A meadery is a winery or brewery that produces honey wines or meads, and which sells them commercially. [1] [2] There are craft "meaderies" emerging all over North America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand where each meadery produces various styles of meads, such as fruit meads, traditional meads, session meads, and braggots (mead-beer hybrids). [3] [4]
Meaderies are becoming more commonplace around the world as people start to discover their offerings. [3] Meaderies that produce honey wines or meads are becoming more abundant in the US. According to a study by the American Mead Maker Association, the community of mead producers has exploded 130% since 2011, making it the fastest growing alcoholic beverage category in the US. [5]
In the United Kingdom, particularly in Cornwall, a meadery can also refer to a type of restaurant that serves mead and food with a medieval ambience. An ancient meadery is thought to be in the style of a banquet hall, having wooden flooring, heavy wooden tables, and lit by candlelight with white-painted granite walls.
Mead, also called hydromel, is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alcoholic content ranges from about 3.5% ABV to more than 20%. The defining characteristic of mead is that the majority of the beverage's fermentable sugar is derived from honey. It may be still, carbonated, or naturally sparkling; dry, semi-sweet, or sweet.
Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis on enthusiasm, new flavours, and varied brewing techniques.
Fruit wines are fermented alcoholic beverages made from a variety of base ingredients ; they may also have additional flavors taken from fruits, flowers, and herbs. This definition is sometimes broadened to include any alcoholic fermented beverage except beer. For historical reasons, mead, cider, and perry are also excluded from the definition of fruit wine.
A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, usually alcoholic beverages; a small barrel or cask is known as a keg.
A cooper is a person trained to make wooden casks, barrels, vats, buckets, tubs, troughs and other similar containers from timber staves that were usually heated or steamed to make them pliable.
Lithuanian cuisine features products suited to the cool and moist northern climate of Lithuania: barley, potatoes, rye, beets, greens, berries, and mushrooms are locally grown, and dairy products are one of its specialties. Various ways of pickling were used to preserve food for winter. Soups are extremely popular, and are widely regarded as the key to good health. Since it shares its climate and agricultural practices with Northern Europe, Lithuanian cuisine has much in common with its Baltic neighbors and, in general, northern countries.
Beer was introduced to Canada by European settlers in the seventeenth century. The first commercial brewery was La Brasseries du Roy started by New France Intendant Jean Talon, in Québec City in 1668. Many commercial brewers thrived until prohibition in Canada. The provincial and federal governments' attempt to eliminate "intoxicating" beverages led to the closing of nearly three quarters of breweries between 1878 and 1928. It was only in the second half of the twentieth century that a significant number of new breweries opened up. The Canadian beer industry now plays an important role in Canadian identity, although globalization of the brewing industry has seen the major players in Canada acquired by or merged with foreign companies, notably its three largest beer producers: Labatt, Molson and Sleeman. The result is that Moosehead, with an estimated 3.8 percent share of the domestic market in 2016, has become the largest fully Canadian-owned brewer.
Dogfish Head Brewery is a brewing company based in Milton, Delaware founded by Sam and Mariah Calagione and, as of 2019, owned by the Boston Beer Company. It opened in 1995 and produces 262,000 barrels of beer annually.
Beer in Wales can be traced to the 6th century. Since the 2000s, there has been a growing microbrewery industry in Wales.
Mead is an unincorporated suburb and census-designated place north of Spokane in Spokane County, Washington, United States. Named for Civil War general George Meade, this rural area is tracked by the United States Census Bureau. As of 2020, the population of Mead was 7,576.
The Grand Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in Mesa County, Colorado, primarily in Grand Junction and Palisade. It is located roughly 200 miles (320 km) southwest of Denver. The high-desert AVA - with an average elevation of between 4,000 and 5,000 feet above sea level - is defined by the irrigated agricultural area served via canals within the Grand Valley of the Colorado River. The AVA was established in 1991 as the first of two Colorado wine regions. The West Elks AVA is the second federally designated AVA in Colorado.
Cornish cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with Cornwall and the Cornish people. It has been heavily influenced by the geography of the county as well as its social history.
Rocky Mountain cuisine is a cuisine of Alberta and British Columbia in Canada; Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Montana in the United States. Some distinguishing dishes include bison and Rocky Mountain oysters, or prairie oysters as they are known in Canada.
Rabbit's Foot Meadery is a meadery and winery in Sunnyvale, California, United States.
Dragonmead is a U.S. microbrewery, meadery and brewpub founded by Earl Scherbarth, Larry Channell, and Bill Wrobel in January 1997. The small brewery produces many varieties of beer, wine, and mead, and has received awards including gold medals at the World Beer Cup.
Superstition Meadery is a meadery, winery and cider house founded in 2012 and based in Prescott, Arizona. As of 2016 they produce 6,000 gallons a year. They won four gold medals and one silver at the 2016 Mazer Cup International mead competition. Availability is localized to Arizona through their distribution partnership with Hensley Beverage Company, with additional direct-to-consumer shipping in 40 U.S. states, and account distribution to 25 U.S. states. They also distribute worldwide in Denmark, Thailand, Japan, and Singapore.
Mead is an alcoholic beverage within Polish culinary tradition made by alcoholic fermentation of a mixture of honey and water. It has a characteristic honey aroma and a flavour that may be enriched by the addition of fruit juices, herbs or spices. The colour ranges from golden to dark amber, depending on the type of honey used for production.
A barrel-aged beer is a beer that has been aged for a period of time in a wooden barrel. Typically, these barrels once housed bourbon, whisky, wine, or, to a lesser extent, brandy, sherry, or port. There is a particular tradition of barrel ageing beer in Belgium, notably of lambic beers. The first bourbon barrel-aged beers were produced in the United States in the early 1990s.
Mead, a fermented honey beverage, was a minimally significant contributor to the United States alcohol industry until the late 20th century, at which time a craft industry for mead began to grow. From approximately the 1980s onward, small-scale meaderies began to increase in number, with a marked jump in interest evident by the 2010s.