Blog - Got Mead? The Largest Mead Resource on the Web

10-20-20 Tonight at 9PM ET GotMead Live will be talking with Roger Wanner and Joe Abruzzo, owners of W A Meadwerks on Long Island in New York. They bill themselves as 'two guys making mead'. But it's more than that. They bootstrapped a meadery out of almost nothing, and are rapidly growing their place, even with all the problems from being in the middle of COVID.

Tonight on Gotmead Live at 9PM ET, it's Fall (at least on the calendar, lol) and our minds are on cysers. Crisp fall evenings, cool temps, and a nice cyser, maybe around the fire with friends. What could be better?Cysers, mead made with apples or apple juice, are a popular mead style, and one that is getting more popular. We decided (really, it was Kevin's idea) that this time of year was great for talking about them, since the apple crop is coming in. And we thought getting the gold medal winners in cysers from 3 competitions, the Valhalla: The Meading of Life, Valkyrie's Horn, and the Mazer Cup would be a great way to do it.So, we got Kevin Meintsma (who proposed the idea literally a few days before discovering he had won the gold at the Mazer Cup), Adam Bystrom who took gold at Valhalla, and Allan Martin, who took the gold in the Valkyrie's Horn.

9-29-20 9-29-20 Tonight on Gotmead Live at 9PM ET, we're meeting with Adam Crockett of Haymaker Meadery to talk about oaking meads. Over the last several shows, we've had a lot of folks asking about oaking meads, and so we're going to talk about that tonight. Adam has been experimenting with oaking for a long time, and gave a talk at MeadCon 2018 with Rocky Mountain Barrels on oak.

9-22-20 Tonight on Gotmead Live at 9PM ET, we're looking forward to talking with Keith Seiz and Alison Wuebbels with the National Honey Board. We'll be finding out what the Honey Board has been up to, and talking about their Honey20 Project, the Mead Crafters Competition (2nd year!), and the Honey Spirits Competition, as well as their other involvement with honey in craft beverages.

9-8-20 Tonight on Gotmead Live at 9PM ET, we're bringing back Sergio, and we're going to turn him and Kevin loose on session meads. So we're going to talk *more* on session meads. Since it's a hot topic both for home and commercial mead makers, and as a mead making approach seems to be approaching one of the most popular styles, we're going to dig further into it.

9-8-20 Tonight on Gotmead Live at 9PM ET, we're bringing back Sergio, and we're going to turn him and Kevin loose on session meads. So we're going to talk *more* on session meads. Since it's a hot topic both for home and commercial mead makers, and as a mead making approach seems to be approaching one of the most popular styles, we're going to dig further into it.

9-1-20 Toinight at 9PM ET we're hanging out with Susan Ruud, owner of Prairie Rose Meadery in Fargo, ND. And we've guest host Kevin Meintsma on with us! We'll be talking on mead (of course), particularly spiced mead, as well as what it's been like running a meadery during COVID.

8-18-20 Pyments, mead made with grapes and/or grape juice, is a popular topic in meadmaking recently. There are endless possibilities in making pyments, and we've tried some really amazing ones. We're doing a dive into pyments over the next couple shows, and decided to bring in Peter Bakulic to talk about them. Pete has extensive experience in both winemaking and meadmaking.

8-18-20 Pyments, mead made with grapes and/or grape juice, is a popular topic in meadmaking recently. There are endless possibilities in making pyments, and we've tried some really amazing ones. We're doing a dive into pyments over the next couple shows, and decided to bring in Peter Bakulic to talk about them. Pete has extensive experience in both winemaking and meadmaking.

8-11-20 Tonight at 9PM ET, we are continuing our regional mead makers series and talking with Billy Beltz, Erick Holden and Harold Gulbransen, all in Southern California. Each is a very talented meadmaker, and we'll talking about (of course) meadmaking, and how they do things in SoCal.

8-4-20 Tonight at 9PM ET, we are going to talk more about session meads, which are the hottest thing in meadmaking these days. We'll be chatting with Rob Ratlff, author of "The Big Book of Mead Recipes" and "Let There Be Melomels", popular books of mead recipes. Rob's next book will be "Let There be Session Meads". We're also bringing in Kevin Meintsma, a very talented session mead maker. The conversation should be really good!

6-9-20 Tonight at 9PM ET, we're continuing our series, bringing on a group of talented meadmakers to talk shop, and going to Arizona. We'll be talking with Carvin Wilson, Allen Martin and Warren Earle. These gentlemen are prominent in the southwest brewing scene, and bring some powerful mead making chops to the table.

6-2-20 Tonight at 9PM ET, we're continuing our series, bringing on a group of talented meadmakers to talk shop, and we're starting in the midwest, this is part 2. We'll be talking with Adam Bystrom, Josh Holbrook and Matt Weide. They are part of a number of talented meadmakers in Minnesota that are making some seriously amazing meads, and each of them is making some amazing award winning meads. We're going to be talking mead, how they got into making it, what they've learned and what they're making now.

5-26-20 Tonight at 9PM ET, we're taking a different tack, we're bringing on a group of talented meadmakers to talk shop, and we're starting in the midwest. We'll be talking with Kevin Meintsma, Steve Fletty and Josh Mahoney. They are part of a meadmaking group in Minnesota that is making some seriously amazing meads, and each of them is an accomplished meadmaker. We're going to be talking mead, how they got into making it, what they've learned and what they're making now.

5-19-20 Tonight at 9PM ET, we'll be talking with Tom Repas, Master Beekeeper and owner of Canyon Rim Honey Bees, providing bees and honey in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Tom speaks on beekeeping all over the country, and has presented several times at the AMMA MeadCon on both beekeeping and meadmaking. Tom has won a large number of awards for his mead as well. We'll be talking bees, breeding and hive management, and also about making great mead.

5-12-20 Tonight at 9PM ET, we'll be talking with Aaron Schavey and Geoff Allen, owners of Boneflower Craft Mead in 'the Region' in northwest Indiana. Aaron and Geoff have been making waves with their mead for a few years now, and formalized their mead making by opening Boneflower in 2018. Geoff and Aaron are a couple of guys and a hobby that turned serious...sort of. After years of participating in the craft beverage scene, an introduction to Mead started them in an entirely new direction.

4-28-20 Tonight at 9PM ET we're talking with Matt Weide, a long time homebrewer and meadmaker. We'll be chatting on interesting things including alternative sugars in mead (like inverts, maple syrup and the like) and how they can be used in fermentation, bochet tips and tricks, making rhubarb mead, playing with honeyberries, the AMMA Home Governing Committee elections and the Valkyries' Horn competition. Matt has been home brewing for over 20 years. He began making mead in 1998, but didn't get serious about it until 2007, when he took a BJCP exam prep class and found out just how good mead could be. Since then, Matt has been the Vice President of the Minnesota Home Brewers Association, won the AHA Meadmaker of the Year award in 2014, and has given talks on bochet style meads at the National Homebrewer's Conference and MeadCon. Most recently, Matt has helped start the Valkyrie's Horn Mead competition and in 2020 was elected to the AMMA Home Governing Committee Come on in and have a listen! Join us on the live chat and don't be afraid to call in if you want to! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Coming up: May 5 - we'll be off Show links and notes Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff Take part in Kevin Meintsma's Hydromel Study - email [email protected] and he'll send you questions Honeyberry information Love Honeyberry University of Saskachewan Haskap Info The Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm Apple varietals and where they grow - http://orangepippen.com National Honey Board Mead Crafter Compeitition Upcoming Events July 22-25 Mazer Cup International, Broomfield, CO September 26-28 AMMA MeadCon, Broomfield, CO Due to the pandemic, most meaderies cannot have events or open their taprooms, and are offering their mead via online and pickup service. You can find an ongoing list at https://gotmead.com/meaderies/support-meaderies-during-coronavirus-where-to-get-mead-online-and-pickup/ Visit our mead directory at https://gotmead.com/commercial-mead/ Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

4-21-20 Tonight at 9PM ET we're talking with Kevin Meintsma, a prolific and talented meadmaker who is quite humble about his very well made meads. Kevin has been making mead since 1995, his first one being with a very dark honey that he later learned was eastern buckwheat (it had also been sitting in the workshop for 12 years!). It also had cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and used champagne yeast. And no temp control or nutrients. That turned out, not surprisingly, poorly, lol. Kevin then opted to avoid mead until 2017 after that. He's been a homebrewer since the early 80's, and did stovetop extract brewing (as that was all there was at that point), using a scavanged pot. He did that for a few years, then stepped away to focus on life, work and family until 2010. Then, after coming back from a work assignment in England for 7 months, he got serious again about homebrewing and began making brews and entering competitions. He stewarded and judged at the Minnesota Mashout that year, and a few years later got his BJCP certification. He went on to get his Mead Judge endorsement as well. Since then, Kevin has taken multiple Best of Show awards for beer, cider and mead, including a beer Pro-AM with Minneapolis based Town Hall Brewing that sent him to the GABF Pro-AM competition. He notes this was one of the highlights of his brewing hobby. Fast forward to 2017, Kevin had brewed around 85% of the 2015 beer style guidelines, and 90% of the cider guidelines, he decided to come back to mead for a new challenge. His 3rd mead was a pyment which took first place at the Minnesota State Fair (to his surprise). His 4th mead was a cyser made in the fall from local apples he got via the Primary Fermenters club. During the Minnesota Homebrewer's Association annual holiday party in December, Matt Weide tasted the cyser and declared it better than his! So Kevin entered it in the AHA 2018 Nationals where it got a gold in the first round, and a 2nd in the final round, totally shocking Kevin. So, in 2019, he found the Mazer Cup. He attended and was shocked to take two medals and a should out from Josh Mahoney, one is his local mead heroes. He also got involved with a local group of mead makers and then went on to help found the Valkyries Horn Mead Competition, which was held for the first time in September 2019. Kevin has focused on process and technique, more than ingredients or yeast. Nearly all his medals and best of shows he's gotten have used 'generic' ingredients and prosaic yeast choices, which he did deliberately, due to a tight budget. He wanted a good grasp of technique so he can do justice to the many honey varietals that are available now. Come on in and have a listen! Join us on the live chat and don't be afraid to call in if you want to! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Coming up: April 28 - Matt Weide Show links and notes Have ideas or questions on making hydromels, send Kevin an email! The Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm Apple varietals and where they grow - http://orangepippen.com National Honey Board Mead Crafter Compeitition Upcoming Events July 22-25 Mazer Cup International, Broomfield, CO September 26-28 AMMA MeadCon, Broomfield, CO Due to the pandemic, most meaderies cannot have events or open their taprooms, and are offering their mead via online and pickup service. You can find an ongoing list at https://gotmead.com/meaderies/support-meaderies-during-coronavirus-where-to-get-mead-online-and-pickup/ Visit our mead directory at https://gotmead.com/commercial-mead/ Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

4-14-20 Tonight at 9PM ET we're talking with Scott Schaar, head brewer at Crawford Brew Works and former distiller at Mississippi River Distilling Company. He is a BJCP beer and mead judge. Scot was the 2017 AHA Meadmaker of the Year (MMOTY) and shared the 2019 MMOTY award with Michael Wilcox and Carvin Wilson. He was the 2015 East Coast MMOTY; has won multiple mead, beer, and cider bests of show; and has had his recipes professionally made by Moonlight Meadery and Prairie Rose Meadery. Scot and his wife Karen earned their Level 5 certification in the European Mead Judging Programme this past year while judging the Kings of Mead competition in Poznań, Poland. Scott is very active in meadmaking, and turns up often in the Modern Mead Makers and GotMead Facebook groups. He was one of two people awarded an honorary Polish 'passport', along with Bob Slanzi, for his Polish style meads, which are excellent. Scott has also been active in promoting mead in his area and in his homebrew club, the St. Paul Homebrewer's Club, which also, in conjunction with the Minnesota Home Brewers Association puts on the Minnesota Mashout, one of the larger homebrew competitions in the US. We're going to talk mead, beer and whatever else comes up! Come on in and have a listen! Join us on the live chat and don't be afraid to call in if you want to! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Coming up: April 21 - Kevin Meintsma Show links and notes The Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm Apple varietals and where they grow - http://orangepippen.com National Honey Board Mead Crafter Compeitition Upcoming Events July 22-25 Mazer Cup International, Broomfield, CO September 26-28 AMMA MeadCon, Broomfield, CO Due to the pandemic, most meaderies cannot have events or open their taprooms, and are offering their mead via online and pickup service. You can find an ongoing list at https://gotmead.com/meaderies/support-meaderies-during-coronavirus-where-to-get-mead-online-and-pickup/ Visit our mead directory at https://gotmead.com/commercial-mead/ Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

4-7-20 Tonight at 9PM ET we're happy to have the opportunity to hang out with Ken Schramm, owner of Schramm's Mead in Ferndale, MI. If you're new to the mead world, you may not be familiar with Ken (I'm sure there are one or two of you, lol). Ken, oft referred to as 'The Godfather of Mead' and is the author of The Compleat Meadmaker, arguably the book that launched a mead making revolution. Many meadmakers learned a lot about mead and meadmaking from Ken and his book. “The Compleat Meadmaker,” is the current reference text of record on mead making. It has sold more than 70,000 copies. Ken has been a beer brewer, mead maker and student of honey, fruit and spice since 1988. He co-founded the Mazer Cup Mead Competition in 1992, the world’s oldest and largest mead-only competition. He has presented at brewing, meadmaking and winemaking conferences from Delaware to Alaska over the past 20+ years, starting in 1994 with the first “Mead Matrix” with Dr. Dan McConnell – a flight of twelve meads made with the same recipe: six from the same honey and different yeast strains, and six with the same yeast strain and different varietal honeys. Ken lives in Troy, Michigan. Schramm's Mead is Ken's commercial meadery in Ferndale, MI, and it's there that he puts his meadmaking skills to the test, creating a number of amazing meads, including his famous 'Heart of Darkness', made entirely of fruit grown on Ken's property, and thus a small batch that is highly prized, and now legendary in mead circles. Ken is also the owner of Schramm’s Orchards, a 6.1-acre orchard in Rochester Hills, Michigan. He has raised dozens of varieties of cherries, apples peaches, plums and berries. Come on in and have a listen! Join us on the live chat and don't be afraid to call in if you want to! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Coming up: April 14 - Scott Scharr Show links and notes The Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm Apple varietals and where they grow - http://orangepippen.com National Honey Board Mead Crafter Compeitition Upcoming Events July 22-25 Mazer Cup International, Broomfield, CO September 26-28 AMMA MeadCon, Broomfield, CO Due to the pandemic, most meaderies cannot have events or open their taprooms, and are offering their mead via online and pickup service. You can find an ongoing list at https://gotmead.com/meaderies/support-meaderies-during-coronavirus-where-to-get-mead-online-and-pickup/ Visit our mead directory at https://gotmead.com/commercial-mead/ Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

We're back from a break that *should* have been because of MeadCon and Mazer Cup, but sadly we did not get to celebrate either of those events because of postponements. Make sure you're online or doing pickups to #buymead!We are tickled to have Pete Bakulic back tonight, it's been quite a while since we've been able to get him on the show.If you don't know of Pete, either you're new to the mead scene, or you've been hiding under a rock! Pete is President of the Mazer Cup International and a member of the American Mead Makers Association Home Governing Committee. He's been making mead for 40 plus years now, and does it *very* well. Pete is a regular poster and commenter on several mead groups on Facebook, and is a moderator on GotMead and Modern Mead Makers there. He's also an admin here on the GotMead forums, and one of our most prolific posters.

3-31-20 We're back from a break that *should* have been because of MeadCon and Mazer Cup, but sadly we did not get to celebrate either of those events because of postponements. Make sure you're online or doing pickups to #buymead! We are tickled to have Pete Bakulic back tonight, it's been quite a while since we've been able to get him on the show. If you don't know of Pete, either you're new to the mead scene, or you've been hiding under a rock! Pete is President of the Mazer Cup International and a member of the American Mead Makers Association Home Governing Committee. He's been making mead for 40 plus years now, and does it *very* well. Pete is a regular poster and commenter on several mead groups on Facebook, and is a moderator on GotMead and Modern Mead Makers there. He's also an admin here on the GotMead forums, and one of our most prolific posters. Pete was the first person on GotMead, wayyyy back in the early days (last century!), to talk about oaking mead during and after fermentation, also to talk about fermentation tannins, filtering (Enolmatic), lees exposure, blending different honeys in mead, combining dark honey and light honey for different characters and flavors in mead, and using a lees stirrer to blend your honey completely into the must. He broke a lot of ground on the forums, and helped countless mead makers to learn to make better mead. And he's a multiple award winning mead maker, including the first meadmaker to win Best of Show at the California State Fair Homebrew competition with an oaked sweet traditional Orange Blossom Mead in 2006. So join us tonight to talk mead with Pete! Join us on the live chat and don't be afraid to call in if you want to! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Coming up: April 7 - Ken Schramm Show links and notes Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper by C. Marina Marchese The Honey Connoisseur by C. Marina Marchese and Kim Flottum National Honey Board Mead Crafter Compeitition Penn Herb Co San Francisco Herbs Wellcome Mead: 105 Mead Recipes from the 17th and 18th Century English Receipt Books at the Wellcome Library by Laura Angotti Cider and Perry in Britain to 1700: A Collection of Material from Primary and Selected Secondary Sources by Laura Angotti Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events July 22-25 Mazer Cup International, Broomfield, CO September 26-28 AMMA MeadCon, Broomfield, CO Due to the pandemic, most meaderies cannot have events or open their taprooms, and are offering their mead via online and pickup service. You can find an ongoing list at https://gotmead.com/meaderies/support-meaderies-during-coronavirus-where-to-get-mead-online-and-pickup/ Visit our mead directory at https://gotmead.com/commercial-mead/ Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

3-3-20 Tonight at 9PM ET GotMead Live will be talking with Steve Patik, an accomplished and award winning mead maker who will be speaking at the AMMA MeadCon in two weeks on braggots, along with Andy Brewer from Locavore Beerworks. Steve discovered mead over Thanksgiving dinner in 2012, and a year later was making it. Since then, Steve has been making mead in unconventional ways, yet successful. Steve is a regular entrant in mead competitions all over the country, and he consistently does really well, even taking a Best in Show now and again. His favorite styles to work with are traditionals and braggots, and he really shines with his braggots and is known for them in the mead world. We'll have a bit shorter show tonight, as Steve has a late commitment this evening, but we'll have fun talking shop about braggots and other meadly things! Join us on the live chat and don't be afraid to call in if you want to! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Coming up: March 10, 17 and 24th off for MeadCon final prep, the event, and recovery (I'll have no voice) Show links and notes Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper by C. Marina Marchese The Honey Connoisseur by C. Marina Marchese and Kim Flottum National Honey Board Mead Crafter Compeitition Penn Herb Co San Francisco Herbs Wellcome Mead: 105 Mead Recipes from the 17th and 18th Century English Receipt Books at the Wellcome Library by Laura Angotti Cider and Perry in Britain to 1700: A Collection of Material from Primary and Selected Secondary Sources by Laura Angotti Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events March 6 - Bos Meadery, Madison, WI - Music with the Dead Johhnys and Butter Brick March 7 - Kvlt Mead, Tacoma, WA - One Year Anniversary March 7 - Brimming Horn Meadery, Milton, DE - Bastion's Wake with Matt Barlow and Freddie Vidales March 11-12 - Ancient Fire Mead & Cider, Manchester, NH - 2nd Birthday Celebration March 13 - Grimsby Hollow Meadery, Middleville, MI - Zachary Craft, music March 17 - MeadCon Meadery Open Houses at Queen Bee Meadery (Denver) and Honnibrook Meadery (Castle Rock) March 18-19 - MeadCon 2020, Broomfield, CO - 2 days of seminars and the MeadUp mead tasting event March 20-21 - Mazer Cup International Mead Competition and Mead Mixer Tasting Event (March 20) March 28 - Starrlight Meadery, Pittsboro, NC - Viking Shield Combat April 3 - Clear Skies Meadery, Gaithersburg, MD - Opening day, 3PM Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

2-25-20 Tonight at 9PM ET GotMead Live will be talking with Roger Wanner and Joe Abruzzo, owners of W A Meadwerks on Long Island in New York. These guys are truly passionate about their mead, and managed to open a meadery in a place that's pretty darn expensive, and do it on a shoestring. Roger will be speaking at MeadCon this year on how they managed to open their meadery with very little up front. W A Meadwerks started in Roger's basement in West Islip after being lucky enough to try commercial meads from Schramms, Superstition and Melovino. They made a few good batches and they dumped a few at the beginning. After the bad batches, they started upgrading Roger's basement. They started to enter some of their meads in local competitions. They won some awards and received some great feed back. At that point they had the insane idea to open a commercial meadery, the idea being that one did not exist on Long Island. They opened their doors in Lindenhurst, Long Island, NY in September of 2018. After being open a little under a year they decided to try and put together an all mead festival on Long Island with the help of their village. The first year of the festival had 6 commercial meaderies, mead sent to them from all over the country along with more than 25 home made meads. The event was wildly successful and will be held again this year. 18 months in and they are have already out grown their production in their current space. On Feb 19th they signed the lease to a second production space and look forward to their growth in 2020. Roger started making beer with kits in his basement, and discovered mead as he dug deeper into craft brewing. He fell in love with it, and with the science of meadmaking. Joe has been in the Long Island bar and restaurant industry for the last 20 years. He also worked in one of the best craft beer bars on Long Island for 7 years and spent a year and a half at a brewery. He's been into craft beer for about 10 years. Join us on the live chat and don't be afraid to call in if you want to! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Coming up: March 3 - Steve Patik - Braggots and other meads March 10, 17 and 24th off for MeadCon final prep, the event, and recovery (I'll have no voice) Show links and notes Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper by C. Marina Marchese The Honey Connoisseur by C. Marina Marchese and Kim Flottum National Honey Board Mead Crafter Compeitition Penn Herb Co San Francisco Herbs Wellcome Mead: 105 Mead Recipes from the 17th and 18th Century English Receipt Books at the Wellcome Library by Laura Angotti Cider and Perry in Britain to 1700: A Collection of Material from Primary and Selected Secondary Sources by Laura Angotti Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events February 28 - Bos Meadery, Madison, WI - Non Prophet Group/Seven Seasons Deep/Robert Halstead February 28 - Fifth Annual Michigan Nordic Fire Festival and Mead Hall - Charlotte, MI February 29 - Brimming Horn Meadery, Milton, DE - Mead, Cider and Fruit Wine pairing with Girl Scout cookies February 29 - Honest Abe Cider House and Meadery, Carson, CA - Soft Opening and Anniversary Party February 29 - Glass Jug Beer Lab-Bottle Shop, Durham, NC - Craft Mead Tasting Experience featuring Apimed, Crafted Artisan and Garagiste Mead March 7 - Kvlt Mead, Tacoma, WA - One Year Anniversary March 7 - Brimming Horn Meadery, Milton, DE - Bastion's Wake with Matt Barlow and Freddie Vidales March 11-12 - Ancient Fire Mead & Cider, Manchester, NH - 2nd Birthday Celebration March 13 - Grimsby Hollow Meadery, Middleville, MI - Zachary Craft, music March 17 - MeadCon Meadery Open Houses at Queen Bee Meadery (Denver) and Honnibrook Meadery (Castle Rock) March 18-19 - MeadCon 2020, Broomfield, CO - 2 days of seminars and the MeadUp mead tasting event March 20-21 - Mazer Cup International Mead Competition and Mead Mixer Tasting Event (March 20) March 28 - Starrlight Meadery, Pittsboro, NC - Viking Shield Combat April 3 - Clear Skies Meadery, Gaithersburg, MD - Opening day, 3PM Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

2-18-20 Tonight at 9PM ET GotMead Live will be talking with Marina Marchese, the Honey Sommelier. Marina will be speaking at MeadCon 2020 this year, talking about honey sensory analysis and dong a live honey tasting. Carla Marina Marchese is a member of the Italian National Register of Experts in the Sensory Analysis of Honey, where she received her formal training as a honey sensory expert. Her book, The Honey Connoisseur co-authored with Kim Flottum (editor of Bee Culture Magazine) parallels the concept of terroir to single - origin honey directly matching floral sources to flavors and conceived the first U.S. honey aroma and flavor wheel. In 2011, Marina established The American Honey Tasting Society as the resource for honey sensory education in the United States. An apiculturist, Marina has also successfully completed the Charles Mraz Apitherapy Course, twice, achieving a deep understanding of products of the beehive and their applications to health and healing. An avid world traveler, Marina has had the opportunity to taste hundreds of new and old world honeys maintaining an impressive private library of honey samples. Most of Marina's work today is consulting for culinary professionals as well as sourcing rare, exotic and exquisite honeys for some of the finest chefs around the country. She is available to create and style honey menus and events or lead guided sensory educational courses for those who would like to train their senses to identify flavors, floral sources, crystallization and defects in honey. Join us on the live chat and don't be afraid to call in if you want to! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Coming up: Feb 25 - Roger Wanner and Joe Abruzzo - WA MeadWerks - Start Up on a Shoestring March 3 - TBA March 10, 17 and 24th off for MeadCon final prep, the event, and recovery (I'll have no voice) Show links and notes Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper by C. Marina Marchese The Honey Connoisseur by C. Marina Marchese and Kim Flottum National Honey Board Mead Crafter Compeitition Penn Herb Co San Francisco Herbs Wellcome Mead: 105 Mead Recipes from the 17th and 18th Century English Receipt Books at the Wellcome Library by Laura Angotti Cider and Perry in Britain to 1700: A Collection of Material from Primary and Selected Secondary Sources by Laura Angotti Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events February 22 - Strad Meadery, Cordoba, CA - Paint and Sip class February 23 - Threadbare Cider and Mead, Pittsburgh, PA - Koji and Tempeh Master Class February 23 - Washington Mead and Cider Cup Deadline February 28 - Fifth Annual Michigan Nordic Fire Festival and Mead Hall - Charlotte, MI February 29 - Brimming Horn Meadery, Milton, DE - Mead, Cider and Fruit Wine pairing with Girl Scout cookies March 7 - Kvlt Mead, Tacoma, WA - One Year Anniversary March 7 - Brimming Horn Meadery, Milton, DE - Bastion's Wake with Matt Barlow and Freddie Vidales March 11-12 - Ancient Fire Mead & Cider, Manchester, NH - 2nd Birthday Celebration March 13 - Grimsby Hollow Meadery, Middleville, MI - Zachary Craft, music March 17 - MeadCon Meadery Open Houses at Queen Bee Meadery (Denver) and Honnibrook Meadery (Castle Rock) March 18-19 - MeadCon 2020, Broomfield, CO - 2 days of seminars and the MeadUp mead tasting event March 20-21 - Mazer Cup International Mead Competition and Mead Mixer Tasting Event (March 20) April 3 - Clear Skies Meadery, Gaithersburg, MD - Opening day, 3PM Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

2-4-20 Tonight at 9PM Eastern we're talking with Keith Seiz, who works with the National Honey Board, and he'll be speaking on Mead Perceptions; On Consumers and Mead Makers at the AMMA MeadCon in Broomfield, CO March 17-19. He'll be talking on whether consumer perceptions of mead match mead maker perceptions. The National Honey Board set out to find the answer to this question and more. This seminar will detail the findings of two surveys the National Honey Board Conducted with consumers and mead makers focused on the marketing of mead. Are mead makers aligned with consumer perceptions or is there a disconnect? At the seminar he'll answer this question and offer ideas on how to position mead based on what consumers are looking for in alcoholic beverages in 2020 and beyond. For the last nine years, Keith has worked with the National Honey Board to promote honey usage in foods, beverages and alcoholic programs. As part of his work, Keith has conducted countless Honey Summits with food and beverage manufacturers, and managed national competitions in the beer, spirits and most recently, mead category. Keith got his professional start in food, writing about the wholesale baking industry. Today, he spends most of his professional time traveling the country educating large food and beverage manufacturers about honey and honey bees. Join us on the live chat and don't be afraid to call in if you want to! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Coming up: February 18 - Marina Marchese - Honey Sommelier Show links and notes National Honey Board Mead Crafter Compeitition Penn Herb Co San Francisco Herbs Wellcome Mead: 105 Mead Recipes from the 17th and 18th Century English Receipt Books at the Wellcome Library by Laura Angotti Cider and Perry in Britain to 1700: A Collection of Material from Primary and Selected Secondary Sources by Laura Angotti Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events February 6 - Mountain Dragon Mazery, Fairmont, WV - Mulled Mead Tastings February 7 - Bos Meadery, Madison, WI - MoodTrain's Last Stop February 7 - Haley's Honey Meadery, Hopewell, VA - Junior Wilson Live February 7-9 - Earle Estates Meadery, Seneca Lake area, NY - Chocolate and Wine tour February 9 - Grimsby Hollow Meadery, Middleville, MI - Drink Mead Learn Things - Open Dungeons and Dragons February 14 - Starrlight Meadery, Pittsboro, NC - Mead and Chocolate February 15 - Meridian Hive, Austin, TX - Mead for Australia Fundraiser February 15 - Meduseld Meadery, Lancaster, PA - Rose and Shamrock Festival February 15 - Meadery Bus Tour, Detroit, MI - visiting Schramm's Mead, B.Nektar Mead and Kuhnhenn Brewery and Meadery February 22 - Strad Meadery, Cordoba, CA - Paint and Sip class February 23 - Threadbare Cider and Mead, Pittsburgh, PA - Koji and Tempeh Master Class February 23 - Washington Mead and Cider Cup Deadline February 28 - Fifth Annual Michigan Nordic Fire Festival and Mead Hall - Charlotte, MI March 13 - Grimsby Hollow Meadery, Middleville, MI - Zachary Craft, music March 17 - MeadCon Meadery Open Houses at Queen Bee Meadery (Denver) and Honnibrook Meadery (Castle Rock) March 18-19 - MeadCon 2020, Broomfield, CO - 2 days of seminars and the MeadUp mead tasting event March 20-21 - Mazer Cup International Mead Competition and Mead Mixer Tasting Event (March 20) Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

1-28-20 Tonight at 9PM we are tickled to have on the show Laura Angotti, keynote at the 2020 MeadCon, and author of "Wellcome Mead: 105 Mead Recipes from the 17th and 18th Century English Receipt Books at the Wellcome Library" and "Cider and Perry in Britain to 1700: A Collection of Material from Primary and Selected Secondary Sources". She is also the owner of the Mystery of Mead website, where she discusses mead in history. Laura Angotti has been making mead for over 25 years, focusing on finding, understanding, and re-creating meads from historical recipes. She searches libraries and archives for recipes dated before 1750 CE, and has collected and cataloged over 2500. Laura has made and tasted over 100 of these recipes herself, and discussed and tasted the efforts of many others in specialty historical competitions. To better understand the recipes and their context, her research includes broader topics providing insights into the details of recipes used by mead makers long past. This research feeds her conviction of the interconnectivity of all things. Her goal is helping modern mead makers see and use the extensive experience of historical mead makers ranging across eras and geographies. 'Wellcome Mead' showcases the breadth and complexity of historical mead recipes, and presents 105 recipes and their varients, each with a modern recipe interpretation. All the recipes are drawn from the 17th and early 18th century English household receipt books held by the Wellcome Library in London. Ingredients, equipment and methods used to produce the original recipes are detailed and discussed. Changes in mead recipes are addressed with reference to varied factors driving those changes. Each of the 100 plus ingredients present in the various plain meads, metheglinis, fruiit meads, spicied meads, herbed meads and braggots is discussed. The modern interpretations are suitable for both those interested in using history as inspiration for more modern efforts and those focused on historical re-creation. The book is intended for those familiar with basic mead making, so even beginners can make meads with this book. Laura is a ton of fun to talk with, and we're really stoked to talk historical mead with her tonight! Join us on the live chat and don't be afraid to call in if you want to! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Coming up: February 4 - Keith Seitz - National Honey Board February 18 - Marina Marchese - Honey Sommelier Show links and notes Wellcome Library Auntie Arwen's Spices Penn Herb Co San Francisco Herbs Wellcome Mead: 105 Mead Recipes from the 17th and 18th Century English Receipt Books at the Wellcome Library by Laura Angotti Cider and Perry in Britain to 1700: A Collection of Material from Primary and Selected Secondary Sources by Laura Angotti Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events February 1 - Chubby Cheeks Meadery, Temecula, CA - Mead Making Workshop February 7 - Haley's Honey Meadery, Hopewell, VA - Junior Wilson Live February 7-9 - Earle Estates Meadery, Seneca Lake area, NY - Chocolate and Wine tour February 9 - Grimsby Hollow Meadery, Middleville, MI - Drink Mead Learn Things - Open Dungeons and Dragons February 14 - Starrlight Meadery, Pittsboro, NC - Mead and Chocolate February 15 - Meduseld Meadery, Lancaster, PA - Rose and Shamrock Festival February 15 - Meadery Bus Tour, Detroit, MI - visiting Schramm's Mead, B.Nektar Mead and Kuhnhenn Brewery and Meadery February 22 - Strad Meadery, Cordoba, CA - Paint and Sip class February 23 - Threadbare Cider and Mead, Pittsburgh, PA - Koji and Tempeh Master Class February 23 - Washington Mead and Cider Cup Deadline February 28 - Fifth Annual Michigan Nordic Fire Festival and Mead Hall - Charlotte, MI March 17 - MeadCon Meadery Open Houses at Queen Bee Meadery (Denver) and Honnibrook Meadery (Castle Rock) March 18-19 - MeadCon 2020, Broomfield, CO - 2 days of seminars and the MeadUp mead tasting event March 20-21 - Mazer Cup International Mead Competition and Mead Mixer Tasting Event (March 20) Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

1-21-20 Tonight at 9PM ET we're talking with Tony Qualls, owner of Manic Meadery and speaker at the 2020 MeadCon, where he'll be giving a seminar on Maximum Fruit: Big Berry Bombs and Other Melomels. Tony is not just a meadery owner, he's also a musician. He toured in the band Groovatron for 12 years, doing over 1500 shows in 12 years (makes me tired just thinking about all that travel!). Tony is a lifelong entrepreneur, having run a vinyl record company, painting company and a bunch of other businesses. Plus he's a skilled tradesman in welding and carpentry (that would help with build out!). Tony has been married to his lovely wife Vanessa for 12 years, and they have two kids. Not to sit on his laurels, Tony plans to pursue law school and recording backlogs of musical material while running his meadery (getting tired again, lol). He likes to mountain bike and ride his motorcycle in his free time (he has free time?). Tony co-founded Manic Meadery with Keith Cantwell in 2018 in Crown Point, Indiana. Manic is a small batch meadery, and they also do wine and cider. They've gotten a lot of interest in their sweet dessert meads using whole fruit and often multiple adjuncts. Tony is also a BJCP mead judge, and holder of Mazer Cup awards for both home and commercial mead. The plans for Manic in 2020 include increasing self distribution, expanding their production space, and organizing a mead-only festival, the Sugarbelt Mead Fest. We're going to talk mead and melomels, and dig into some of the ideas around creating berry bombs. Join us on the live chat and don't be afraid to call in if you want to! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Coming up: January 28 - Laura Angotti (keynote at MeadCon) - Mead and Historical Recipes February 4 - Keith Seitz - National Honey Board February 18 - Marina Marchese - Honey Sommelier Show links and notes Heat stabilizing white wine Wine Folly Master Guide Scott Labs 2019 Yeast Book Scott Labs searchable yeast selection Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events January 22 - Bos Meadery, Madison, WI - Beer and Mead Pairing Event with Giant Jones Brewing January 25 - Starrlight Mead, Pittsboro, NC - Namaste Meadieval - Yoga and Mead January 25 - Chubby Cheeks Meadery, Temecula, CA - Meaditation and Yoga January 25 - Threadbare Cider and Mead, Pittsburgh, PA - Adopt a Bunny event February 1 - Chubby Cheeks Meadery, Temecula, CA - Mead Making Workshop February 7 - Haley's Honey Meadery, Hopewell, VA - Junior Wilson Live February 7-9 - Earle Estates Meadery, Seneca Lake area, NY - Chocolate and Wine tour February 9 - Grimsby Hollow Meadery, Middleville, MI - Drink Mead Learn Things - Open Dungeons and Dragons February 15 - Meduseld Meadery, Lancaster, PA - Rose and Shamrock Festival February 15 - Meadery Bus Tour, Detroit, MI - visiting Schramm's Mead, B.Nektar Mead and Kuhnhenn Brewery and Meadery February 22 - Strad Meadery, Cordoba, CA - Paint and Sip class February 23 - Threadbare Cider and Mead, Pittsburgh, PA - Koji and Tempeh Master Class March 17 - MeadCon Meadery Open Houses at Queen Bee Meadery (Denver) and Honnibrook Meadery (Castle Rock) March 18-19 - MeadCon 2020, Broomfield, CO - 2 days of seminars and the MeadUp mead tasting event March 20-21 - Mazer Cup International Mead Competition and Mead Mixer Tasting Event (March 20) Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

1-14-2020 Tonight at 9PM EST we're kicking off our featuring of speakers at MeadCon, and opening with Sergio Moutela, owner of Melovino Meadery and the president of the AMMA. Sergio opened Melovino just over 5 years ago, and during that time he's learned a ton about operating a meadery, making better mead and what people like in a mead. He's wrangled with his state to allow meaderies to even exist, and juggled the need for space to expand with the reality of how hard it can be to find an ideal location for the meadery. He's also been very active in working on growing the AMMA and what it can do to help the mead community, both home and professional. Sergio is speaking at MeadCon 2020 (get your tickets, hotel and see the schedule there!), his talk is 'What I've Learned in Five Years'. We're going to delve into various issues with running a meadery, tease you on some of what he'll be talking about, and dig into some of the other things facing a meadmaker going pro. We'll also be talking about his collaborations, one of with is with yours truly, and exploring different mead styles. And we'll likely talk pyments as well, Sergio loves them! Join us on the live chat and don't be afraid to call in if you want to! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Coming up: January 21 - Tony Qualls - Big Berry Melomels January 28 - Laura Angotti (keynote at MeadCon) - Mead and Historical Recipes February 4 - Keith Seitz - National Honey Board February 18 - Marina Marchese - Honey Sommelier Show links and notes Walkers Wine Juice Tavelon Tea Winestix oak sticks Wine Folly Master Guide Scott Labs 2019 Yeast Book Scott Labs searchable yeast selection Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Are You Afraid of the Rum: And Other Cocktails for 90's Kids by Sam Slaughter Upcoming Guests We'll be posting the upcoming schedule here as we get guests set up! Upcoming Events January 16 - Brothers Drake Meadery, Columbus, OH - Ecology on Tap: Disease and Vector Biology January 19 - Beecraft Mead Company, Dawsonville, GA - Make Your Own Sweet Mead January 22 - Bos Meadery, Madison, WI - Beer and Mead Pairing Event with Giant Jones Brewing January 25 - Starrlight Mead, Pittsboro, NC - Namaste Meadieval - Yoga and Mead January 25 - Chubby Cheeks Meadery, Temecula, CA - Meaditation and Yoga January 25 - Threadbare Cider and Mead, Pittsburgh, PA - Adopt a Bunny event February 1 - Chubby Cheeks Meadery, Temecula, CA - Mead Making Workshop February 7 - Haley's Honey Meadery, Hopewell, VA - Junior Wilson Live February 7-9 - Earle Estates Meadery, Seneca Lake area, NY - Chocolate and Wine tour February 9 - Grimsby Hollow Meadery, Middleville, MI - Drink Mead Learn Things - Open Dungeons and Dragons February 15 - Meduseld Meadery, Lancaster, PA - Rose and Shamrock Festival February 15 - Meadery Bus Tour, Detroit, MI - visiting Schramm's Mead, B.Nektar Mead and Kuhnhenn Brewery and Meadery February 22 - Strad Meadery, Cordoba, CA - Paint and Sip class February 23 - Threadbare Cider and Mead, Pittsburgh, PA - Koji and Tempeh Master Class March 17 - MeadCon Meadery Open Houses at Queen Bee Meadery (Denver) and Honnibrook Meadery (Castle Rock) March 18-19 - MeadCon 2020, Broomfield, CO - 2 days of seminars and the MeadUp mead tasting event March 20-21 - Mazer Cup International Mead Competition and Mead Mixer Tasting Event (March 20) Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

1-7-20 We're back from our December break, and off with a bang! Join us at 9PM Eastern tonight for the first 2020 episode of GotMead Live. Tonight's guest is Carvin Wilson, mead maker, mead industry supporter, and owner of Carvin Software. If you haven't heard of Carvin, you're not hanging out with mead folk. Carvin, who lives near Phoenix, AZ, is a long time mead maker, started getting involved nationwide with the mead scene several years ago. Carvin makes incredibly well done mead. Like amazing. (At some point I'm going to see about doing a trade deal with him, once the meads I'm working on are finished). He's taken quite a few medals at competitions all over the country. Carvin is a committed home mead maker, and pictures of the fermenters all over his home (and the laughing protestations of his lovely wife Robin to clear the table so they can do a dinner) prove this out. Carvin has presented both himself and as part of panels at the AMMA MeadCon, and is a member of the Home Governing Committee at the AMMA, and is managing the AMMA MeadMaker of the Year . He's on the American Homebrewers Association Governing Committee, and took over running the Mazer Cup Home Competition this year. So yeah, this guy is into mead. Kinda. Tonight we're rambling on a lot of things, like the Mazer Cup competition, the AMMA Meadmaker of the Year, the AHA, Mead Judging, Meadcon, Mead growth and trends and of course, talking mead and taking mead making questions. Join us on the live chat and don't be afraid to call in if you want to! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Show links and notes Wine Folly Master Guide Scott Labs 2019 Yeast Book Scott Labs searchable yeast selection Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Are You Afraid of the Rum: And Other Cocktails for 90's Kids by Sam Slaughter Upcoming Guests We'll be posting the upcoming schedule here as we get guests set up! Upcoming Events January 9 - Bos Meadery, Madison, WI - Shotgun Mary in concert January 9 - Oran Mor Artisan Mead, Roseburg, OR - Open Mic Night January 10 - Bos Meadery, Madison, WI - Rictus Grin, The Earthlings and Squidhammer Metal January 10 - Grimsby Hollow Meadery, Middleville, MI - Drink Mead, Learn Things, German Medieval Armory January 14 - McMinnville Mead Hall, McMinnville, OR - Dancing Date Night with Dancing in the Rain January 19 - Beecraft Mead Company, Dawsonville, GA - Make Your Own Sweet Mead January 25 - Starrlight Mead, Pittsboro, NC - Namaste Meadieval - Yoga and Mead January 25 - Chubby Cheeks Meadery, Temecula, CA - Meaditation and Yoga February 1 - Chubby Cheeks Meadery, Temecula, CA - Mead Making Workshop February 7 - Haley's Honey Meadery, Hopewell, VA - Junior Wilson Live February 7-9 - Earle Estates Meadery, Seneca Lake area, NY - Chocolate and Wine tour February 15 - Meduseld Meadery, Lancaster, PA - Rose and Shamrock Festival February 15 - Meadery Bus Tour, Detroit, MI - visiting Schramm's Mead, B.Nektar Mead and Kuhnhenn Brewery and Meadery February 22 - Strad Meadery, Cordoba, CA - Paint and Sip class February 23 - Threadbare Cider and Mead, Pittsburgh, PA - Koji and Tempeh Master Class March 17 - MeadCon Meadery Open Houses at Queen Bee Meadery (Denver) and Honnibrook Meadery (Castle Rock) March 18-19 - MeadCon 2020, Broomfield, CO - 2 days of seminars and the MeadUp mead tasting event March 20-21 - Mazer Cup International Mead Competition and Mead Mixer Tasting Event (March 20) Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

11-26-19 Tonight we're talking with Annie Zipser and Amy Olsen, Annie and Amy are both award winning home mead makers, and are now involved with the Michigan Mead Coalition. The Michigan Mead Coalition is a group of meadmakers who are looking to create a shared environment where they can talk mead, share their skills, and even have shared equipment and supply buys. We'll be talking more about that in the show. We'll also talk meadmaking, things we've learned, and generally just geek out on meadmaking. More about Annie: Annie Zipser has been making mead for about 6 ½ years now. She started making mead because so many excellent meads were being offered to her at Ann Arbor Brewer’s Guild meetings (that she was attending because her husband is a homebrewer). The Guild has a large mead presence and Annie has always felt very lucky that she had so many excellent resources in her learning experience. She joined Fermenta, a group focused on women in the fermenting world, and through a Fermenta scholarship took the BJCP mead exam. Annie retired from teaching in 2016…and working at Adventures in Homebrewing provided a great springboard into retirement activities. While working there she presented seminars and classes about mead, got to teach people about mead, and connected to the larger mead world. Since getting her BJCP ranking, Annie has been judging at the National Homebrew Competition and the Mazer Cup along with the Michigan Beer Cup and the Michigan Mead Cup. Going to the Mazer Cup to judge led her to going to the AMMA conference as a volunteer. This has since led to being on the planning committee for the conference. She is also on the planning committee for the Michigan Mead Cup and is one of the organizers of the AMMA presence at HomebrewCon. She is currently on the Home Governing Board (AMMA) where she serves as secretary. Her newest activity is the Michigan Mead Coalition where she serves as event coordinator. Michigan is a great state for mead makers and the Michigan Mead Coalition hopes to bring meadmakers together the same way that a homebrew club brings brewers together. Annie is a self professed “mead geek” and is having a great time letting her hobby be her retirement career! And some info on Amy: Have you ever had a conversation with a total stranger that changed the course of your life? That is what happened to me nearly 5 years ago. I was having a beer after work at Kuhnhenn Brewing in Warren, MI; and making conversation with other people at the bar. Some random small talk turned into a fairly in-depth conversation about flavor and my new friend asked me that life changing question..."Have you ever considered making mead”? Long story short, the gentleman at the bar turned out to be Frank Retell, the mead maker at Kuhnhenn Brewing. I was extremely fortunate to have a very experienced and talented mead maker show me how to make mead, let me ask a million questions and allow me to work with him on several batches that were released at the brewery. I was hooked! I am a classically trained chef by trade. I now teach culinary arts, baking and pastry arts and run a restaurant in my school district. So, food and flavor are a huge part of my life and background. Mead seemed like a very logical and natural progression. Within a year I was making solo batches at home. My family and friends were very supportive, but they pretty much would tell me that they liked it and drank a lot. I wanted some impartial feedback and constructive criticism. So I entered my first competition; The Michigan Mead Cup in 2014. I earned a gold medal and won Best of Show with my very first entry. It was Michigan wildflower honey with Medjool dates, black mission figs, and sultanas…all desert fruits. I called it A Gift to the Khaleesi. That’s pretty much where things got started. I have continued to make mead and enter competitions. Since then, I have earned several gold, silver, bronze and honorable mentions at numerous competitions around the country. As well as 4-AHA National Home Brewers Competition 1st round ribbons, and 7 Mazer Cups. 2 of which were for the special Digby category…It’s kind of fun to say that I am the only person to have ever won in that category. 2019 has been very good to me. I won Best of Show at the Great Northern Brew Ha Ha, and at the Mid-Winter Homebrew Competition I won Best of Show and The Meadmaker’s choice award. I’ll have the honor of having one of my meads produced by Moonlight Meadery as the prize for that ProAm. This hobby has been a fabulous addition to my life. I have attended 2 MeadCons, 3 Mazer Cup International competitions, 2 AHA Conferences, took 2 classes at UC Davis, got elected to the AMMA Home Brew Committee, became a BJCP Mead Judge, joined the Michigan Mead Coalition and was recently voted in as the Vice President, went on a huge mead-centric road trip this summer and I have had the honor of meeting some absolutely amazing people. I am very grateful for all

11-5-19 9PM EST Tonight we're talking with Mike Faul, owner of Rabbit's Foot Meadery in Sunnyvale, CA about several things. Mike has been in the mead industry for over 20 years, and has been a mead maker for much longer, having been involved in mead since the beginning of the resurgence of mead in the US.We'll be talking about Mike's adventures in Ireland, creating an Irish mead with Irish honey, peak honey in the US (and the world) and what Mike's been up to in creating a more efficient meadery using computers and automation.http://ow.ly/p1mD50x31Bk

11-5-19 9PM EST Tonight we're talking with Mike Faul, owner of Rabbit's Foot Meadery in Sunnyvale, CA about several things. Mike has been in the mead industry for over 20 years, and has been a mead maker for much longer, having been involved in mead since the beginning of the resurgence of mead in the US.We'll be talking about Mike's adventures in Ireland, creating an Irish mead with Irish honey, peak honey in the US (and the world) and what Mike's been up to in creating a more efficient meadery using computers and automation.http://ow.ly/p1mD50x31Bk

11-5-19 9PM EST Tonight we're talking with Mike Faul, owner of Rabbit's Foot Meadery in Sunnyvale, CA about several things. Mike has been in the mead industry for over 20 years, and has been a mead maker for much longer, having been involved in mead since the beginning of the resurgence of mead in the US. Mike is not just owner of one of the largest meaderies in the country, he's also an IT and automation geek, a student of honey in America, and an all-around pretty smart guy. And he's been active as an SCA and Ren Faire person, as well as getting into other interesting activities. Tonight we're going to talk about many things. One, an issue central to the US (and indeed, the world) mead industry is peak honey. With the making of mead, by both home and professional meadmakers, the demand for honey is ever increasing. When will we hit the wall on the honey supply, since beekeeping isn't increasing at the rate that use of honey is growing? We're also going to see what Mike's been up to in Ireland. One might think that mead is all over in Ireland, but this isn't so! There is, in fact, not all that much honey native to the Emerald Isle, and that has kept mead from returning to Ireland. However, Mike has managed to make a native Irish mead, with Irish honey, We're going to hear more about that, and why he decided to open a meadery there. And, Mike, being an IT and automation geek, has been hard at work making his Rabbit's Foot Meadery as efficient as he can, so that he spends less time on the onerous parts of meakmaking and can devote more time to the creative aspects, and keeping up with what is going on with mead in the world. And spend more time with his family, while ensuring his meadery continues to grow and provide excellent mead to mead lovers. Join us on the live chat and don't be afraid to call in if you want to! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Show links and notes Wine Folly Master Guide Scott Labs 2019 Yeast Book Scott Labs searchable yeast selection Sure lie and Bâtonnage (lees contact and stirring) Sur Lie additive SO2 Management SO2 Management Protocols Acuvin Quick SO2 test Evoak - Oak Solutions Black Swan Barrels (exotic woods) Ethiopian Spice Market (for gesho) Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Are You Afraid of the Rum: And Other Cocktails for 90's Kids by Sam Slaughter Upcoming Guests 11-12 and 11-19 in Poland 11 - 26 Amy Olsen and Annie Zipser - Michigan Mead Alliance and making great mead Upcoming Events Nov 7 - Big Lost Mead, Ankeny, IA - Mead Tasting event Nov 7 - Bos Meadery, Madison, WI - Mead to Laugh: November Edition Nov 9 - Victorian Mead Makers Meet Up at Firkin Cellars in Morwell Nov 10 - Rabbit's Foot Meadery, Sunnyvale, CA - 10th Annual Chili Cookoff Nov 16 - Heidrun Meadery, Point Reyes Station, CA - Women Who Explore Hike and Meadery Tasting Nov 22 - Schramm's Mead, Ferndale, MI - Sushi Dinner Party Nov 22 - Helderberg Meadworks, Cobleskill, NY - Wine and food Pairing Dinner Nov 27 - Brothers Drake Meadery - Jazz Wednesday with Ryan Folger Dec 6 - Tugwell Creek Honey Farm - Pinot Girls Series: Honey and Mead Dec 7 - Schramm's Mead, Ferndale, MI - Holiday Gala Dec 12 - Strad Meadery, Sacramento, CA - Paint and Sip Dec 14 - Strad Meadery, Sacramento, CA- Yule Gathering and Viking Feast Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

10-29-19 We're back after a break due to some scheduling conflicts. Tonight we're talking with Sergio Moutela, owner of Melovino Meadery and President of the American Mead Makers Association. He is also the guy who created the TOSNA protocol for mead making which he hosts on Mead Made Right. And he's launched a mead podcast that is excellent. which you can listen to on the MMR website. You can tell Sergio has been up to a lot of mead stuff, and he never seems to slow down. We're not even sure he sleeps! Melovino is possibly the fastest growing meadery in the country, and was the first meadery in New Jersey. This year was 5 years open, and Sergio now has a Mead Bar where he serves a constantly rotating list of session meads. Much to the chagrin to those of us who can't get up there to try them, lol. You can't get these shipped, they are Mead Bar only offerings. Sergio is also active in working to change alcoholic beverage laws in NJ, and has been instrumental in getting his state to change the laws to make it easier for meaderies to start and operate. One of the fun things he's been doing is trying lots of interesting recipes, many of which end up on the Mead Made Right recipe database. He has a pretty good (and in some ways twisted) imagination and comes up with a lot of really tasty meads. They're certainly flying out of the meadery and off the shelves! Tonight we're going to talk about pyments, beer style meads, weirdomels and recipe creation, and also about a couple surprises! Join us to check it out. See you tonight! Join us on the live chat and don't be afraid to call in if you want to! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Show links and notes Wine Folly Master Guide Scott Labs 2019 Yeast Book Scott Labs searchable yeast selection Sure lie and Bâtonnage (lees contact and stirring) Sur Lie additive SO2 Management SO2 Management Protocols Acuvin Quick SO2 test Evoak - Oak Solutions Black Swan Barrels (exotic woods) Ethiopian Spice Market (for gesho) Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Are You Afraid of the Rum: And Other Cocktails for 90's Kids by Sam Slaughter Upcoming Guests 11-5 Mike Faul - Rabbits Foot - meadery automation, peak honey, Irish mead 11-12 and 11-19 in Poland 11 - 26 Amy Olsen and Annie Zipser - Michigan Mead Alliance and making great mead Upcoming Events Oct 31 - Rabbit's Foot Meadery, Sunnyvale, CA- Annual Ghostly Event Nov 2 - Bos Meadery - Common Chords concert Nov 2 - Superstition Meadery, Prescott, AZ - music by Stephy Leigh Griffin Nov 5 - Orchid Cellars - Guided Mead Tasting event Nov 7 - Big Lost Mead, Ankeny, IA - Mead Tasting event Nov 7 - Bos Meadery, Madison, WI - Mead to Laugh: November Edition Nov 9 - Victorian Mead Makers Meet Up at Firkin Cellars in Morwell Nov 10 - Rabbit's Foot Meadery, Sunnyvale, CA - 10th Annual Chili Cookoff Nov 16 - Heidrun Meadery, Point Reyes Station, CA - Women Who Explore Hike and Meadery Tasting Nov 22 - Schramm's Mead, Ferndale, MI - Sushi Dinner Party Nov 22 - Helderberg Meadworks, Cobleskill, NY - Wine and food Pairing Dinner Nov 27 - Brothers Drake Meadery - Jazz Wednesday with Ryan Folger Dec 6 - Tugwell Creek Honey Farm - Pinot Girls Series: Honey and Mead Dec 7 - Schramm's Mead, Ferndale, MI - Holiday Gala Dec 12 - Strad Meadery, Sacramento, CA - Paint and Sip Dec 14 - Strad Meadery, Sacramento, CA- Yule Gathering and Viking Feast Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

10-8-19 We're talking tonight with Adam Crockett, owner of Haymaker Meadery. Before starting Haymaker in 2015, Adam worked in the barrel industry for 4 years selling barrels to breweries, wineries, and meaderies all over the US and Canada. He has worked with large breweries like Allagash and Jolly Pumpkin and small local breweries in every corner. He has worked directly with distilleries and wineries to provide the best barrels available. He has helped many breweries build up their barrel program and has helped a number of breweries win GABF medals because of his barrel knowledge. He hopes to share his knowledge that he has collected and help meaderies and meadmakers take the step into barrel aging meads. Haymaker does a number of barrel aged meads. In this talk we will cover barrel aging mead, he will talk about barrels, oak alternatives, preparing barrels for homebrewers and what to expect from certain barrels. Adam has also been working with 'Pét Nat' meadmaking. 'Pét Nat' is short for Pétillant Naturel. Pét-Nat is produced in the méthode ancestral, otherwise known as “rurale,” “artisanale,” or “gaillacoise.” Long story short, the wine is bottled prior to fully completing its first fermentation, allowing carbon dioxide to be produced by the natural sugars found in the grapes. The méthode ancestrale was originally used in Limoux in the south of France in the early 16th century by winemaking monks. This production method is contrary to the méthode champenoise, the way in which Champagne is produced, where the base wine is fully fermented, then undergoes a secondary fermentation in bottle with the addition of yeast and sugar (otherwise known as liqueur de tirage.) Unlike Champagne, Pét-Nat is not disgorged, and may or may not be filtered on completion of fermentation. Adam will be telling us about his efforts with Pét Nat, and how it's working for mead. Join us on the live chat and don't be afraid to call in if you want to! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Show links and notes Scott Labs 2019 Yeast Book Scott Labs searchable yeast selection Sure lie and Bâtonnage (lees contact and stirring) Sur Lie additive SO2 Management SO2 Management Protocols Acuvin Quick SO2 test Evoak - Oak Solutions Black Swan Barrels (exotic woods) Ethiopian Spice Market (for gesho) Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Are You Afraid of the Rum: And Other Cocktails for 90's Kids by Sam Slaughter Upcoming Events Oct 11 - Rushford Meadery and Winery - Card Making Technique Class Oct 12-13 - Stonekeep Meadery - Artisan Wine and Cheese pairing weekends Oct 12 - Black Heath Meadery - National Farmers Day - DJ, guest beer taps and mead! Oct 12 - Etowah Meadery - Etowah Turns 2! Oct 12 - Honey Pot Meadery - Batch 2 of Bruiseberry releases Oct 16 - Threadbare Cider and Mead - Fall Owl Cafe to benefit Human Animal Rescue Oct 16 - Superstition Meadery - 5 Course Mead dinner at Lovecraft - New Mexican feast Oct 18 - Woodstone Creek Winery and Distillery - Friday Night Flight - Wine, Mead and Spirits Oct 18 - Toledo Cider Fest - Crafted Artisan Meadery and Four Fires Meadery will be there Oct 19-20 Bearded Bee Meadery - releasing their first mead at the Timeline Festival at Kryal Castle in Ballarat Oct 18 - House Bear Brewing - Paint Night Oct 19 - Texas Mead Fest Oct 19 - Michigan Mead Cup Oct 19 - Starrlight Meadery - Beginning Home Mead Making Class Oct 25 - B. Nektar Meadery - Stranger Things Themed Trivia Night Oct 25 - Superstition Meadery - Free Mead Tasting at VU Bistro and Phosphenes Duo Performs! Oct 26-27 Festina Lente - Hallow-Wine treats Oct 27 - Enlightenment Wines - Sunday School - Brooklyn Survival 101: How to Escape to Safety or Hunker Down During a Brooklyn Emergency Oct 26 - Haley's Honey Meadery - Wicked Halloween Party and Tarot Readings Nov 2 - Bos Meadery - Common Chords concert Nov 5 - Orchid Cellars - Guided Mead Tasting event Nov 9 - Victorian Mead Makers Meet Up at Firkin Cellars in Morwell Nov 27 - Brothers Drake Meadery - Jazz Wednesday with Ryan Folger Dec 6 - Tugwell Creek Honey Farm - Pinot Girls Series: Honey and Mead Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

10-1-19 - Tonight we're back in mead building mode again, and have Ryan back to talk about picking the yeast and honey and other ingredients to achieve specific flavor profiles. This is continuing from last week's discussion. Get your questions in to us! Post on Facebook or Twitter, or join us on the chat channel tonight! We all have the flavors and tastes we like, and it's different for everyone. Too much for one is not enough for another. Yeast and honey contribute a fair amount to what you end up with, and what you start with may not be where your mead finishes, flavor-wise. There are tons of ideas out there: fermenting temperatures, to stir or not to stir, what to add at what point in the fermentation, like fruit in primary or secondary, spices in primary or secondary, toss in spices whole/crushed, do them as tea, or as extracts or tisanes. How long do you leave them in, and how to figure out what it will end up as? We're going to talk about what/when/why, and how you can get your mead to have the flavors you'd like it to end up with. Join us on the show, and on the chat, and if you've something you'd like us to work on, let us know! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Show links and notes Scott Labs 2019 Yeast Book Scott Labs searchable yeast selection Sure lie and Bâtonnage (lees contact and stirring) Sur Lie additive SO2 Management SO2 Management Protocols Acuvin Quick SO2 test Evoak - Oak Solutions Black Swan Barrels (exotic woods) Ethiopian Spice Market (for gesho) Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Are You Afraid of the Rum: And Other Cocktails for 90's Kids by Sam Slaughter Upcoming Events Oct 2 - Wild Blossom Meadery - Sip and Bark Oct 2 - Honnibrook Meadery - Neils BBQ Food Truck at the meadery Oct 3 - Folklore Brewing - Pints and Paints - Dothan, AL Oct 3 - Bos Meadery - Mead to Laugh, Pumpkin Spice Edition Oct 4 - Honey Girl Meadery - Fall Fridays - Cheese Pairing Oct 5-6 and 12-13 - Stonekeep Meadery - Artisan Wine and Cheese pairing weekends Oct 6 - Starrlight Mead - 29th Annual A Tasteful Affair Oct 6 - House Bear Brewing - Game night Oct 6 - Great Kiwi Mead Group - First ever New Zealand Mead Up at Remuera in Auckland - Contact Adam via the link here Oct 8 - Meduseld Meadery - The Saga of Ragnar Lothbrook - light fare, mead and music Oct 11 - Rushford Meadery and Winery - Card Making Technique Class Oct 12 - Etowah Meadery - Etowah Turns 2! Oct 12 - Honey Pot Meadery - Batch 2 of Bruiseberry releases Oct 16 - Threadbare Cider and Mead - Fall Owl Cafe to benefit Human Animal Rescue Oct 18 - Woodstone Creek Winery and Distillery - Friday Night Flight - Wine, Mead and Spirits Oct 18 - Toledo Cider Fest - Crafted Artisan Meadery and Four Fires Meadery will be there OCt 18 - House Bear Brewing - Paint Night Oct 19 - Texas Mead Fest Oct 19 - Michigan Mead Cup Oct 19 - Starrlight Meadery - Beginning Home Mead Making Class Oct 25 - B. Nektar Meadery - Stranger Things Themed Trivia Night Oct 26-27 Festina Lente - Hallow-Wine treats Oct 26 - Haley's Honey Meadery - Wicked Halloween Party Nov 5 - Orchid Cellars - Guided Mead Tasting event Nov 27 - Brothers Drake Meadery - Jazz Wednesday with Ryan Folger Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

9-24-19 - Tonight we're back in mead building mode, and have Ryan back to talk about picking the yeast and honey and other ingredients to achieve specific flavor profiles. We all have the flavors and tastes we like, and it's different for everyone. Too much for one is not enough for another. Yeast and honey contribute a fair amount to what you end up with, and what you start with may not be where your mead finishes, flavor-wise. There are tons of ideas out there: fermenting temperatures, to stir or not to stir, what to add at what point in the fermentation, like fruit in primary or secondary, spices in primary or secondary, toss in spices whole/crushed, do them as tea, or as extracts or tisanes. How long do you leave them in, and how to figure out what it will end up as? We're going to talk about what/when/why, and how you can get your mead to have the flavors you'd like it to end up with. Join us on the show, and on the chat, and if you've something you'd like us to work on, let us know! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Show links and notes Sure lie and Bâtonnage (lees contact and stirring) Sur Lie additive SO2 Management SO2 Management Protocols Acuvin Quick SO2 test Evoak - Oak Solutions Black Swan Barrels (exotic woods) Ethiopian Spice Market (for gesho) Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Are You Afraid of the Rum: And Other Cocktails for 90's Kids by Sam Slaughter Upcoming Events Sept 26 - Superstition Meadery - Mead and Music at Phoenix location Sept 26 - Golden Coast Mead - Monthly Meading and Homebrew Share Sept 27 - Bos Meadery - Combo Noir is playing Sept 27-28 Superstition Meadery - 2019 Darkness Day Sept 28 - Orpheus Meadfest - Tasting and Award Ceremony for Orpheus Cup Mead Competition Sept 28 - Prairie Rose Meadery - Grape Plains Winery Tour Sept 28 - Texas Mead Cup entry deadline Oct 3 - Folklore Brewing - Pints and Paints - Dothan, AL Oct 5-5 and 12-13 - Stonekeep Meadery - Artisan Wine and Cheese pairing weekends Oct 6 - Starrlight Mead - 29th Annual A Tasteful Affair Oct 6 - House Bear Brewing - Game night Oct 6 - Great Kiwi Mead Group - First ever New Zealand Mead Up at Remuera in Auckland - Contact Adam via the link here Oct 16 - Threadbare Cider and Mead - Fall Owl Cafe to benefit Human Animal Rescue Oct 18 - Woodstone Creek Winery and Distillery - Friday Night Flight - Wine, Mead and Spirits Oct 19 - Texas Mead Fest Oct 19 - Starrlight Meadery - Beginning Home Mead Making Class Oct 26-27 Festina Lente - Hallow-Wine treats Nov 5 - Orchid Cellars - Guided Mead Tasting event Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

9-17-19 9PM EST: Tonight we're talking with women who make mead. Award winning, bitching good meadmaking women. We're talking with Traci Kuhfuss and Amy Olsen. If you've been paying attention, these ladies are tearing it up out there with their meads. Traci Kuhfuss comes to us from Texas by way of Arizona and Hawaii. She’s been active as a homebrewer and mead maker for many years, participating in brew clubs and competitions in all the places she’s lived. Traci is a professional photographer and print designer who loves making mead. Traci got into brewing - once upon a time, she was newly divorced and her friends were all getting married and having kids. She was bored with sitting at home with nothing to do. Her friends got her a home brewing kit that year for Christmas. She made her first beer that New Years Eve. She eventually joined a homebrew club and was introduced to mead. She started making mead then and winning more medals with mead than beer. In 2006 her orange blossom special mead took BOS at the Great Arizona Homebrew competition. over all the other beers, ciders and mead. Traci is running the Texas Mead Competition this year, and it looks like it's going to be a great event. Amy Olsen lives in the Detroit area. She’s a classically trained chef, and teaches culinary arts now. She’s obviously a big fan of food and flavor as a result. Around 5 years ago, she was grabbing a beer at a local brewery, and ended up meeting Frank Retell, the mead maker at Kuhnhenn Brewing in an in-depth conversation about flavors. They hit it off, and Amy was on her way to be a mead maker. Frank helped her, and she even got to help make meads with him at Kuhnhenn. Within a year she was makoing mead at home, and her family and friends loved it and encouraged her to keep it up. She made the next jump to competitions because she wanted to get some experienced feedback and constructive criticism. Her first comp was the Michigan Mead Cup in 2014. She got a gold medal and best of show her first time out with a Michigan wildflower mead with Medjool dates, black mission figs and sultanas, calling it ‘A Gift to the Khaleesi’. She’s continued to make mead and enter competitions. She’s claimed a number of medals at comps around the country, and has 4 AHA National Home Brew Competition first round ribbons and 7 Mazer Cups, including 2 in the Digby category (that is historic recipes from Sir Kenelm Digby’s Closet Unlock’d, a special MCI category). She’s won BoS at the Great Northern Brew Ha Ha and BoS and Meadmaker’s Choice awards at Mid-Winter Homebrew comp. Amy says that making mead has been a fabulous addition to her life. She’s been to 2 MeadCons, 3 Mazer Cup comps, taken classes at UC Davis, got elected to the AMMA Home Brew Committee, became a BJCP judge, joined the Michigan Mead Coalition and took a huge mead-centric trip this summer, getting to meet some pretty awesome folks and drink a lot of great mead. Both Traci and Amy are looking forward to making even more and better meads as they continue to hone their craft. This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Show links and notes Evoak - Oak Solutions Black Swan Barrels (exotic woods) Ethiopian Spice Market (for gesho) Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Are You Afraid of the Rum: And Other Cocktails for 90's Kids by Sam Slaughter Upcoming Events Sept 18 - Monks Mead - Meet the Meadmaker at Savannah Bee Company Sept 18 - Hierophant Mead and Ethereal Mead - Save the Bees Fundraiser Sept 21 - Crafted Artisan Meadery - Canal Park Festival of Beers Sept 21 - Rebel Hive Meadery - West Reading Fall Festival Sept 21 - Royal Manor - Mead Festival Sept 22 - Recolte Meads - Kevin's Song Fundraiser Sept 22 - Starrlight Mead - Mead Day Celebration and Fall Festival Sept 22 - Michigan Mead Cup - entries open Sept 26 - Golden Coast Mead - Monthly Meading and Homebrew Share Sept 27-28 Superstition Meadery - 2019 Darkness Day Sept 28 - Orpheus Meadfest - Tasting and Award Ceremony for Orpheus Cup Mead Competition Sept 28 - Texas Mead Cup entry deadline Oct 3 - Folklore Brewing - Pints and Paints - Dothan, AL Oct 5-5 and 12-13 - Stonekeep Meadery - Artisan Wine and Cheese pairing weekends Oct 6 - Starrlight Mead - 29th Annual A Tasteful Affair Oct 6 - Grea

9-3-19 Tonight we're winging our way to Poland to talk with Mateusz Blaszczyk and Krzysztof Jarek with the Kings of Mead. We will not be live tonight, as our friends in Poland cannot do the live time slot. Kings of Mead is three home meadmaking friends, Mateusz, Krzysztof and Rafal Gorecki, who have a website and do a video cast about mead. They're passionate about spreading the word of mead. They do mead reviews on their site and video show, talk about the meads they're making and drinking, and about meaderies they've visited. The channel is mostly in Polish, but some of the videos are in English or have English subtitles. Maté has been making mead for about 10 years, and running his YouTube channel for a couple years. Kris joined him a year ago, and also runs the Mead Madness Cup. Rafal is a fellow mead maker who handles the IT stuff and is the camera guy. A year ago, the friends launched the Mead Madness Cup home and commercial mead competition. In this first year, they have over 90 meads from 14 countries, not a bad start at all! The Mead Madness Cup is the largest mead competition in Europe. Marcin Jaros, head of Pasieka Jaros in Poland is head of jury for the competition. The comp will have 4 categories and 11 subcategories, and also award a Grand Champion winner in both home and commercial meads. If that wasn't enough, they have also launched the European Mead Makers Conference. The conference is in it's second year now, and will offer a day of seminars and also a 2 day trip to visit Polish meaderies. And even *more*, this year the group has launched a Mead Judging training program, as getting BJCP testing in Europe has proven difficult, so they are creating a European program. The program is in it's beginning stages, but they are committed to creating a solid approach to training people to judge meads, and is aiming to start with a 'train the trainer' program. This episode will be recorded, and launched today (it's the middle of the night for them when we are live!). This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Show links and notes Evoak - Oak Solutions Black Swan Barrels (exotic woods) Ethiopian Spice Market (for gesho) Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Are You Afraid of the Rum: And Other Cocktails for 90's Kids by Sam Slaughter Upcoming Guests: Sept 10 - Meadcon East and Cornell Mead Intensive (off) Sept 17 - Traci Kuhfuss, Blacks Fairy Mead and Texas Mead Fest Upcoming Events Sept 5-7 MeadCon East Sept 7 - Folklore Brewing and Meadery - Pints for Pets Flower Girl Class Sept 13 - Meridian Hive - Muscles and Mead Bootcamp Sept 13 - House Bear Brewing - Design a Sign Workshop (with mead!) Sept 21 - Royal Manor - Mead Festival Sept 22 - Starrlight Mead - Mead Day Celebration and Fall Festival Sept 28 - Orpheus Meadfest - Tasting and Award Ceremony for Orpheus Cup Mead Competition Oct 5-5 and 12-13 - Stonekeep Meadery - Artisan Wine and Cheese pairing weekends Oct 6 - Starrlight Mead - 29th Annual A Tasteful Affair Oct 6 - Great Kiwi Mead Group - First ever New Zealand Mead Up at Remuera in Auckland - Contact Adam via the link here Oct 19 - Texas Mead Fest and competiton entries due Oct 1. Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

8-27-19 We're headed out to talk to other folks tonight, finding some folks who love mead, but aren't in the mead industry. Sam Slaughter (@slaughterwrites) is the author of Are You Afraid of the Dark Rum? and Other Cocktails for 90s Kids, which was released this past June. He currently works as the Food & Drink Editor for the men's lifestyle magazine the Manual and lives in Greenville, SC.His work has been featured in Maxim, Bloomberg, The Bitter Southerner, and many other places. Sam is a 90's kid from New Jersey, though he calls South Carolina home now. He first starting working with mead as a winemaking intern with Ken Schultz at Hidden Legend Winery in Victor, Montana. And he's exploring mead more now, and we're going to explore with him! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Show links and notes Evoak - Oak Solutions Black Swan Barrels (exotic woods) Ethiopian Spice Market (for gesho) Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Are You Afraid of the Rum: And Other Cocktails for 90's Kids by Sam Slaughter Upcoming Guests: Sept 3 - Mateusz Blaszczyk and Krzysztof Jarek - EMMA/Mead Madness Cup Sept 10 - Meadcon East and Cornell Mead Intensive (off) Sept 17 - Traci Kuhfuss, Blacks Fairy Mead and Texas Mead Fest Upcoming Events Aug 31 - New Day Craft Mead - Meadful Things and Outciders Festival Aug 31 - Brimming Horn Meadery - Viking Jerk Beard Competition Sept 5-7 MeadCon East Sept 7 - Folklore Brewing and Meadery - Pints for Pets Flower Girl Class Sept 13 - Meridian Hive - Muscles and Mead Bootcamp Sept 13 - House Bear Brewing - Design a Sign Workshop (with mead!) Sept 21 - Royal Manor - Mead Festival Sept 22 - Starrlight Mead - Mead Day Celebration and Fall Festival Sept 28 - Orpheus Meadfest - Tasting and Award Ceremony for Orpheus Cup Mead Competition Oct 5-5 and 12-13 - Stonekeep Meadery - Artisan Wine and Cheese pairing weekends Oct 6 - Starrlight Mead - 29th Annual A Tasteful Affair Oct 6 - Great Kiwi Mead Group - First ever New Zealand Mead Up at Remuera in Auckland - Contact Adam via the link here Oct 19 - Texas Mead Fest and competiton entries due Oct 1. Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

8-20-19 Tonight at 9PM EST we're talking with Kent Waldeck, owner of Crafted Artisan Meadery in Mogadore, OH. Kent started homebrewing in around 2004, and like many homebrewers, ended up with mead. Kent worked for over a decade in Product Management and Marketing in consumer and B2B industries in North Carolina and Ohio before starting Crafted. Spending as much time as he can with his wife, Kristy, and their three sons traveling, camping and being outdoors is how he enjoys his time when he’s not busy whipping up their next seasonal release. Crafted’s story started in North Carolina where Kent Waldeck lived for nearly a decade prior to returning to his home state of Ohio. During his time in North Carolina Kent had started homebrewing and he was absolutely convinced that one day he’d try to open a brewery (along with every other homebrewer...ever). It was during this time that he came across mead in Charlie Papazian’s Complete Joy of Home Brewing and made his first batch. In 2008 Kent and his wife returned to Ohio to be closer to family and to start their own family. Although relocating for a job in Cleveland he was itching to start his own venture. That venture, though, was to start a meadery instead of brewery. Between 2009 and 2012 Kent would plan and eventually launch Crafted Artisan Meadery with Crafted ultimately opening it’s doors to the public in June of 2012. Adding session meads to the mix in 2013 allowed Crafted to expand the range of meads they offered and this breadth of category became a cornerstone of their vision and mission. Kent continued working full-time until 2015 when he was laid off and forced to jump headfirst into Crafted full-time. In the 7+ years since opening Crafted has won numerous Mazer Cup medals and they have grown their distribution footprint to include 10 states as of 2019. This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Show links and notes Evoak - Oak Solutions Black Swan Barrels (exotic woods) Ethiopian Spice Market (for gesho) Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Guests: Aug 27 - Sam Slaughter - Food and Drink Editor at The Manual Sept 3 - Mateusz Blaszczyk and Krzysztof Jarek - EMMA/Mead Madness Cup Sept 10 - Meadcon East and Cornell Mead Intensive (off) Upcoming Events Aug 21 - New Day Craft Mead - Mead Education Au 25 - Heidrun Meadery - Bee Experienced, from flower to flute Aug 27 - Redstone Meadery - Yogis and Mead Drinkers Aug 31 - New Day Craft Mead - Meadful Things and Outciders Festival Aug 31 - Brimming Horn Meadery - Viking Jerk Beard Competition Sept 5-7 MeadCon East Sept 7 - Folklore Brewing and Meadery - Pints for Pets Flower Girl Class Sept 21 - Royal Manor - Mead Festival Sept 22 - Starrlight Mead - Mead Day Celebration and Fall Festival Sept 28 - Orpheus Meadfest - Tasting and Award Ceremony for Orpheus Cup Mead Competition Oct 5-5 and 12-13 - Stonekeep Meadery - Artisan Wine and Cheese pairing weekends Oct 19 - Texas Mead Fest Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

8-13-19 Tonight at 9PM EST we're talking with Kevin Martin, Head of Fermentation, Labs and IT at Goodroads Cider and Mead in Charlotte, NC. Kevin is a long time home brewer, since 1994. His first kit was a 'Slobber Porter', and his second beer was an Imperial stout/Dopple Bock/Barley wine hybrid (he was new). He read about mead in Charlie Papazian's 'New Complete Joy of Home Brewing', went out and bought a commercial example, and decided he wanted to try it out. His first batch was, in his words, 'ugh'. Then it became a challenge. He ended up making mead for his wedding, and started competing in 2001. He went on to be North Carolina Mead Maker of the Year on the Top Three plaque 13 times, with 4 first places between 2001 and 2015. He has hundreds of medals and ribbons in competition for mead. He has gotten his BJCP National Judge and MJCP judge credentials. In 2017, he went pro as head of fermentation at Good Roads. Kevin is married and has a daughter and a cat, and a member of the Carolina Brew Masters brew club, which was the winner of the first AHA Radagast Award (Kevin was president that year). Good Roads opened on St. Patrick's Day, 2017, and is both a cidery and meadery. The name comes from a play on majority owner Brian Beauchemin's last name, which means "wonderful path" in French. They are currently serving in their tasting room, and selling to individuals in growlers, but plan to have a bottling line up soon. This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Show links and notes Evoak - Oak Solutions Black Swan Barrels (exotic woods) Ethiopian Spice Market (for gesho) Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Guests: Aug 20 - Kent Waldeck - Crafted Artisan Meadery Aug 27 - Sam Slaughter - Food and Drink Editor at The Manual Sept 3 - Mateusz Blaszczyk and Krzysztof Jarek - EMMA/Mead Madness Cup Sept 10 - Meadcon East and Cornell Mead Intensive (off) Upcoming Events Aug 16 - Honnibrook Meadery - Steve Selinsky LIVE Aug 18 - Bos Meadery - Open Mic Night Aug 21 - New Day Craft Mead - Mead Education Au 25 - Heidrun Meadery - Bee Experienced, from flower to flute Aug 27 - Redstone Meadery - Yogis and Mead Drinkers Aug 31 - New Day Craft Mead - Meadful Things and Outciders Festival Sept 7 - Folklore Brewing and Meadery - Pints for Pets Flower Girl Class Sept 21 - Royal Manor - Mead Festival Sept 22 - Starrlight Mead - Mead Day Celebration and Fall Festival Sept 28 - Orpheus Meadfest - Tasting and Award Ceremony for Orpheus Cup Mead Competition Oct 5-5 and 12-13 - Stonekeep Meadery - Artisan Wine and Cheese pairing weekends Oct 19 - Texas Mead Fest Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

8-6-19 Tonight we’re going to Monterrey, Mexico to talk with Raúl de la Garza, owner of Freya Brewery. Raúl started making mead on the summer of 2008. It all started with questioning what did the vikings drink back in the day (His family has Danish roots and they’re into history and food). After learning about mead and finding out that no one was making/selling mead in northern Mexico (Monterrey) he decided to start making it himself, “if they did it back then, how hard can it be?” He said to himself lol, so he got a big tamales pot, some local honey and bread yeast and started fermenting. The curiosity turned into a hobby and he kept making around 5 gals of mead (mostly traditional mead) each month since then. In 2013, while still in university, Raúl went to Sweden to take a summer entrepreneurship class. There he had to develop a product and make a business plan, also make numbers and sale forecast, basically an investor pitch for a meadery. Since he knew all the numbers and process it was quite easy to make something that sounded right. He won second place with that project (it was a team project). Fast forward to 2015, he graduated from uni (mechanical electrical engineering) and brought some bottles of mead to the party. One of his godparents was there, his son recently started a business selling craft beer, he tried the mead and loved it, then said Raúl should definitely sell it at his store. Raúl was puzzled, should he take the entrepreneur road? He knew it was going to be hard, since he lacked the money to do the amount of investment a meadery needs. After a couple of days thinking about it, he decided to go for it, and hasn’t looked back since. Pitched the plan to his parents and they decided to invest in the business, they are now a family owned meadery and added a friend of his to the team in 2018. They formalized the business around may 2016 and started selling mead on September. Got our first medals on 2017 (3 golds and 1 silver) then 11 medals on 2018, and 2 of those were for best small brewery in Mexico (one from Chile and one from Mexico). This year they got 3 more medals from Costa Rica and are waiting to see how things went in Chile (they’ll know at the end of August). Today they have 3 yearly products and plan to expand that to 5 or 6. All of them are sessions (low AVB). They have a traditional (7%), a hibiscus one (7%), a rosemary one (3.5%), and plan to introduce one with hops (7%) and one with berries (also 7%). They went for session meads to help introduce mead to a bigger audience and to get a faster turnover, standard meads tend to sell a bit slower than sessions, and certainly take a bit more time to make. Freya Brewing is located in Monterrey, Mx, and produces around 2100 liters of mead monthly, they keg and bottle meads in 12 oz beer bottles. All their meads are carbonated. Join us as we find out more about mead in Mexico, and how Raúl is spreading the word of mead there! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Show links and notes Evoak - Oak Solutions Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Guests: Aug 6 - Raul de la Garza, Freya Brewing in Neuvo Leon, Mexico Upcoming Events Aug 7 - Bos Meadery - Carell Casey music Aug 8 - Skal Beer Hall - Washington Mead Fest Aug 10 - Orchid Cellar Mead - Frederick County Craft Beverage Festival Aug 10 - Woodstone Creek Artisan Winery and Distillery - Saturday Sips, Wine, Mead and Spirits Aug 21 - New Day Craft Mead - Mead Education Aug 31 - New Day Craft Mead - Meadful Things and Outciders Festival Sept 21 - Royal Manor - Mead Festival Sept 22 - Starrlight Mead - Mead Day Celebration and Fall Festival Sept 28 - Orpheus Meadfest - Tasting and Award Ceremony for Orpheus Cup Mead Competition Oct 5-5 and 12-13 - Stonekeep Meadery - Artisan Wine and Cheese pairing weekends Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

Tonight at 9PM EST, we're off to Grosse Pointe Park (near Detroit for those who don't know) to visit with Julie and Rana (RJ), owners of Recolte Meads. Recolte Meads has been open for about 2 years, and opened their tasting room on April 23 this year. Julie has been making mead for several years. Back before she started making mead, she had a tenant who couldn’t make rent, and in the course of her story, mentioned that her dad owned an apiary. And Julie had her tenant pay her rent in honey! She ended up with 8 five gallon pails of the golden nectar, and *voila* she started making mead, in 5 gallon batches. Julie has been in the beer and brewing business for over 25 years. She did both hands on and other related jobs in the industry, and learned a lot from the folks doing the brewing. She also owned a brewery that had a license to make wine and mead (which they did), though the focus was mostly on the beer. She started seeing the mead industry grow, and wanted to expand mead sales. After she left the brewery, she was approached by a friend to open another brewery in downtown Detroit. She suggested a meadery instead, since there were so many breweries out there. The friend had never had mead, so he stopped by to do some tasting of Julie’s meads. At this point she had been making mead for about 2 years. So, her friend, impressed with mead, agreed to do a meadery. But Julie ended up talking it over with her BFF Rana (RJ) and they decided to partner up and start their own meadery. They planned, Youtubed and Googled the heck out of starting a production facility, and finally created a business plan that worked for them. They opened their production facility 2 years ago in Sterling Heights, and have been producing mead since that time. When they were in the building process, they were told that having the meadery downtown wasn’t going to happen due to cost to build being beyond the budget. So, they changed their business plan to start distribution as soon as their mead was ready. And they did all this while working full time jobs at the hospital! Julie is a Surgical Tech and RJ is a Certified Sterile Processing Tech. And Julie is raising 4 kids! That’s dedication!! So, once they decided to distribute, and were in the process, they got a call from that same friend, asking them to look at a space in a building they’d just bought in Grosse Point Park. Julie and RJ did, and fell in love. And, that changed things, and they decided to hold off distribution while they got the tasting room ready, and opened their new tasting room April 23. They are using Michigan wildflower honey, and local fruits in their meads. Recolte is French for ‘harvest’, so it’s a good name for this venture. They are serving food (you should *see* the pics they post on their Facebook feed! delish!), and have evening events and board games at the tasting room. They even have a record player (retro!) and encourage guests to bring their favorite albums to spin on a weekly event. They are planning to sell bricks in their front wall to raise money for a local non-profit and to help with equipment purchasing. We'll be talking with them about their adventures as meadery owners, and digging into what their doing with their meads, and what they've learned about making great mead. This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Show links and notes Evoak - Oak Solutions Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Guests: Aug 6 - Raul de la Garza, Freya Brewing in Neuvo Leon, Mexico Upcoming Events Aug 2 - B. Nektar - 11th Birthday and Mead Day Celebration Aug 3 - Honeygirl Meadery - Mead Day Aug 3 - Starrlight Meadery - Mead Day Aug 3 - Queen City Meadery - Grand Opening and National Mead Day Festival Aug 3 - Meridian Hive Meadery - National Mead Day Celebration Aug 3 - The Beer Exchange in Kalamazoo - Mead Day Celebration Aug 3 - Schramm's Mead - Mead Day Celebration and Food Pairing Aug 3 - Royal Meadery - Mead Day Celebration Aug 3 - Fat Friar Meadery - Mead Day Celebration Aug 3 - Long Island Mead Festival - Including Beacon Meadery, Enlightenment Wines, Haymaker Meadery, Meridian Hive, Mutiny Distribution, MYSTO MEAD, Remarkable Liquids Distribution, Slate Point Meadery, & W A Meadwerks with more being added every day. A

7-23-19 We're off to northern Minnesota tonight talk with Curt Stock about the Valkyries Horn, Mead Competition of the Gods. And of course talk shop with Curt about mead! When I asked Curt for some background on himself, he came back with 'overrated meadmaker' (his words). However, we wanted to give y'all a little bit more than that, so here is a bit about Curt. Curt's been homebrewing since 1996. He started making mead after he purchased Ken’s The Complete Meadmaker at the 2003 AHA conference in Chicago. He then got hooked on melomels. He made it to the AHA 2nd round BOS table in 2004 in Las Vegas (lost to Formanek and Devaris, not bad company) then won MMOTY in 2005 in Baltimore. He attended a few of the IMFs (International Mead Festival) during that time where he met me, Oskar, David Myers, Ken, Pete Devaris and others. He also hung out with Michael Fairbrother a lot before he went pro. Many fun times were had and headaches! Join us to talk with Curt about the Valkyries Horn Mead Competition and talk shop with him about his meads and what he's been doing. This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Show links and notes Evoak - Oak Solutions Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Guests: July 30 - Recolte Mead Upcoming Events July 24 - Bos Meadery - synthesizer group The Blips July 25 - Golden Coast Mead - Monthly Meading and Homebrew share July 26 - Rebel Meadery, Stonekeep Meadery, The Colony Meadery - Bear Creek Wine Festival July 27 - Orcas Island Cider and Mead Festival Aug 2 - B. Nektar - 11th Birthday and Mead Day Celebration Aug 3 - Queen City Meadery - Grand Opening and National Mead Day Festival Aug 3 - Meridian Hive Meadery - National Mead Day Celebration Aug 3 - The Beer Exchange in Kalamazoo - Mead Day Celebration Aug 3 - Schramm's Mead - Mead Day Celebration and Food Pairing Aug 3 - Royal Meadery - Mead Day Celebration Aug 3 - Long Island Mead Festival - Including Beacon Meadery, Enlightenment Wines, Haymaker Meadery, Meridian Hive, Mutiny Distribution, MYSTO MEAD, Remarkable Liquids Distribution, Slate Point Meadery, & W A Meadwerks with more being added every day. Aug 8 - Skal Beer Hall - Washington Mead Fest Aug 10 - Orchid Cellar Mead - Frederick County Craft Beverage Festival Aug 31 - New Day Craft Mead - Meadful Things and Outciders Festival Sept 22 - Starrlight Mead - Mead Day Celebration and Fall Festival Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

7-16-19 Tonight at 9PM Eastern we're headed out to Colorado, to talk with Mike and DJ from Honnibrook Meadery. AJ and I met Mike and DJ at the 2019 MeadCon and MazerCup, and I was *blown away* by their salted mango session mead (and all their other meads). These guys are doing something right, and if you haven't tried it, you need to. Honnibrook Craft Meadery has been open for five months and the guys are really dialling in on serving session meads, refreshing meads below 8% ABV that are easy drinkers. The meadery is located just a little over a mile south of downtown Castle Rock Colorado in industrial warehouse space and hosts a 12 tap tasting room in addition to a very modern production facility. They're doing self-distributing right now, and from what I've seen online, their meads are getting pretty popular. DJ and Mike are both longtime home brewers that met at church and started brewing beer religiously every weekend for about ten years, experimenting with all the spectrum of styles. DJ even worked part-time as an assistant brewer at a very successfully Denver Brewery to learned a lot about the beer business. DJ also has a culinary degree and worked as executive chef at the local country club. Their experimenting was not limited to beer, and they made several meads too. The meads received such a positive response they changed their focus to mead completely. They have attended the mead making classes at UC Davis to hone their craft and understand the commercial side of mead making and tinkered on draft mead recipes for several years with the focus on being professional mead makers. They both have won awards individually and together in the amateur and professional mead competitions. Even with success, Honnibrook has experienced, DJ still has his day job delivering medical supplies, and Mike has his day job working in IT, so the meadery is open Thursday-Sunday evenings. This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Show links and notes Evoak - Oak Solutions Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Guests: July 23 - Matt Weide and Curt Stock - Valkyries Horn mead comp July 30 - Recolte Mead Upcoming Events July 18 - The Hive - Mead, Peace, Love and Cheesecake Pairing July 20 - Folklore Brewing and Meadery - Home Brewing Workshop July 24 - Bos Meadery - synthesizer group The Blips July 25 - Golden Coast Mead - Monthly Meading and Homebrew share July 27 - Orcas Island Cider and Mead Festival Aug 3 - Queen City Meadery - Grand Opening and National Mead Day Festival Aug 3 - Meridian Hive Meadery - National Mead Day Celebration Aug 3 - Long Island Mead Festival - Including Beacon Meadery, Enlightenment Wines, Haymaker Meadery, Meridian Hive, Mutiny Distribution, MYSTO MEAD, Remarkable Liquids Distribution, Slate Point Meadery, & W A Meadwerks with more being added every day. Aug 8 - Skal Beer Hall - Washington Mead Fest Aug 31 - New Day Craft Mead - Meadful Things and Outciders Festival Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

7-2-19 Tonight at 7PM EST, we're doing a live, ON LOCATION broadcast of GotMead Live from B. Nektar Meadery in Ferndale, MI. Our guests will be Kerri Dalhofer, co-owner, and Miranda Johnson, Marketing Director/Event Magician/Ambassador of Buzz. We're celebrating the release of the first collaboration with GotMead, Cherry Pi (with crust)! This mead is based on Vicky's grandma's cherry pie recipe, her favorite pie as a child, and one made with Michigan cherries that Vicky would pick herself as she worked in the orchards in her first job. We will be talking about B. Nektar's meads, and what they're up to, how they get their recipe ideas, and where they're going next. For those who don't know the story, B. Nektar, currently one of the largest meaderies in the US, was started in 2006, originally as a 'part time' meadery, while Brad and Kerri worked their day jobs. However, a series of unfortunate job cutbacks resulted in both of them being laid off, and they found themselves going full time right out of the gate. Obviously, they had a great plan with the meadery, because since the start in 2006, B. Nektar has risen to the top of US meadery production, and continues to make great mead cider and beer. Kerri owns B. Nektar with Brad, and is the creative soul of B. Nektar, the brains behind the design and creation of all their labels and product names. That creativity has made B. Nektar labels instantly recognizable. Miranda originally came from the music industry as a freelance publicist and applied to become some supporting feature on the administrative side for B. Nektar in Feb of 2015, and got hired essentially as Brad's assistant. She kept on taking on whatever she needed to at B. Nektar, and ended up being the Ambassador of Buzz at the meadery, and handles sales and production things, their social media platform, PR, taproom, and the Spring and Summer Mead fetivals, she's a Jill of all trades. And yes, she's even cleaned the bathrooms (just like meadery owners have to mop the floors). Join us and hang out! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 7PM EDT/4PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! Show links and notes Evoak - Oak Solutions Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Guests: July 9 - Vicky on the road back to NC July 16 - Michael and DJ from Honnibrook Meadery in Castle Rock, CO July 23 - Matt Weide and Curt Stock - Valkyries Horn mead competition Upcoming Events July 13 - Enlightenment Wines - Public Hives Mead Tasting (in Miami) July 18 - The Hive - Mead, Peace, Love and Cheesecake Pairing July 19 - B. Nektar - Midsummer Night's Shabbat Dinner July 25 - Strad Meadery - Painting and Mead July 27 - Orcas Island Cider and Mead Festival Aug 31 - New Day Craft Mead - Meadful Things and Outciders Festival Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

6-4-19 Tonight on GotMead Live at 9PM EST we're talking with Brian Galbreath, owner of Unpossible Meadery in Dwight, IL. Brian started fermenting ciders and then mead in 2013. Since then he has focused on traditionals as a homebrewer on Pete Bakulic's advice. [break]Brian took a Mazer Cup win with his Montmorency Barrel Aged Mead, where he won the 2016 Home Mead Competition in the experimental mead category. At Unpossible Mead, Brian is focusing on session meads, tart and wild fermented meads, and is gearing up a barrel program. The tasting room in Dwight has an industrial theme with exposed piping and rustic light fixtures, including a clever usage of discarded electrical equipment like electric meters. Unpossible Mead has 4 meads in bottles and several more in kegs sold around Central & Northern Illinois. [break]We'll be finding out what Brian is up to with Unpossible, and also talking about what he's learned about meadmaking in the last 7 years since he got started. This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Show links and notes Evoak - Oak Solutions Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Guests: June 11 - Juli and RJ at Recolte Meads in Gross Pointe Park, MI June 18 - Vicky on the road to Michigan - we're off June 25 - Vicky hanging out with her kids and grandkids - we're off July 2 - LIVE from B.Nektar Meadery in Ferndale for the launch of their new Cherry Pie mead inspired by Vicky's Grandmother's cherry pie and stories July 9 - Vicky on the road back to NC July 16 - Michael and DJ from Honnibrook Meadery in Castle Rock, CO Upcoming Events June 5 - Keepers Cut Meadery - hosting a bone marrow donor drive for a little girl who needs your help June 6 - Honey Pot Meadery - Orange County Palate, A Beer and Food Event June 7 - Enlightenment Wines - Shaker Meets Brooklyn Mead Dinner June 8 - Starrlight Mead - Mead and Paint with Picasso Paint June 7-9 Brimming Horn Meadery - 2nd Annual 'Party Like its 793 Viking Festival June 8 - Woodstone Creek Artisan Winery and Distillery - Saturday Sips, Wine, Mead, Spirits (wine, mead, port and distilled spirits) June 8 - Honey Pot Meadery - Taps for Tour June 12 - Schramm's Mead - Bramble Mazer Reception (ticketed event) June 13 - Schramm's Mead - Pairing Dinner at Republic June 20 - Art of the Cocktail - craft cocktail competition in Ferndale, MI - Schramm's will be be there June 24-27 - UC Davis - Meadmaking 301 Class - speakers include Ash Fishbein, Billy Beltz, Ken Schramm, Mike Faul and Susan Ruud June 27 - Brother's Drake Mead - The Bee's Meads at the Conservatory June 28 - Hailey's Honey Meadery - Busy Bee Comedy Night Showcase July 18 - The Hive - Mead, Peace, Love and Cheesecake Pairing July 27 - Orcas Island Cider and Mead Festival Aug 31 - New Day Craft Mead - Meadful Things and Outciders Festival Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!

5-28-19 Tonight we're talking with Steve Mertz, 'the Canadian Sasquatch' (who confusingly lives in Texas). We'll be talking mead methodologies and the things Steve has figured out about them. Steve “The Canadian Sasquatch” started home brewing in Fall of 2012 after a trip to the Texas Renaissance Festival. His Beautiful Bride to be, and him had some mead and thought it would be fun to try to make it at home. A quick trip to the local home brew store and one mead kit later, he was hooked. Soon after that he also tried his hand at brewing beer and quite enjoyed that process as well. But mead was what he enjoyed the most in brewing. Mostly because there is a lot less cleanup afterwards! In the Spring of 2016 he decided to come up with the Mead Methodologies YouTube series to help educate others in the ways of making mead. Trying to simplify some of the more confusing aspects of it all in a video format that would allow others to get a grasp of them. And in the Summer of 2016, the Mead Methodologies series was live on YouTube. In Spring of 2017 he decided that a book based on Mead Methodolgies would be a good idea, and thus the book was born. You can get "Steve the Canadian Sasquach' Mead Methodologies" on Amazon. When not home brewing, Steve enjoys woodworking, hanging out in nature with his Beautiful Bride, and amoking all over the world with her. [break]Click the chat link to join us in the live conversation during the show. This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Show links and notes Evoak - Oak Solutions Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events May 29 - Valhalla Meadery - Open Mic Night May 30 - Bos Meadery - Finding North - live music June 1 - Starrlight Meadery - Spirits of Summer Festival June 1 - Honeymoon Meads - Music - Giant's Causeway June 1 - Western Reserve Meadery - Main St. Kent's Art and Wine Festival June 1 - Warped Pours II - Pour Harder - Metro South Homebrew League Homebrew Festival June 6 - Honey Pot Meadery - Orange County Palate, A Beer and Food Event June 8 - Starrlight Mead - Mead and Paint with Picasso Paint June 7-9 Brimming Horn Meadery - 2nd Annual 'Party Like its 793 Viking Festival June 8 - Woodstone Creek Artisan Winery and Distillery - Saturday Sips, Wine, Mead, Spirits (wine, mead, port and distilled spirits) June 24-27 - UC Davis - Meadmaking 301 Class - speakers include Ash Fishbein, Billy Beltz, Ken Schramm, Mike Faul and Susan Ruud June 27 - Brother's Drake Mead - The Bee's Meads at the Conservatory July 27 - Orcas Island Cider and Mead Festival Aug 31 - New Day Craft Mead - Meadful Things and Outciders Festival Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!