESQUITE Pipe tobacco smoke wood earthy vanilla pepper cinnamon Cheddar cheese min
ORANGE BLOSSOM Citrus orange blossom honey 1047298oral pear vanilla apple white grape almon
TUPELO Apple pepper wood mint white grape cinnamon marshmallow caramel 1047298oral cider pe
WHITE SAGE Earthy minty menthol musty herbal pepper spicy light smoke sauerkrau
STAR THISTLE Floral grassy 1047297g cinnamon nutmeg lavender vanilla butter caramel pin
BASSWOOD Menthol thyme oregano white wine butter earthy wood caramel citrus pepp
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1922
TALKING THE TALK
BRAGGOT A hybrid of mead and beer brewed with honey and malt
CYSER A hybrid of mead and cider made with honey and apple juice
HYDROMEL Lighter lower alcohol mead
MELOMEL Mead fermented with any variety of fruit
METHEGLIN Mead brewed with herbs spices or hops
PYMENT A hybrid of mead and wine made with honey and grape juice
SACK MEAD Higher alcohol mead typically above 14 abv
TEJ A popular Ethiopian style of mead made with a bitter species of buck
thorn known as Gesho
Golden Coast Mead is available for purchase
in several locations throughout San Diego
County but can be shipped nationwide
through wwwgoldencoastmeadcom Gol-beck also offered a list of some of his favor-
ite meads and meaderies B Nektar Meadery
(MI) WineHaven Stinger Honeywine (MN)
Mountain Meadows Mead (CA) Moonlight
Meadery (NH) and Redstone Meadery (CO)
And if yoursquore interested in making your own at
home Golbeck recommends picking up The
Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm
Randy Clemens is the author of The Sriracha
Cookbook and co-author of The Craft of Stone
Brewing Co Liquid Lore Epic Recipes and
Unabashed Arrogance He is also the Media amp
Communications Linchpin at Stone Brewing
Co If yoursquore bored you can follow his musings
on Twitter RandyClemensEsq
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2022
Standing next to fifty-five gallon drums of
honey at Meadery of the Rockies in Pali-
sade Colorado mead maker and owner
Glenn Foster explains his secrets to successful
mead production ldquoWe start with 100 pure
natural orange-blossom honey This California
honey has been the standard since 1995 because
of its consistent tasterdquo describes Foster whose
award-wining melomels are very popular withconsumers Because the meadery -- originally
known as the Rocky Mountain Meadery -- does
so much with fruit-blended meads they needed
honey that would enhance flavors of many dif-
ferent fruits
Over time they found that orange-blossom
honey carried the flavors of a variety of fruits
better than other types of honey Fosterrsquos favo
ite way to make melomel is to blend the mea
with fruit wine
And it just so happens that he has unlimited ac
cess to many award-winning fruit wines Foste
and wife Natalie own and operate St Kathry
Cellars and Talon Winery also located in Pal
sade The small agricultural community is in thheart of western Coloradorsquos fruit country nea
Grand Junction The area is especially know
for its peaches which are shipped all over th
west and can be found in kitchens as high-brow
as Air Force One ndash the presidentrsquos ride Th
lush valley is designated as The Grand Valley
the oldest and largest AVA (American Viticu
ture Area) in Colorado
The Buzz at Coloradorsquos Oldest Meadery
Article and Photos By Stacey Wittig
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2122
Water is in abundance at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains ndash Palisade is right on the Colorado
River ndash and the Fosters use pure Rocky Moun-
tain water for their entire mead making ldquoWelearned the old tricks and discovered some new
ones along the wayrdquo reveals Foster who
personally directs the production of each batch
of mead The mead maker brought some secrets
with him when he bought the meadery in 2008
He had previously worked as the of ficial wine-
maker at Twin Rivers Winery in Grand Junc-
tion and also in the California wine industryldquoMy father founded Ravenswood Winery [So-
noma] when I was twelve [in 1976] ldquoWe were
glass droppers as children I came to Colora-
do in rsquo82 to go to school In 1993 I went back
to Ravenwood In 1995 while visiting my in-
laws we discovered Grand Valley We decided
to move here that day and put a deposit on a
rental houserdquo laughs the impulsive vintner
He worked for various Grand Valley winerie
for about ten years until he got tired of makin
OPW (other peoplesrsquo wine)
Mead production has quadrupled since 1995
Foster is proud that his meadery is the fir
meadery in Colorado ldquoOur roots go way backMead is authentic ndash millennials are looking fo
something authentic and differentrdquo he say
Mead flavored with apricots peaches straw
berries cherries and raspberries are trendy righ
now The Cherries lsquon Honey just won Gold i
the 2012 Denver International Wine Compet
tion
Meadery of the Rockiesrsquo automated bottlinline can cork or screw cap thirty-six bottle
per minute Their twenty-three tanks range i
size from 160 to 3000 gallons Meads sell fo
$1195 ndash $3495 per bottle When you visi
sample up to five meads free in the comfy tas
ing room (only $1 per sample after that) Wh
might you see there Visitors from as far awa
as Japan mead lovers from California Colo
rado and Utah and maybe even Emilio Estevewho has been known to stop in for a taste
Meadery of the Rockies 3701 G Road
Palisade Colorado (970) 464-7899 Open Da
ly 10-5 wwwmeaderyoftherockiescom
Stacey Wittig is a travel writer based in Flag
staff AZ Her culinary adventures have led he
up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpilars and roasted guinea pig across the plains o
northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago en
joying steamed barnacles and through the vine
yards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classico
ldquoThe Grand Canyon State is a remarkable plac
to call homerdquo declares the wandering write
Get more travel tips at wwwVagabondinglulu
com
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1322
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1422
Previous Pages Clockwise From Top Left Green River
Ambrosia Luke and Logan Herber t enjoy a glass of Kom-
bucha Tea Artesano Meadery Hilary Bumgarner pours a
sample of b lueberry mead Jennifer Herbert taking notes
at Green River Ambrosia Opposite Page Inside Artesa-
norsquos tasting room Artesanorsquos fermentation tanks
The last stop on this East Coast mead trip was Artesano Meadery in Groton Vermont
Offering samples of mead and their own ice
cream on a sunny Vermont Summer day a
visit to Artesano will inspire meadery owners
and mead fans alike I met Hilary Bumgarner
who provided one of the best tours anyone
cold ask for She works with the owners of
Artesano and not only pours samples in the
tasting room but is an accomplished meadmaker After tasting several fantastic meads
Hilary showed me Artesanorsquos stainless fer-
mentation tanks bottling machine and they
even have a custom made device which seals
the cork with a wax finish and then imprints
their logo in the wax
Artesano has won several awards and makes
the following meads Traditional Mead ChiliCinnamon Mead Essence Dry Mead Spiced
Mead Cranberry Mead Blueberry Mead
Blackberry Mead and Poetrsquos Mead which is
aged in bourbon barrels
Owner Mark Simakaski and his wife began
making mead while teaching bee keeping in
the Peace Corps in South America I asked
Mark about challenges he faced in startinga meadery He said ldquoThe time from start up
to your first bottle of mead has a long lead
time We needed to be sure there was enough
capital to make it throughrdquo In 2012 Artesano
produced 17000 500 ml bottles of mead Ap-
parently their hard work is paying off
Artesano self-distributes to 55 accounts in
Vermont and their most popular mead i
their Traditional Mead Mark also sells mea
and represents Artesano at farmerrsquos market
and a few wine events each year when aske
about what will help grow the mead indus
try Mark says ldquoGood mead makers and a lo
of consumer education As the availability o
mead increases so will its sales But it has t
be good meadrdquo
In visiting these three businesses makin
mead I was excited to see that mead univer
sally serves as a catharsis for the liquid artis
The creativity exibited by mead makers is as
tounding The success that these three mea
makers have developed is indicative of th
growth that can be expected in the mead in
dustry Meaderies are starting up across th
country but we are just beginning to catch
new wave in the alcohol industry
One hypothesis I had prior to this road tri
was that meaderies even in similar parts o
the country are relatively disconnected I be
lieve that the spirit of a business deciding tbegin a meadery is certainly an independen
spirit and perhaps geography may keep u
apart While some of the mead makers I vis
ited had been to other Eastern meaderies
and even to the Mazer Cup these meader
ies generally do their own thing In light o
this I keep asking myself a question that
will posit to you now ldquoIf there is strength i
numbers as the old saying goes what benefits can meaderies realize if we further ne
work and join togetherrdquo
I hope to see you at the Mazer Cup in 2013
Check out
wwwmountfelixcom
wwwgreenriverambrosiacom
wwwartesanomeadcom
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1522
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1622
Liquid Assets
Mead For The Modern AgeBy Randy Clemens
ldquoMead is the ancient liquor of gods and
men the giver of knowledge and poetry
the healer of wounds and the bestower of
immortalityrdquo
George Robert Gayre Scottish anthropologist
Long before the advent of wine beer and spir-
its countless civilizations celebrated revered
and drank their fair share of mead an alcoholic
beverage forged out of the fermentation of na-
turersquos most miraculous sugar honey
ldquoWe see mead as a magical thingrdquo explainsFrank Golbeck co-founder of fledgling start-
up Golden Coast Mead based in San Diego ldquoIt
represents this synergy that has connected peo-
ple to agriculture and their environment Drink-
ing it is a culinary experience that has deep cul-
tural roots across the world and across timerdquo
Indeed honey has long been held in high re-
gard and one can only imagine that meadrsquos
intoxicating properties would make honey thatmuch more special to our early ancestors The
mind-altering effects were thought of as a kind
of transformation a journey into another world
that opened the brain to new thoughts and ex-
periences
ldquoA drink I took of the magic mead [hellip] then I
began to know and to be wise to grow and t
weave poemsrdquo
mdashOdin from the Norse Saga Runahal circ
1200 CE
Mead is believed by many to be the first alco
holic drink known to man likely a happy ac
cident caused by mixing water and honey in a
animal-skin canteen while out on a hunt Est
mates of its discovery range from 9000 year
ago to as far back as 20000 years ago Ancien
Greeks and Romans had a well documented a
finity for mead as did the Vikings the Egyp
tians and many other cultures across Europe
the East Indies and Africa Fast forwarding t
the present mead is not nearly as prevalent as
once was taking a back seat to the much mor
common potent potables of today beer wine
cider sake and the like But it holds a worl
of complexity just waiting to be explored Th
meadmakermdashalso known as a mazermdashha
at their fingertips a veritable blank canvas o
which to build
ldquoMead presents this huge spectrum of flavo
possibilitiesrdquo continues Golbeck ldquoThe hone
varietal is arguably the most important choic
in determining the profile of the mead but se
lecting a yeast strain deciding how sweet yoursquo
like it to be whether or not itrsquos sparkling and o
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1722
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1822
course if yoursquod like to add in adjuncts such as
fruit or spices how long itrsquos aged and whether
or not thatrsquos on oakhellipthe combinations really
are unlimitedrdquo
In regards to the honey varietal Susan Ruud
and Gordon Strongmdashrecognized as Grand Mas-
ter level judges by the Beer Judge Certification
Programmdashconducted ldquoThe Great Honey Ex-
perimentrdquo which had a group of people gauge
six different meads identical in every respect
except for the type of honey used Their meads
presented and evaluated at the 2010 National
Homebrewers Conference had some common-
alities but also pointed out some very interest-
ing differences
Golden Coast is currently focusing on making
one mead and making it well Called Mirth in
a Bottle itrsquos obvious in talking with Golbeck
that he has an insatiable passion for his craft
ldquoFor me I want to show the best expression of
the honey varietalrdquo he waxes ldquoThatrsquos what Irsquom
afterrdquo
ldquoWe start with a wonderfully aromatic orange
blossom honey and make the mead semisweet
and sparkling which really makes the citrus fla
vor pop and that surprises a lot of people Th
character isnrsquot nearly as noticeable in the bas
honey but it comes through beautifully in th
finished mead We use a red-wine yeast for th
fermentation which adds these complex flor
notes that I just love But ultimately itrsquos all t
highlight the nuances naturally present in th
honeyrdquo
Are you reading this all in disbelief remem
bering a cloying sickeningly sweet mead th
you tried at ye olde Renaissance Faire Wel
I implore you to give it another shot There
a world of great meads out there waiting to b
enjoyed Some are sweet or semisweet whil
others can be quite dry with different carbon
ation levels ranging from still to sparking o
somewhere in between called semi-sparklin
or peacutetillant [Yoursquoll thank me when thatrsquos
question on Jeopardy some day] It might tak
a bit of searching but therersquos been a growin
buzz thatrsquos getting mead onto more and mor
shelves And while I can drone on and on fodays reading about them is nowhere near a
great as tasting them
HONEY VARIETAL SAMPLING OF AROMA FLAVOR CHARACTERISTIC
MESQUITE Pipe tobacco smoke wood earthy vanilla pepper cinnamon Cheddar cheese min
ORANGE BLOSSOM Citrus orange blossom honey 1047298oral pear vanilla apple white grape almon
TUPELO Apple pepper wood mint white grape cinnamon marshmallow caramel 1047298oral cider pe
WHITE SAGE Earthy minty menthol musty herbal pepper spicy light smoke sauerkrau
STAR THISTLE Floral grassy 1047297g cinnamon nutmeg lavender vanilla butter caramel pin
BASSWOOD Menthol thyme oregano white wine butter earthy wood caramel citrus pepp
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1922
TALKING THE TALK
BRAGGOT A hybrid of mead and beer brewed with honey and malt
CYSER A hybrid of mead and cider made with honey and apple juice
HYDROMEL Lighter lower alcohol mead
MELOMEL Mead fermented with any variety of fruit
METHEGLIN Mead brewed with herbs spices or hops
PYMENT A hybrid of mead and wine made with honey and grape juice
SACK MEAD Higher alcohol mead typically above 14 abv
TEJ A popular Ethiopian style of mead made with a bitter species of buck
thorn known as Gesho
Golden Coast Mead is available for purchase
in several locations throughout San Diego
County but can be shipped nationwide
through wwwgoldencoastmeadcom Gol-beck also offered a list of some of his favor-
ite meads and meaderies B Nektar Meadery
(MI) WineHaven Stinger Honeywine (MN)
Mountain Meadows Mead (CA) Moonlight
Meadery (NH) and Redstone Meadery (CO)
And if yoursquore interested in making your own at
home Golbeck recommends picking up The
Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm
Randy Clemens is the author of The Sriracha
Cookbook and co-author of The Craft of Stone
Brewing Co Liquid Lore Epic Recipes and
Unabashed Arrogance He is also the Media amp
Communications Linchpin at Stone Brewing
Co If yoursquore bored you can follow his musings
on Twitter RandyClemensEsq
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2022
Standing next to fifty-five gallon drums of
honey at Meadery of the Rockies in Pali-
sade Colorado mead maker and owner
Glenn Foster explains his secrets to successful
mead production ldquoWe start with 100 pure
natural orange-blossom honey This California
honey has been the standard since 1995 because
of its consistent tasterdquo describes Foster whose
award-wining melomels are very popular withconsumers Because the meadery -- originally
known as the Rocky Mountain Meadery -- does
so much with fruit-blended meads they needed
honey that would enhance flavors of many dif-
ferent fruits
Over time they found that orange-blossom
honey carried the flavors of a variety of fruits
better than other types of honey Fosterrsquos favo
ite way to make melomel is to blend the mea
with fruit wine
And it just so happens that he has unlimited ac
cess to many award-winning fruit wines Foste
and wife Natalie own and operate St Kathry
Cellars and Talon Winery also located in Pal
sade The small agricultural community is in thheart of western Coloradorsquos fruit country nea
Grand Junction The area is especially know
for its peaches which are shipped all over th
west and can be found in kitchens as high-brow
as Air Force One ndash the presidentrsquos ride Th
lush valley is designated as The Grand Valley
the oldest and largest AVA (American Viticu
ture Area) in Colorado
The Buzz at Coloradorsquos Oldest Meadery
Article and Photos By Stacey Wittig
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2122
Water is in abundance at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains ndash Palisade is right on the Colorado
River ndash and the Fosters use pure Rocky Moun-
tain water for their entire mead making ldquoWelearned the old tricks and discovered some new
ones along the wayrdquo reveals Foster who
personally directs the production of each batch
of mead The mead maker brought some secrets
with him when he bought the meadery in 2008
He had previously worked as the of ficial wine-
maker at Twin Rivers Winery in Grand Junc-
tion and also in the California wine industryldquoMy father founded Ravenswood Winery [So-
noma] when I was twelve [in 1976] ldquoWe were
glass droppers as children I came to Colora-
do in rsquo82 to go to school In 1993 I went back
to Ravenwood In 1995 while visiting my in-
laws we discovered Grand Valley We decided
to move here that day and put a deposit on a
rental houserdquo laughs the impulsive vintner
He worked for various Grand Valley winerie
for about ten years until he got tired of makin
OPW (other peoplesrsquo wine)
Mead production has quadrupled since 1995
Foster is proud that his meadery is the fir
meadery in Colorado ldquoOur roots go way backMead is authentic ndash millennials are looking fo
something authentic and differentrdquo he say
Mead flavored with apricots peaches straw
berries cherries and raspberries are trendy righ
now The Cherries lsquon Honey just won Gold i
the 2012 Denver International Wine Compet
tion
Meadery of the Rockiesrsquo automated bottlinline can cork or screw cap thirty-six bottle
per minute Their twenty-three tanks range i
size from 160 to 3000 gallons Meads sell fo
$1195 ndash $3495 per bottle When you visi
sample up to five meads free in the comfy tas
ing room (only $1 per sample after that) Wh
might you see there Visitors from as far awa
as Japan mead lovers from California Colo
rado and Utah and maybe even Emilio Estevewho has been known to stop in for a taste
Meadery of the Rockies 3701 G Road
Palisade Colorado (970) 464-7899 Open Da
ly 10-5 wwwmeaderyoftherockiescom
Stacey Wittig is a travel writer based in Flag
staff AZ Her culinary adventures have led he
up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpilars and roasted guinea pig across the plains o
northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago en
joying steamed barnacles and through the vine
yards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classico
ldquoThe Grand Canyon State is a remarkable plac
to call homerdquo declares the wandering write
Get more travel tips at wwwVagabondinglulu
com
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1422
Previous Pages Clockwise From Top Left Green River
Ambrosia Luke and Logan Herber t enjoy a glass of Kom-
bucha Tea Artesano Meadery Hilary Bumgarner pours a
sample of b lueberry mead Jennifer Herbert taking notes
at Green River Ambrosia Opposite Page Inside Artesa-
norsquos tasting room Artesanorsquos fermentation tanks
The last stop on this East Coast mead trip was Artesano Meadery in Groton Vermont
Offering samples of mead and their own ice
cream on a sunny Vermont Summer day a
visit to Artesano will inspire meadery owners
and mead fans alike I met Hilary Bumgarner
who provided one of the best tours anyone
cold ask for She works with the owners of
Artesano and not only pours samples in the
tasting room but is an accomplished meadmaker After tasting several fantastic meads
Hilary showed me Artesanorsquos stainless fer-
mentation tanks bottling machine and they
even have a custom made device which seals
the cork with a wax finish and then imprints
their logo in the wax
Artesano has won several awards and makes
the following meads Traditional Mead ChiliCinnamon Mead Essence Dry Mead Spiced
Mead Cranberry Mead Blueberry Mead
Blackberry Mead and Poetrsquos Mead which is
aged in bourbon barrels
Owner Mark Simakaski and his wife began
making mead while teaching bee keeping in
the Peace Corps in South America I asked
Mark about challenges he faced in startinga meadery He said ldquoThe time from start up
to your first bottle of mead has a long lead
time We needed to be sure there was enough
capital to make it throughrdquo In 2012 Artesano
produced 17000 500 ml bottles of mead Ap-
parently their hard work is paying off
Artesano self-distributes to 55 accounts in
Vermont and their most popular mead i
their Traditional Mead Mark also sells mea
and represents Artesano at farmerrsquos market
and a few wine events each year when aske
about what will help grow the mead indus
try Mark says ldquoGood mead makers and a lo
of consumer education As the availability o
mead increases so will its sales But it has t
be good meadrdquo
In visiting these three businesses makin
mead I was excited to see that mead univer
sally serves as a catharsis for the liquid artis
The creativity exibited by mead makers is as
tounding The success that these three mea
makers have developed is indicative of th
growth that can be expected in the mead in
dustry Meaderies are starting up across th
country but we are just beginning to catch
new wave in the alcohol industry
One hypothesis I had prior to this road tri
was that meaderies even in similar parts o
the country are relatively disconnected I be
lieve that the spirit of a business deciding tbegin a meadery is certainly an independen
spirit and perhaps geography may keep u
apart While some of the mead makers I vis
ited had been to other Eastern meaderies
and even to the Mazer Cup these meader
ies generally do their own thing In light o
this I keep asking myself a question that
will posit to you now ldquoIf there is strength i
numbers as the old saying goes what benefits can meaderies realize if we further ne
work and join togetherrdquo
I hope to see you at the Mazer Cup in 2013
Check out
wwwmountfelixcom
wwwgreenriverambrosiacom
wwwartesanomeadcom
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1522
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1622
Liquid Assets
Mead For The Modern AgeBy Randy Clemens
ldquoMead is the ancient liquor of gods and
men the giver of knowledge and poetry
the healer of wounds and the bestower of
immortalityrdquo
George Robert Gayre Scottish anthropologist
Long before the advent of wine beer and spir-
its countless civilizations celebrated revered
and drank their fair share of mead an alcoholic
beverage forged out of the fermentation of na-
turersquos most miraculous sugar honey
ldquoWe see mead as a magical thingrdquo explainsFrank Golbeck co-founder of fledgling start-
up Golden Coast Mead based in San Diego ldquoIt
represents this synergy that has connected peo-
ple to agriculture and their environment Drink-
ing it is a culinary experience that has deep cul-
tural roots across the world and across timerdquo
Indeed honey has long been held in high re-
gard and one can only imagine that meadrsquos
intoxicating properties would make honey thatmuch more special to our early ancestors The
mind-altering effects were thought of as a kind
of transformation a journey into another world
that opened the brain to new thoughts and ex-
periences
ldquoA drink I took of the magic mead [hellip] then I
began to know and to be wise to grow and t
weave poemsrdquo
mdashOdin from the Norse Saga Runahal circ
1200 CE
Mead is believed by many to be the first alco
holic drink known to man likely a happy ac
cident caused by mixing water and honey in a
animal-skin canteen while out on a hunt Est
mates of its discovery range from 9000 year
ago to as far back as 20000 years ago Ancien
Greeks and Romans had a well documented a
finity for mead as did the Vikings the Egyp
tians and many other cultures across Europe
the East Indies and Africa Fast forwarding t
the present mead is not nearly as prevalent as
once was taking a back seat to the much mor
common potent potables of today beer wine
cider sake and the like But it holds a worl
of complexity just waiting to be explored Th
meadmakermdashalso known as a mazermdashha
at their fingertips a veritable blank canvas o
which to build
ldquoMead presents this huge spectrum of flavo
possibilitiesrdquo continues Golbeck ldquoThe hone
varietal is arguably the most important choic
in determining the profile of the mead but se
lecting a yeast strain deciding how sweet yoursquo
like it to be whether or not itrsquos sparkling and o
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1722
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1822
course if yoursquod like to add in adjuncts such as
fruit or spices how long itrsquos aged and whether
or not thatrsquos on oakhellipthe combinations really
are unlimitedrdquo
In regards to the honey varietal Susan Ruud
and Gordon Strongmdashrecognized as Grand Mas-
ter level judges by the Beer Judge Certification
Programmdashconducted ldquoThe Great Honey Ex-
perimentrdquo which had a group of people gauge
six different meads identical in every respect
except for the type of honey used Their meads
presented and evaluated at the 2010 National
Homebrewers Conference had some common-
alities but also pointed out some very interest-
ing differences
Golden Coast is currently focusing on making
one mead and making it well Called Mirth in
a Bottle itrsquos obvious in talking with Golbeck
that he has an insatiable passion for his craft
ldquoFor me I want to show the best expression of
the honey varietalrdquo he waxes ldquoThatrsquos what Irsquom
afterrdquo
ldquoWe start with a wonderfully aromatic orange
blossom honey and make the mead semisweet
and sparkling which really makes the citrus fla
vor pop and that surprises a lot of people Th
character isnrsquot nearly as noticeable in the bas
honey but it comes through beautifully in th
finished mead We use a red-wine yeast for th
fermentation which adds these complex flor
notes that I just love But ultimately itrsquos all t
highlight the nuances naturally present in th
honeyrdquo
Are you reading this all in disbelief remem
bering a cloying sickeningly sweet mead th
you tried at ye olde Renaissance Faire Wel
I implore you to give it another shot There
a world of great meads out there waiting to b
enjoyed Some are sweet or semisweet whil
others can be quite dry with different carbon
ation levels ranging from still to sparking o
somewhere in between called semi-sparklin
or peacutetillant [Yoursquoll thank me when thatrsquos
question on Jeopardy some day] It might tak
a bit of searching but therersquos been a growin
buzz thatrsquos getting mead onto more and mor
shelves And while I can drone on and on fodays reading about them is nowhere near a
great as tasting them
HONEY VARIETAL SAMPLING OF AROMA FLAVOR CHARACTERISTIC
MESQUITE Pipe tobacco smoke wood earthy vanilla pepper cinnamon Cheddar cheese min
ORANGE BLOSSOM Citrus orange blossom honey 1047298oral pear vanilla apple white grape almon
TUPELO Apple pepper wood mint white grape cinnamon marshmallow caramel 1047298oral cider pe
WHITE SAGE Earthy minty menthol musty herbal pepper spicy light smoke sauerkrau
STAR THISTLE Floral grassy 1047297g cinnamon nutmeg lavender vanilla butter caramel pin
BASSWOOD Menthol thyme oregano white wine butter earthy wood caramel citrus pepp
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1922
TALKING THE TALK
BRAGGOT A hybrid of mead and beer brewed with honey and malt
CYSER A hybrid of mead and cider made with honey and apple juice
HYDROMEL Lighter lower alcohol mead
MELOMEL Mead fermented with any variety of fruit
METHEGLIN Mead brewed with herbs spices or hops
PYMENT A hybrid of mead and wine made with honey and grape juice
SACK MEAD Higher alcohol mead typically above 14 abv
TEJ A popular Ethiopian style of mead made with a bitter species of buck
thorn known as Gesho
Golden Coast Mead is available for purchase
in several locations throughout San Diego
County but can be shipped nationwide
through wwwgoldencoastmeadcom Gol-beck also offered a list of some of his favor-
ite meads and meaderies B Nektar Meadery
(MI) WineHaven Stinger Honeywine (MN)
Mountain Meadows Mead (CA) Moonlight
Meadery (NH) and Redstone Meadery (CO)
And if yoursquore interested in making your own at
home Golbeck recommends picking up The
Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm
Randy Clemens is the author of The Sriracha
Cookbook and co-author of The Craft of Stone
Brewing Co Liquid Lore Epic Recipes and
Unabashed Arrogance He is also the Media amp
Communications Linchpin at Stone Brewing
Co If yoursquore bored you can follow his musings
on Twitter RandyClemensEsq
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2022
Standing next to fifty-five gallon drums of
honey at Meadery of the Rockies in Pali-
sade Colorado mead maker and owner
Glenn Foster explains his secrets to successful
mead production ldquoWe start with 100 pure
natural orange-blossom honey This California
honey has been the standard since 1995 because
of its consistent tasterdquo describes Foster whose
award-wining melomels are very popular withconsumers Because the meadery -- originally
known as the Rocky Mountain Meadery -- does
so much with fruit-blended meads they needed
honey that would enhance flavors of many dif-
ferent fruits
Over time they found that orange-blossom
honey carried the flavors of a variety of fruits
better than other types of honey Fosterrsquos favo
ite way to make melomel is to blend the mea
with fruit wine
And it just so happens that he has unlimited ac
cess to many award-winning fruit wines Foste
and wife Natalie own and operate St Kathry
Cellars and Talon Winery also located in Pal
sade The small agricultural community is in thheart of western Coloradorsquos fruit country nea
Grand Junction The area is especially know
for its peaches which are shipped all over th
west and can be found in kitchens as high-brow
as Air Force One ndash the presidentrsquos ride Th
lush valley is designated as The Grand Valley
the oldest and largest AVA (American Viticu
ture Area) in Colorado
The Buzz at Coloradorsquos Oldest Meadery
Article and Photos By Stacey Wittig
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2122
Water is in abundance at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains ndash Palisade is right on the Colorado
River ndash and the Fosters use pure Rocky Moun-
tain water for their entire mead making ldquoWelearned the old tricks and discovered some new
ones along the wayrdquo reveals Foster who
personally directs the production of each batch
of mead The mead maker brought some secrets
with him when he bought the meadery in 2008
He had previously worked as the of ficial wine-
maker at Twin Rivers Winery in Grand Junc-
tion and also in the California wine industryldquoMy father founded Ravenswood Winery [So-
noma] when I was twelve [in 1976] ldquoWe were
glass droppers as children I came to Colora-
do in rsquo82 to go to school In 1993 I went back
to Ravenwood In 1995 while visiting my in-
laws we discovered Grand Valley We decided
to move here that day and put a deposit on a
rental houserdquo laughs the impulsive vintner
He worked for various Grand Valley winerie
for about ten years until he got tired of makin
OPW (other peoplesrsquo wine)
Mead production has quadrupled since 1995
Foster is proud that his meadery is the fir
meadery in Colorado ldquoOur roots go way backMead is authentic ndash millennials are looking fo
something authentic and differentrdquo he say
Mead flavored with apricots peaches straw
berries cherries and raspberries are trendy righ
now The Cherries lsquon Honey just won Gold i
the 2012 Denver International Wine Compet
tion
Meadery of the Rockiesrsquo automated bottlinline can cork or screw cap thirty-six bottle
per minute Their twenty-three tanks range i
size from 160 to 3000 gallons Meads sell fo
$1195 ndash $3495 per bottle When you visi
sample up to five meads free in the comfy tas
ing room (only $1 per sample after that) Wh
might you see there Visitors from as far awa
as Japan mead lovers from California Colo
rado and Utah and maybe even Emilio Estevewho has been known to stop in for a taste
Meadery of the Rockies 3701 G Road
Palisade Colorado (970) 464-7899 Open Da
ly 10-5 wwwmeaderyoftherockiescom
Stacey Wittig is a travel writer based in Flag
staff AZ Her culinary adventures have led he
up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpilars and roasted guinea pig across the plains o
northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago en
joying steamed barnacles and through the vine
yards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classico
ldquoThe Grand Canyon State is a remarkable plac
to call homerdquo declares the wandering write
Get more travel tips at wwwVagabondinglulu
com
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1522
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1622
Liquid Assets
Mead For The Modern AgeBy Randy Clemens
ldquoMead is the ancient liquor of gods and
men the giver of knowledge and poetry
the healer of wounds and the bestower of
immortalityrdquo
George Robert Gayre Scottish anthropologist
Long before the advent of wine beer and spir-
its countless civilizations celebrated revered
and drank their fair share of mead an alcoholic
beverage forged out of the fermentation of na-
turersquos most miraculous sugar honey
ldquoWe see mead as a magical thingrdquo explainsFrank Golbeck co-founder of fledgling start-
up Golden Coast Mead based in San Diego ldquoIt
represents this synergy that has connected peo-
ple to agriculture and their environment Drink-
ing it is a culinary experience that has deep cul-
tural roots across the world and across timerdquo
Indeed honey has long been held in high re-
gard and one can only imagine that meadrsquos
intoxicating properties would make honey thatmuch more special to our early ancestors The
mind-altering effects were thought of as a kind
of transformation a journey into another world
that opened the brain to new thoughts and ex-
periences
ldquoA drink I took of the magic mead [hellip] then I
began to know and to be wise to grow and t
weave poemsrdquo
mdashOdin from the Norse Saga Runahal circ
1200 CE
Mead is believed by many to be the first alco
holic drink known to man likely a happy ac
cident caused by mixing water and honey in a
animal-skin canteen while out on a hunt Est
mates of its discovery range from 9000 year
ago to as far back as 20000 years ago Ancien
Greeks and Romans had a well documented a
finity for mead as did the Vikings the Egyp
tians and many other cultures across Europe
the East Indies and Africa Fast forwarding t
the present mead is not nearly as prevalent as
once was taking a back seat to the much mor
common potent potables of today beer wine
cider sake and the like But it holds a worl
of complexity just waiting to be explored Th
meadmakermdashalso known as a mazermdashha
at their fingertips a veritable blank canvas o
which to build
ldquoMead presents this huge spectrum of flavo
possibilitiesrdquo continues Golbeck ldquoThe hone
varietal is arguably the most important choic
in determining the profile of the mead but se
lecting a yeast strain deciding how sweet yoursquo
like it to be whether or not itrsquos sparkling and o
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1722
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1822
course if yoursquod like to add in adjuncts such as
fruit or spices how long itrsquos aged and whether
or not thatrsquos on oakhellipthe combinations really
are unlimitedrdquo
In regards to the honey varietal Susan Ruud
and Gordon Strongmdashrecognized as Grand Mas-
ter level judges by the Beer Judge Certification
Programmdashconducted ldquoThe Great Honey Ex-
perimentrdquo which had a group of people gauge
six different meads identical in every respect
except for the type of honey used Their meads
presented and evaluated at the 2010 National
Homebrewers Conference had some common-
alities but also pointed out some very interest-
ing differences
Golden Coast is currently focusing on making
one mead and making it well Called Mirth in
a Bottle itrsquos obvious in talking with Golbeck
that he has an insatiable passion for his craft
ldquoFor me I want to show the best expression of
the honey varietalrdquo he waxes ldquoThatrsquos what Irsquom
afterrdquo
ldquoWe start with a wonderfully aromatic orange
blossom honey and make the mead semisweet
and sparkling which really makes the citrus fla
vor pop and that surprises a lot of people Th
character isnrsquot nearly as noticeable in the bas
honey but it comes through beautifully in th
finished mead We use a red-wine yeast for th
fermentation which adds these complex flor
notes that I just love But ultimately itrsquos all t
highlight the nuances naturally present in th
honeyrdquo
Are you reading this all in disbelief remem
bering a cloying sickeningly sweet mead th
you tried at ye olde Renaissance Faire Wel
I implore you to give it another shot There
a world of great meads out there waiting to b
enjoyed Some are sweet or semisweet whil
others can be quite dry with different carbon
ation levels ranging from still to sparking o
somewhere in between called semi-sparklin
or peacutetillant [Yoursquoll thank me when thatrsquos
question on Jeopardy some day] It might tak
a bit of searching but therersquos been a growin
buzz thatrsquos getting mead onto more and mor
shelves And while I can drone on and on fodays reading about them is nowhere near a
great as tasting them
HONEY VARIETAL SAMPLING OF AROMA FLAVOR CHARACTERISTIC
MESQUITE Pipe tobacco smoke wood earthy vanilla pepper cinnamon Cheddar cheese min
ORANGE BLOSSOM Citrus orange blossom honey 1047298oral pear vanilla apple white grape almon
TUPELO Apple pepper wood mint white grape cinnamon marshmallow caramel 1047298oral cider pe
WHITE SAGE Earthy minty menthol musty herbal pepper spicy light smoke sauerkrau
STAR THISTLE Floral grassy 1047297g cinnamon nutmeg lavender vanilla butter caramel pin
BASSWOOD Menthol thyme oregano white wine butter earthy wood caramel citrus pepp
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1922
TALKING THE TALK
BRAGGOT A hybrid of mead and beer brewed with honey and malt
CYSER A hybrid of mead and cider made with honey and apple juice
HYDROMEL Lighter lower alcohol mead
MELOMEL Mead fermented with any variety of fruit
METHEGLIN Mead brewed with herbs spices or hops
PYMENT A hybrid of mead and wine made with honey and grape juice
SACK MEAD Higher alcohol mead typically above 14 abv
TEJ A popular Ethiopian style of mead made with a bitter species of buck
thorn known as Gesho
Golden Coast Mead is available for purchase
in several locations throughout San Diego
County but can be shipped nationwide
through wwwgoldencoastmeadcom Gol-beck also offered a list of some of his favor-
ite meads and meaderies B Nektar Meadery
(MI) WineHaven Stinger Honeywine (MN)
Mountain Meadows Mead (CA) Moonlight
Meadery (NH) and Redstone Meadery (CO)
And if yoursquore interested in making your own at
home Golbeck recommends picking up The
Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm
Randy Clemens is the author of The Sriracha
Cookbook and co-author of The Craft of Stone
Brewing Co Liquid Lore Epic Recipes and
Unabashed Arrogance He is also the Media amp
Communications Linchpin at Stone Brewing
Co If yoursquore bored you can follow his musings
on Twitter RandyClemensEsq
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2022
Standing next to fifty-five gallon drums of
honey at Meadery of the Rockies in Pali-
sade Colorado mead maker and owner
Glenn Foster explains his secrets to successful
mead production ldquoWe start with 100 pure
natural orange-blossom honey This California
honey has been the standard since 1995 because
of its consistent tasterdquo describes Foster whose
award-wining melomels are very popular withconsumers Because the meadery -- originally
known as the Rocky Mountain Meadery -- does
so much with fruit-blended meads they needed
honey that would enhance flavors of many dif-
ferent fruits
Over time they found that orange-blossom
honey carried the flavors of a variety of fruits
better than other types of honey Fosterrsquos favo
ite way to make melomel is to blend the mea
with fruit wine
And it just so happens that he has unlimited ac
cess to many award-winning fruit wines Foste
and wife Natalie own and operate St Kathry
Cellars and Talon Winery also located in Pal
sade The small agricultural community is in thheart of western Coloradorsquos fruit country nea
Grand Junction The area is especially know
for its peaches which are shipped all over th
west and can be found in kitchens as high-brow
as Air Force One ndash the presidentrsquos ride Th
lush valley is designated as The Grand Valley
the oldest and largest AVA (American Viticu
ture Area) in Colorado
The Buzz at Coloradorsquos Oldest Meadery
Article and Photos By Stacey Wittig
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2122
Water is in abundance at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains ndash Palisade is right on the Colorado
River ndash and the Fosters use pure Rocky Moun-
tain water for their entire mead making ldquoWelearned the old tricks and discovered some new
ones along the wayrdquo reveals Foster who
personally directs the production of each batch
of mead The mead maker brought some secrets
with him when he bought the meadery in 2008
He had previously worked as the of ficial wine-
maker at Twin Rivers Winery in Grand Junc-
tion and also in the California wine industryldquoMy father founded Ravenswood Winery [So-
noma] when I was twelve [in 1976] ldquoWe were
glass droppers as children I came to Colora-
do in rsquo82 to go to school In 1993 I went back
to Ravenwood In 1995 while visiting my in-
laws we discovered Grand Valley We decided
to move here that day and put a deposit on a
rental houserdquo laughs the impulsive vintner
He worked for various Grand Valley winerie
for about ten years until he got tired of makin
OPW (other peoplesrsquo wine)
Mead production has quadrupled since 1995
Foster is proud that his meadery is the fir
meadery in Colorado ldquoOur roots go way backMead is authentic ndash millennials are looking fo
something authentic and differentrdquo he say
Mead flavored with apricots peaches straw
berries cherries and raspberries are trendy righ
now The Cherries lsquon Honey just won Gold i
the 2012 Denver International Wine Compet
tion
Meadery of the Rockiesrsquo automated bottlinline can cork or screw cap thirty-six bottle
per minute Their twenty-three tanks range i
size from 160 to 3000 gallons Meads sell fo
$1195 ndash $3495 per bottle When you visi
sample up to five meads free in the comfy tas
ing room (only $1 per sample after that) Wh
might you see there Visitors from as far awa
as Japan mead lovers from California Colo
rado and Utah and maybe even Emilio Estevewho has been known to stop in for a taste
Meadery of the Rockies 3701 G Road
Palisade Colorado (970) 464-7899 Open Da
ly 10-5 wwwmeaderyoftherockiescom
Stacey Wittig is a travel writer based in Flag
staff AZ Her culinary adventures have led he
up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpilars and roasted guinea pig across the plains o
northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago en
joying steamed barnacles and through the vine
yards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classico
ldquoThe Grand Canyon State is a remarkable plac
to call homerdquo declares the wandering write
Get more travel tips at wwwVagabondinglulu
com
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1622
Liquid Assets
Mead For The Modern AgeBy Randy Clemens
ldquoMead is the ancient liquor of gods and
men the giver of knowledge and poetry
the healer of wounds and the bestower of
immortalityrdquo
George Robert Gayre Scottish anthropologist
Long before the advent of wine beer and spir-
its countless civilizations celebrated revered
and drank their fair share of mead an alcoholic
beverage forged out of the fermentation of na-
turersquos most miraculous sugar honey
ldquoWe see mead as a magical thingrdquo explainsFrank Golbeck co-founder of fledgling start-
up Golden Coast Mead based in San Diego ldquoIt
represents this synergy that has connected peo-
ple to agriculture and their environment Drink-
ing it is a culinary experience that has deep cul-
tural roots across the world and across timerdquo
Indeed honey has long been held in high re-
gard and one can only imagine that meadrsquos
intoxicating properties would make honey thatmuch more special to our early ancestors The
mind-altering effects were thought of as a kind
of transformation a journey into another world
that opened the brain to new thoughts and ex-
periences
ldquoA drink I took of the magic mead [hellip] then I
began to know and to be wise to grow and t
weave poemsrdquo
mdashOdin from the Norse Saga Runahal circ
1200 CE
Mead is believed by many to be the first alco
holic drink known to man likely a happy ac
cident caused by mixing water and honey in a
animal-skin canteen while out on a hunt Est
mates of its discovery range from 9000 year
ago to as far back as 20000 years ago Ancien
Greeks and Romans had a well documented a
finity for mead as did the Vikings the Egyp
tians and many other cultures across Europe
the East Indies and Africa Fast forwarding t
the present mead is not nearly as prevalent as
once was taking a back seat to the much mor
common potent potables of today beer wine
cider sake and the like But it holds a worl
of complexity just waiting to be explored Th
meadmakermdashalso known as a mazermdashha
at their fingertips a veritable blank canvas o
which to build
ldquoMead presents this huge spectrum of flavo
possibilitiesrdquo continues Golbeck ldquoThe hone
varietal is arguably the most important choic
in determining the profile of the mead but se
lecting a yeast strain deciding how sweet yoursquo
like it to be whether or not itrsquos sparkling and o
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1722
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1822
course if yoursquod like to add in adjuncts such as
fruit or spices how long itrsquos aged and whether
or not thatrsquos on oakhellipthe combinations really
are unlimitedrdquo
In regards to the honey varietal Susan Ruud
and Gordon Strongmdashrecognized as Grand Mas-
ter level judges by the Beer Judge Certification
Programmdashconducted ldquoThe Great Honey Ex-
perimentrdquo which had a group of people gauge
six different meads identical in every respect
except for the type of honey used Their meads
presented and evaluated at the 2010 National
Homebrewers Conference had some common-
alities but also pointed out some very interest-
ing differences
Golden Coast is currently focusing on making
one mead and making it well Called Mirth in
a Bottle itrsquos obvious in talking with Golbeck
that he has an insatiable passion for his craft
ldquoFor me I want to show the best expression of
the honey varietalrdquo he waxes ldquoThatrsquos what Irsquom
afterrdquo
ldquoWe start with a wonderfully aromatic orange
blossom honey and make the mead semisweet
and sparkling which really makes the citrus fla
vor pop and that surprises a lot of people Th
character isnrsquot nearly as noticeable in the bas
honey but it comes through beautifully in th
finished mead We use a red-wine yeast for th
fermentation which adds these complex flor
notes that I just love But ultimately itrsquos all t
highlight the nuances naturally present in th
honeyrdquo
Are you reading this all in disbelief remem
bering a cloying sickeningly sweet mead th
you tried at ye olde Renaissance Faire Wel
I implore you to give it another shot There
a world of great meads out there waiting to b
enjoyed Some are sweet or semisweet whil
others can be quite dry with different carbon
ation levels ranging from still to sparking o
somewhere in between called semi-sparklin
or peacutetillant [Yoursquoll thank me when thatrsquos
question on Jeopardy some day] It might tak
a bit of searching but therersquos been a growin
buzz thatrsquos getting mead onto more and mor
shelves And while I can drone on and on fodays reading about them is nowhere near a
great as tasting them
HONEY VARIETAL SAMPLING OF AROMA FLAVOR CHARACTERISTIC
MESQUITE Pipe tobacco smoke wood earthy vanilla pepper cinnamon Cheddar cheese min
ORANGE BLOSSOM Citrus orange blossom honey 1047298oral pear vanilla apple white grape almon
TUPELO Apple pepper wood mint white grape cinnamon marshmallow caramel 1047298oral cider pe
WHITE SAGE Earthy minty menthol musty herbal pepper spicy light smoke sauerkrau
STAR THISTLE Floral grassy 1047297g cinnamon nutmeg lavender vanilla butter caramel pin
BASSWOOD Menthol thyme oregano white wine butter earthy wood caramel citrus pepp
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1922
TALKING THE TALK
BRAGGOT A hybrid of mead and beer brewed with honey and malt
CYSER A hybrid of mead and cider made with honey and apple juice
HYDROMEL Lighter lower alcohol mead
MELOMEL Mead fermented with any variety of fruit
METHEGLIN Mead brewed with herbs spices or hops
PYMENT A hybrid of mead and wine made with honey and grape juice
SACK MEAD Higher alcohol mead typically above 14 abv
TEJ A popular Ethiopian style of mead made with a bitter species of buck
thorn known as Gesho
Golden Coast Mead is available for purchase
in several locations throughout San Diego
County but can be shipped nationwide
through wwwgoldencoastmeadcom Gol-beck also offered a list of some of his favor-
ite meads and meaderies B Nektar Meadery
(MI) WineHaven Stinger Honeywine (MN)
Mountain Meadows Mead (CA) Moonlight
Meadery (NH) and Redstone Meadery (CO)
And if yoursquore interested in making your own at
home Golbeck recommends picking up The
Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm
Randy Clemens is the author of The Sriracha
Cookbook and co-author of The Craft of Stone
Brewing Co Liquid Lore Epic Recipes and
Unabashed Arrogance He is also the Media amp
Communications Linchpin at Stone Brewing
Co If yoursquore bored you can follow his musings
on Twitter RandyClemensEsq
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2022
Standing next to fifty-five gallon drums of
honey at Meadery of the Rockies in Pali-
sade Colorado mead maker and owner
Glenn Foster explains his secrets to successful
mead production ldquoWe start with 100 pure
natural orange-blossom honey This California
honey has been the standard since 1995 because
of its consistent tasterdquo describes Foster whose
award-wining melomels are very popular withconsumers Because the meadery -- originally
known as the Rocky Mountain Meadery -- does
so much with fruit-blended meads they needed
honey that would enhance flavors of many dif-
ferent fruits
Over time they found that orange-blossom
honey carried the flavors of a variety of fruits
better than other types of honey Fosterrsquos favo
ite way to make melomel is to blend the mea
with fruit wine
And it just so happens that he has unlimited ac
cess to many award-winning fruit wines Foste
and wife Natalie own and operate St Kathry
Cellars and Talon Winery also located in Pal
sade The small agricultural community is in thheart of western Coloradorsquos fruit country nea
Grand Junction The area is especially know
for its peaches which are shipped all over th
west and can be found in kitchens as high-brow
as Air Force One ndash the presidentrsquos ride Th
lush valley is designated as The Grand Valley
the oldest and largest AVA (American Viticu
ture Area) in Colorado
The Buzz at Coloradorsquos Oldest Meadery
Article and Photos By Stacey Wittig
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2122
Water is in abundance at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains ndash Palisade is right on the Colorado
River ndash and the Fosters use pure Rocky Moun-
tain water for their entire mead making ldquoWelearned the old tricks and discovered some new
ones along the wayrdquo reveals Foster who
personally directs the production of each batch
of mead The mead maker brought some secrets
with him when he bought the meadery in 2008
He had previously worked as the of ficial wine-
maker at Twin Rivers Winery in Grand Junc-
tion and also in the California wine industryldquoMy father founded Ravenswood Winery [So-
noma] when I was twelve [in 1976] ldquoWe were
glass droppers as children I came to Colora-
do in rsquo82 to go to school In 1993 I went back
to Ravenwood In 1995 while visiting my in-
laws we discovered Grand Valley We decided
to move here that day and put a deposit on a
rental houserdquo laughs the impulsive vintner
He worked for various Grand Valley winerie
for about ten years until he got tired of makin
OPW (other peoplesrsquo wine)
Mead production has quadrupled since 1995
Foster is proud that his meadery is the fir
meadery in Colorado ldquoOur roots go way backMead is authentic ndash millennials are looking fo
something authentic and differentrdquo he say
Mead flavored with apricots peaches straw
berries cherries and raspberries are trendy righ
now The Cherries lsquon Honey just won Gold i
the 2012 Denver International Wine Compet
tion
Meadery of the Rockiesrsquo automated bottlinline can cork or screw cap thirty-six bottle
per minute Their twenty-three tanks range i
size from 160 to 3000 gallons Meads sell fo
$1195 ndash $3495 per bottle When you visi
sample up to five meads free in the comfy tas
ing room (only $1 per sample after that) Wh
might you see there Visitors from as far awa
as Japan mead lovers from California Colo
rado and Utah and maybe even Emilio Estevewho has been known to stop in for a taste
Meadery of the Rockies 3701 G Road
Palisade Colorado (970) 464-7899 Open Da
ly 10-5 wwwmeaderyoftherockiescom
Stacey Wittig is a travel writer based in Flag
staff AZ Her culinary adventures have led he
up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpilars and roasted guinea pig across the plains o
northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago en
joying steamed barnacles and through the vine
yards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classico
ldquoThe Grand Canyon State is a remarkable plac
to call homerdquo declares the wandering write
Get more travel tips at wwwVagabondinglulu
com
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1722
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1822
course if yoursquod like to add in adjuncts such as
fruit or spices how long itrsquos aged and whether
or not thatrsquos on oakhellipthe combinations really
are unlimitedrdquo
In regards to the honey varietal Susan Ruud
and Gordon Strongmdashrecognized as Grand Mas-
ter level judges by the Beer Judge Certification
Programmdashconducted ldquoThe Great Honey Ex-
perimentrdquo which had a group of people gauge
six different meads identical in every respect
except for the type of honey used Their meads
presented and evaluated at the 2010 National
Homebrewers Conference had some common-
alities but also pointed out some very interest-
ing differences
Golden Coast is currently focusing on making
one mead and making it well Called Mirth in
a Bottle itrsquos obvious in talking with Golbeck
that he has an insatiable passion for his craft
ldquoFor me I want to show the best expression of
the honey varietalrdquo he waxes ldquoThatrsquos what Irsquom
afterrdquo
ldquoWe start with a wonderfully aromatic orange
blossom honey and make the mead semisweet
and sparkling which really makes the citrus fla
vor pop and that surprises a lot of people Th
character isnrsquot nearly as noticeable in the bas
honey but it comes through beautifully in th
finished mead We use a red-wine yeast for th
fermentation which adds these complex flor
notes that I just love But ultimately itrsquos all t
highlight the nuances naturally present in th
honeyrdquo
Are you reading this all in disbelief remem
bering a cloying sickeningly sweet mead th
you tried at ye olde Renaissance Faire Wel
I implore you to give it another shot There
a world of great meads out there waiting to b
enjoyed Some are sweet or semisweet whil
others can be quite dry with different carbon
ation levels ranging from still to sparking o
somewhere in between called semi-sparklin
or peacutetillant [Yoursquoll thank me when thatrsquos
question on Jeopardy some day] It might tak
a bit of searching but therersquos been a growin
buzz thatrsquos getting mead onto more and mor
shelves And while I can drone on and on fodays reading about them is nowhere near a
great as tasting them
HONEY VARIETAL SAMPLING OF AROMA FLAVOR CHARACTERISTIC
MESQUITE Pipe tobacco smoke wood earthy vanilla pepper cinnamon Cheddar cheese min
ORANGE BLOSSOM Citrus orange blossom honey 1047298oral pear vanilla apple white grape almon
TUPELO Apple pepper wood mint white grape cinnamon marshmallow caramel 1047298oral cider pe
WHITE SAGE Earthy minty menthol musty herbal pepper spicy light smoke sauerkrau
STAR THISTLE Floral grassy 1047297g cinnamon nutmeg lavender vanilla butter caramel pin
BASSWOOD Menthol thyme oregano white wine butter earthy wood caramel citrus pepp
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1922
TALKING THE TALK
BRAGGOT A hybrid of mead and beer brewed with honey and malt
CYSER A hybrid of mead and cider made with honey and apple juice
HYDROMEL Lighter lower alcohol mead
MELOMEL Mead fermented with any variety of fruit
METHEGLIN Mead brewed with herbs spices or hops
PYMENT A hybrid of mead and wine made with honey and grape juice
SACK MEAD Higher alcohol mead typically above 14 abv
TEJ A popular Ethiopian style of mead made with a bitter species of buck
thorn known as Gesho
Golden Coast Mead is available for purchase
in several locations throughout San Diego
County but can be shipped nationwide
through wwwgoldencoastmeadcom Gol-beck also offered a list of some of his favor-
ite meads and meaderies B Nektar Meadery
(MI) WineHaven Stinger Honeywine (MN)
Mountain Meadows Mead (CA) Moonlight
Meadery (NH) and Redstone Meadery (CO)
And if yoursquore interested in making your own at
home Golbeck recommends picking up The
Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm
Randy Clemens is the author of The Sriracha
Cookbook and co-author of The Craft of Stone
Brewing Co Liquid Lore Epic Recipes and
Unabashed Arrogance He is also the Media amp
Communications Linchpin at Stone Brewing
Co If yoursquore bored you can follow his musings
on Twitter RandyClemensEsq
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2022
Standing next to fifty-five gallon drums of
honey at Meadery of the Rockies in Pali-
sade Colorado mead maker and owner
Glenn Foster explains his secrets to successful
mead production ldquoWe start with 100 pure
natural orange-blossom honey This California
honey has been the standard since 1995 because
of its consistent tasterdquo describes Foster whose
award-wining melomels are very popular withconsumers Because the meadery -- originally
known as the Rocky Mountain Meadery -- does
so much with fruit-blended meads they needed
honey that would enhance flavors of many dif-
ferent fruits
Over time they found that orange-blossom
honey carried the flavors of a variety of fruits
better than other types of honey Fosterrsquos favo
ite way to make melomel is to blend the mea
with fruit wine
And it just so happens that he has unlimited ac
cess to many award-winning fruit wines Foste
and wife Natalie own and operate St Kathry
Cellars and Talon Winery also located in Pal
sade The small agricultural community is in thheart of western Coloradorsquos fruit country nea
Grand Junction The area is especially know
for its peaches which are shipped all over th
west and can be found in kitchens as high-brow
as Air Force One ndash the presidentrsquos ride Th
lush valley is designated as The Grand Valley
the oldest and largest AVA (American Viticu
ture Area) in Colorado
The Buzz at Coloradorsquos Oldest Meadery
Article and Photos By Stacey Wittig
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2122
Water is in abundance at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains ndash Palisade is right on the Colorado
River ndash and the Fosters use pure Rocky Moun-
tain water for their entire mead making ldquoWelearned the old tricks and discovered some new
ones along the wayrdquo reveals Foster who
personally directs the production of each batch
of mead The mead maker brought some secrets
with him when he bought the meadery in 2008
He had previously worked as the of ficial wine-
maker at Twin Rivers Winery in Grand Junc-
tion and also in the California wine industryldquoMy father founded Ravenswood Winery [So-
noma] when I was twelve [in 1976] ldquoWe were
glass droppers as children I came to Colora-
do in rsquo82 to go to school In 1993 I went back
to Ravenwood In 1995 while visiting my in-
laws we discovered Grand Valley We decided
to move here that day and put a deposit on a
rental houserdquo laughs the impulsive vintner
He worked for various Grand Valley winerie
for about ten years until he got tired of makin
OPW (other peoplesrsquo wine)
Mead production has quadrupled since 1995
Foster is proud that his meadery is the fir
meadery in Colorado ldquoOur roots go way backMead is authentic ndash millennials are looking fo
something authentic and differentrdquo he say
Mead flavored with apricots peaches straw
berries cherries and raspberries are trendy righ
now The Cherries lsquon Honey just won Gold i
the 2012 Denver International Wine Compet
tion
Meadery of the Rockiesrsquo automated bottlinline can cork or screw cap thirty-six bottle
per minute Their twenty-three tanks range i
size from 160 to 3000 gallons Meads sell fo
$1195 ndash $3495 per bottle When you visi
sample up to five meads free in the comfy tas
ing room (only $1 per sample after that) Wh
might you see there Visitors from as far awa
as Japan mead lovers from California Colo
rado and Utah and maybe even Emilio Estevewho has been known to stop in for a taste
Meadery of the Rockies 3701 G Road
Palisade Colorado (970) 464-7899 Open Da
ly 10-5 wwwmeaderyoftherockiescom
Stacey Wittig is a travel writer based in Flag
staff AZ Her culinary adventures have led he
up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpilars and roasted guinea pig across the plains o
northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago en
joying steamed barnacles and through the vine
yards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classico
ldquoThe Grand Canyon State is a remarkable plac
to call homerdquo declares the wandering write
Get more travel tips at wwwVagabondinglulu
com
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1822
course if yoursquod like to add in adjuncts such as
fruit or spices how long itrsquos aged and whether
or not thatrsquos on oakhellipthe combinations really
are unlimitedrdquo
In regards to the honey varietal Susan Ruud
and Gordon Strongmdashrecognized as Grand Mas-
ter level judges by the Beer Judge Certification
Programmdashconducted ldquoThe Great Honey Ex-
perimentrdquo which had a group of people gauge
six different meads identical in every respect
except for the type of honey used Their meads
presented and evaluated at the 2010 National
Homebrewers Conference had some common-
alities but also pointed out some very interest-
ing differences
Golden Coast is currently focusing on making
one mead and making it well Called Mirth in
a Bottle itrsquos obvious in talking with Golbeck
that he has an insatiable passion for his craft
ldquoFor me I want to show the best expression of
the honey varietalrdquo he waxes ldquoThatrsquos what Irsquom
afterrdquo
ldquoWe start with a wonderfully aromatic orange
blossom honey and make the mead semisweet
and sparkling which really makes the citrus fla
vor pop and that surprises a lot of people Th
character isnrsquot nearly as noticeable in the bas
honey but it comes through beautifully in th
finished mead We use a red-wine yeast for th
fermentation which adds these complex flor
notes that I just love But ultimately itrsquos all t
highlight the nuances naturally present in th
honeyrdquo
Are you reading this all in disbelief remem
bering a cloying sickeningly sweet mead th
you tried at ye olde Renaissance Faire Wel
I implore you to give it another shot There
a world of great meads out there waiting to b
enjoyed Some are sweet or semisweet whil
others can be quite dry with different carbon
ation levels ranging from still to sparking o
somewhere in between called semi-sparklin
or peacutetillant [Yoursquoll thank me when thatrsquos
question on Jeopardy some day] It might tak
a bit of searching but therersquos been a growin
buzz thatrsquos getting mead onto more and mor
shelves And while I can drone on and on fodays reading about them is nowhere near a
great as tasting them
HONEY VARIETAL SAMPLING OF AROMA FLAVOR CHARACTERISTIC
MESQUITE Pipe tobacco smoke wood earthy vanilla pepper cinnamon Cheddar cheese min
ORANGE BLOSSOM Citrus orange blossom honey 1047298oral pear vanilla apple white grape almon
TUPELO Apple pepper wood mint white grape cinnamon marshmallow caramel 1047298oral cider pe
WHITE SAGE Earthy minty menthol musty herbal pepper spicy light smoke sauerkrau
STAR THISTLE Floral grassy 1047297g cinnamon nutmeg lavender vanilla butter caramel pin
BASSWOOD Menthol thyme oregano white wine butter earthy wood caramel citrus pepp
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1922
TALKING THE TALK
BRAGGOT A hybrid of mead and beer brewed with honey and malt
CYSER A hybrid of mead and cider made with honey and apple juice
HYDROMEL Lighter lower alcohol mead
MELOMEL Mead fermented with any variety of fruit
METHEGLIN Mead brewed with herbs spices or hops
PYMENT A hybrid of mead and wine made with honey and grape juice
SACK MEAD Higher alcohol mead typically above 14 abv
TEJ A popular Ethiopian style of mead made with a bitter species of buck
thorn known as Gesho
Golden Coast Mead is available for purchase
in several locations throughout San Diego
County but can be shipped nationwide
through wwwgoldencoastmeadcom Gol-beck also offered a list of some of his favor-
ite meads and meaderies B Nektar Meadery
(MI) WineHaven Stinger Honeywine (MN)
Mountain Meadows Mead (CA) Moonlight
Meadery (NH) and Redstone Meadery (CO)
And if yoursquore interested in making your own at
home Golbeck recommends picking up The
Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm
Randy Clemens is the author of The Sriracha
Cookbook and co-author of The Craft of Stone
Brewing Co Liquid Lore Epic Recipes and
Unabashed Arrogance He is also the Media amp
Communications Linchpin at Stone Brewing
Co If yoursquore bored you can follow his musings
on Twitter RandyClemensEsq
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2022
Standing next to fifty-five gallon drums of
honey at Meadery of the Rockies in Pali-
sade Colorado mead maker and owner
Glenn Foster explains his secrets to successful
mead production ldquoWe start with 100 pure
natural orange-blossom honey This California
honey has been the standard since 1995 because
of its consistent tasterdquo describes Foster whose
award-wining melomels are very popular withconsumers Because the meadery -- originally
known as the Rocky Mountain Meadery -- does
so much with fruit-blended meads they needed
honey that would enhance flavors of many dif-
ferent fruits
Over time they found that orange-blossom
honey carried the flavors of a variety of fruits
better than other types of honey Fosterrsquos favo
ite way to make melomel is to blend the mea
with fruit wine
And it just so happens that he has unlimited ac
cess to many award-winning fruit wines Foste
and wife Natalie own and operate St Kathry
Cellars and Talon Winery also located in Pal
sade The small agricultural community is in thheart of western Coloradorsquos fruit country nea
Grand Junction The area is especially know
for its peaches which are shipped all over th
west and can be found in kitchens as high-brow
as Air Force One ndash the presidentrsquos ride Th
lush valley is designated as The Grand Valley
the oldest and largest AVA (American Viticu
ture Area) in Colorado
The Buzz at Coloradorsquos Oldest Meadery
Article and Photos By Stacey Wittig
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2122
Water is in abundance at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains ndash Palisade is right on the Colorado
River ndash and the Fosters use pure Rocky Moun-
tain water for their entire mead making ldquoWelearned the old tricks and discovered some new
ones along the wayrdquo reveals Foster who
personally directs the production of each batch
of mead The mead maker brought some secrets
with him when he bought the meadery in 2008
He had previously worked as the of ficial wine-
maker at Twin Rivers Winery in Grand Junc-
tion and also in the California wine industryldquoMy father founded Ravenswood Winery [So-
noma] when I was twelve [in 1976] ldquoWe were
glass droppers as children I came to Colora-
do in rsquo82 to go to school In 1993 I went back
to Ravenwood In 1995 while visiting my in-
laws we discovered Grand Valley We decided
to move here that day and put a deposit on a
rental houserdquo laughs the impulsive vintner
He worked for various Grand Valley winerie
for about ten years until he got tired of makin
OPW (other peoplesrsquo wine)
Mead production has quadrupled since 1995
Foster is proud that his meadery is the fir
meadery in Colorado ldquoOur roots go way backMead is authentic ndash millennials are looking fo
something authentic and differentrdquo he say
Mead flavored with apricots peaches straw
berries cherries and raspberries are trendy righ
now The Cherries lsquon Honey just won Gold i
the 2012 Denver International Wine Compet
tion
Meadery of the Rockiesrsquo automated bottlinline can cork or screw cap thirty-six bottle
per minute Their twenty-three tanks range i
size from 160 to 3000 gallons Meads sell fo
$1195 ndash $3495 per bottle When you visi
sample up to five meads free in the comfy tas
ing room (only $1 per sample after that) Wh
might you see there Visitors from as far awa
as Japan mead lovers from California Colo
rado and Utah and maybe even Emilio Estevewho has been known to stop in for a taste
Meadery of the Rockies 3701 G Road
Palisade Colorado (970) 464-7899 Open Da
ly 10-5 wwwmeaderyoftherockiescom
Stacey Wittig is a travel writer based in Flag
staff AZ Her culinary adventures have led he
up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpilars and roasted guinea pig across the plains o
northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago en
joying steamed barnacles and through the vine
yards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classico
ldquoThe Grand Canyon State is a remarkable plac
to call homerdquo declares the wandering write
Get more travel tips at wwwVagabondinglulu
com
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 1922
TALKING THE TALK
BRAGGOT A hybrid of mead and beer brewed with honey and malt
CYSER A hybrid of mead and cider made with honey and apple juice
HYDROMEL Lighter lower alcohol mead
MELOMEL Mead fermented with any variety of fruit
METHEGLIN Mead brewed with herbs spices or hops
PYMENT A hybrid of mead and wine made with honey and grape juice
SACK MEAD Higher alcohol mead typically above 14 abv
TEJ A popular Ethiopian style of mead made with a bitter species of buck
thorn known as Gesho
Golden Coast Mead is available for purchase
in several locations throughout San Diego
County but can be shipped nationwide
through wwwgoldencoastmeadcom Gol-beck also offered a list of some of his favor-
ite meads and meaderies B Nektar Meadery
(MI) WineHaven Stinger Honeywine (MN)
Mountain Meadows Mead (CA) Moonlight
Meadery (NH) and Redstone Meadery (CO)
And if yoursquore interested in making your own at
home Golbeck recommends picking up The
Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm
Randy Clemens is the author of The Sriracha
Cookbook and co-author of The Craft of Stone
Brewing Co Liquid Lore Epic Recipes and
Unabashed Arrogance He is also the Media amp
Communications Linchpin at Stone Brewing
Co If yoursquore bored you can follow his musings
on Twitter RandyClemensEsq
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2022
Standing next to fifty-five gallon drums of
honey at Meadery of the Rockies in Pali-
sade Colorado mead maker and owner
Glenn Foster explains his secrets to successful
mead production ldquoWe start with 100 pure
natural orange-blossom honey This California
honey has been the standard since 1995 because
of its consistent tasterdquo describes Foster whose
award-wining melomels are very popular withconsumers Because the meadery -- originally
known as the Rocky Mountain Meadery -- does
so much with fruit-blended meads they needed
honey that would enhance flavors of many dif-
ferent fruits
Over time they found that orange-blossom
honey carried the flavors of a variety of fruits
better than other types of honey Fosterrsquos favo
ite way to make melomel is to blend the mea
with fruit wine
And it just so happens that he has unlimited ac
cess to many award-winning fruit wines Foste
and wife Natalie own and operate St Kathry
Cellars and Talon Winery also located in Pal
sade The small agricultural community is in thheart of western Coloradorsquos fruit country nea
Grand Junction The area is especially know
for its peaches which are shipped all over th
west and can be found in kitchens as high-brow
as Air Force One ndash the presidentrsquos ride Th
lush valley is designated as The Grand Valley
the oldest and largest AVA (American Viticu
ture Area) in Colorado
The Buzz at Coloradorsquos Oldest Meadery
Article and Photos By Stacey Wittig
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2122
Water is in abundance at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains ndash Palisade is right on the Colorado
River ndash and the Fosters use pure Rocky Moun-
tain water for their entire mead making ldquoWelearned the old tricks and discovered some new
ones along the wayrdquo reveals Foster who
personally directs the production of each batch
of mead The mead maker brought some secrets
with him when he bought the meadery in 2008
He had previously worked as the of ficial wine-
maker at Twin Rivers Winery in Grand Junc-
tion and also in the California wine industryldquoMy father founded Ravenswood Winery [So-
noma] when I was twelve [in 1976] ldquoWe were
glass droppers as children I came to Colora-
do in rsquo82 to go to school In 1993 I went back
to Ravenwood In 1995 while visiting my in-
laws we discovered Grand Valley We decided
to move here that day and put a deposit on a
rental houserdquo laughs the impulsive vintner
He worked for various Grand Valley winerie
for about ten years until he got tired of makin
OPW (other peoplesrsquo wine)
Mead production has quadrupled since 1995
Foster is proud that his meadery is the fir
meadery in Colorado ldquoOur roots go way backMead is authentic ndash millennials are looking fo
something authentic and differentrdquo he say
Mead flavored with apricots peaches straw
berries cherries and raspberries are trendy righ
now The Cherries lsquon Honey just won Gold i
the 2012 Denver International Wine Compet
tion
Meadery of the Rockiesrsquo automated bottlinline can cork or screw cap thirty-six bottle
per minute Their twenty-three tanks range i
size from 160 to 3000 gallons Meads sell fo
$1195 ndash $3495 per bottle When you visi
sample up to five meads free in the comfy tas
ing room (only $1 per sample after that) Wh
might you see there Visitors from as far awa
as Japan mead lovers from California Colo
rado and Utah and maybe even Emilio Estevewho has been known to stop in for a taste
Meadery of the Rockies 3701 G Road
Palisade Colorado (970) 464-7899 Open Da
ly 10-5 wwwmeaderyoftherockiescom
Stacey Wittig is a travel writer based in Flag
staff AZ Her culinary adventures have led he
up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpilars and roasted guinea pig across the plains o
northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago en
joying steamed barnacles and through the vine
yards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classico
ldquoThe Grand Canyon State is a remarkable plac
to call homerdquo declares the wandering write
Get more travel tips at wwwVagabondinglulu
com
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2022
Standing next to fifty-five gallon drums of
honey at Meadery of the Rockies in Pali-
sade Colorado mead maker and owner
Glenn Foster explains his secrets to successful
mead production ldquoWe start with 100 pure
natural orange-blossom honey This California
honey has been the standard since 1995 because
of its consistent tasterdquo describes Foster whose
award-wining melomels are very popular withconsumers Because the meadery -- originally
known as the Rocky Mountain Meadery -- does
so much with fruit-blended meads they needed
honey that would enhance flavors of many dif-
ferent fruits
Over time they found that orange-blossom
honey carried the flavors of a variety of fruits
better than other types of honey Fosterrsquos favo
ite way to make melomel is to blend the mea
with fruit wine
And it just so happens that he has unlimited ac
cess to many award-winning fruit wines Foste
and wife Natalie own and operate St Kathry
Cellars and Talon Winery also located in Pal
sade The small agricultural community is in thheart of western Coloradorsquos fruit country nea
Grand Junction The area is especially know
for its peaches which are shipped all over th
west and can be found in kitchens as high-brow
as Air Force One ndash the presidentrsquos ride Th
lush valley is designated as The Grand Valley
the oldest and largest AVA (American Viticu
ture Area) in Colorado
The Buzz at Coloradorsquos Oldest Meadery
Article and Photos By Stacey Wittig
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2122
Water is in abundance at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains ndash Palisade is right on the Colorado
River ndash and the Fosters use pure Rocky Moun-
tain water for their entire mead making ldquoWelearned the old tricks and discovered some new
ones along the wayrdquo reveals Foster who
personally directs the production of each batch
of mead The mead maker brought some secrets
with him when he bought the meadery in 2008
He had previously worked as the of ficial wine-
maker at Twin Rivers Winery in Grand Junc-
tion and also in the California wine industryldquoMy father founded Ravenswood Winery [So-
noma] when I was twelve [in 1976] ldquoWe were
glass droppers as children I came to Colora-
do in rsquo82 to go to school In 1993 I went back
to Ravenwood In 1995 while visiting my in-
laws we discovered Grand Valley We decided
to move here that day and put a deposit on a
rental houserdquo laughs the impulsive vintner
He worked for various Grand Valley winerie
for about ten years until he got tired of makin
OPW (other peoplesrsquo wine)
Mead production has quadrupled since 1995
Foster is proud that his meadery is the fir
meadery in Colorado ldquoOur roots go way backMead is authentic ndash millennials are looking fo
something authentic and differentrdquo he say
Mead flavored with apricots peaches straw
berries cherries and raspberries are trendy righ
now The Cherries lsquon Honey just won Gold i
the 2012 Denver International Wine Compet
tion
Meadery of the Rockiesrsquo automated bottlinline can cork or screw cap thirty-six bottle
per minute Their twenty-three tanks range i
size from 160 to 3000 gallons Meads sell fo
$1195 ndash $3495 per bottle When you visi
sample up to five meads free in the comfy tas
ing room (only $1 per sample after that) Wh
might you see there Visitors from as far awa
as Japan mead lovers from California Colo
rado and Utah and maybe even Emilio Estevewho has been known to stop in for a taste
Meadery of the Rockies 3701 G Road
Palisade Colorado (970) 464-7899 Open Da
ly 10-5 wwwmeaderyoftherockiescom
Stacey Wittig is a travel writer based in Flag
staff AZ Her culinary adventures have led he
up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpilars and roasted guinea pig across the plains o
northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago en
joying steamed barnacles and through the vine
yards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classico
ldquoThe Grand Canyon State is a remarkable plac
to call homerdquo declares the wandering write
Get more travel tips at wwwVagabondinglulu
com
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2122
Water is in abundance at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains ndash Palisade is right on the Colorado
River ndash and the Fosters use pure Rocky Moun-
tain water for their entire mead making ldquoWelearned the old tricks and discovered some new
ones along the wayrdquo reveals Foster who
personally directs the production of each batch
of mead The mead maker brought some secrets
with him when he bought the meadery in 2008
He had previously worked as the of ficial wine-
maker at Twin Rivers Winery in Grand Junc-
tion and also in the California wine industryldquoMy father founded Ravenswood Winery [So-
noma] when I was twelve [in 1976] ldquoWe were
glass droppers as children I came to Colora-
do in rsquo82 to go to school In 1993 I went back
to Ravenwood In 1995 while visiting my in-
laws we discovered Grand Valley We decided
to move here that day and put a deposit on a
rental houserdquo laughs the impulsive vintner
He worked for various Grand Valley winerie
for about ten years until he got tired of makin
OPW (other peoplesrsquo wine)
Mead production has quadrupled since 1995
Foster is proud that his meadery is the fir
meadery in Colorado ldquoOur roots go way backMead is authentic ndash millennials are looking fo
something authentic and differentrdquo he say
Mead flavored with apricots peaches straw
berries cherries and raspberries are trendy righ
now The Cherries lsquon Honey just won Gold i
the 2012 Denver International Wine Compet
tion
Meadery of the Rockiesrsquo automated bottlinline can cork or screw cap thirty-six bottle
per minute Their twenty-three tanks range i
size from 160 to 3000 gallons Meads sell fo
$1195 ndash $3495 per bottle When you visi
sample up to five meads free in the comfy tas
ing room (only $1 per sample after that) Wh
might you see there Visitors from as far awa
as Japan mead lovers from California Colo
rado and Utah and maybe even Emilio Estevewho has been known to stop in for a taste
Meadery of the Rockies 3701 G Road
Palisade Colorado (970) 464-7899 Open Da
ly 10-5 wwwmeaderyoftherockiescom
Stacey Wittig is a travel writer based in Flag
staff AZ Her culinary adventures have led he
up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpilars and roasted guinea pig across the plains o
northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago en
joying steamed barnacles and through the vine
yards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classico
ldquoThe Grand Canyon State is a remarkable plac
to call homerdquo declares the wandering write
Get more travel tips at wwwVagabondinglulu
com
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2222
8132019 AMMA American Meadmaker 1
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullamma-american-meadmaker-1 2222