Like the wine-boom before them, craft beers have exploded in popularity. In 2014, there were 520 licensed breweries in Canada. Consumers are looking for smaller production runs, unique flavours and a 'farm-to-glass' experience. But a few small farmers across the country seem to be skipping the wine or craft beer trends and moving onto perhaps the next big craft-alcohol — and the only ingredients required are water, yeast and honey.
Mead or honey-wine is created by combining these three simple ingredients in the right way. Helen Grond and her husband Steve McGrath have been producing intricate and unique meads on their 11-acre mountain-side farm, Middle Mountain Mead, on southern B.C.'s Hornby Island for the past 15 years. Grond discovered mead while researching uses for lavender she was growing. She says once they began producing the ancient beverage, “no matter how much we make, we always run out.”
Hornby Island is small, about 30 sq. km, so they keep their 22 hives in the Peace River region of B.C., where they feed mostly on wild clover. Back at the farm, they pretty much grow everything else used to make their 10 varieties of mead. In addition to water, yeast and honey, Middle Mountain's meads are infused with extracts such as apple, arbutus berry, currant, nettle and elder berry in order to achieve the unusual flavours Grond says customers are seeking. Their Mead of Inspiration, contains over 30 ingredients, and their 10-years-in-the-making Rosemeade is crafted in limited quantities utilizing hand-picked rose petals and rose hips. This unique use of extracts Grond says, sets Middle Mountain apart from other meaderies.
Rosewood Estates Winery, just east of Hamilton Ontario, has been producing mead and wine since 2008. This family enterprise is backed by over 85 years of beekeeping experience.
It was founded in tribute to a Ukrainian Canadian whose repeated attempts to open a meadery were declined by the Ontario Government from 1959-1974. Today, Rosewood is owned and operated by the family of that original immigrant. His grandson, William Roman, says Rosewood’s meads are built upon “expert wine making knowledge applied to mead.
William Roman, whose family has over 85 years of beekeeping experience, combines winemaking with making mead at their Hamilton Ontario, farm.
Rosewood's bees forage primarily on wildflowers such as clover, dandelion and lavender and come home to about 250 hives spread across two 45 acre farms. Rosewood, uses as many local ingredients as possible to produce several types of mead including straight honey wine as well as those infused with extracts from fruit juice such as grape, apple and cherry.
Rosewood Estates Winery has hives at two different farms.
The stability of honey allows for the creation of small experimental batches of mead at any time, says Roman. There is more creativity in mead than there is in wine, says Grond. “It’s more playful.” She adds that while most people, save connoisseurs, cannot tell the difference between most wines, mead is very distinct, and it's possible to create a wide range of meads — from wine-like to liqueur-like to beer-like. For example, Middle Mountain describes their Black Magick mead as a honey liqueur in which “black current and anise flavours entice.” On the other hand, Rosewood describes their Ambrosia mead as “rich and warming” where “flowers and honey show immediately through the nose, along with ripe peach and marmalade.”
The taste of mead can be influenced by what bees feed on, as well as the addition of flavours such as blackberry or anise.
Today, both Middle Mountain and Rosewood sell directly to consumers on-site, and online. Additionally, both meaderies have their products available in various liquor stores and restaurants. However, it didn't happen overnight; both Grond and Roman say their businesses were built upon word-of-mouth marketing that took some time to take off.
At first, the drink had to be explained to consumers. The average person isn’t familiar with mead and doesn’t know what to pair it with. Slowly but surely sales have picked up, but he’s still selling more wine than mead, says Roman.
The basics of the production process are the same as for producing wine. One must have fermentation via yeast, consuming sugar, creating alcohol, says Roman. But, he describes mead as a “finicky product” which is “evolving constantly” and requires longer fermentation than wine. After months in fermentation, mead must then be racked for additional months until ready. The process is greatly dependant on what type of mead is being produced. “Different rules for different types,” says Grond. Simple meads can be produced in four months. For meads which require barrel ageing, or oaking, Roman says, expect a 10-month turn-around time from honey to finished product.
The cost of producing mead is similar to that of wine. Per litre, Roman says the cost of yeast is about the same, but depending on what other extracts one wants to add, the cost can increase. If one wants to 'oak' the product, the upfront cost for barrels is “very high.” Other required equipment is expensive as well. Filters and pumps can cost a minimum of $5,000 to $10,000; glycol systems $15,000; tanks $3 per litre and high-speed bottling systems around $250,000. Plus, there's the cost of installation, land, buildings, hives, maintenance etc.
The high cost of establishing and operating a meadery isn't the only challenge. The regulatory process, which varies from province to province, can be gruelling. And, when producing alcohol there are specific rules and regulations that must be followed. For example, if one wished to open a meadery in B.C. (where they are licensed as wineries) that included an on-site store as well as a lounge selling mead by the glass, one would need to apply for a Manufacturer's License, an On-site Store Endorsement, and a Lounge Endorsement. The total application cost for all three adds up to $990. Further, each year it would cost “either $990 or $1,540 to renew the licence, lounge and store depending on the amount of product manufactured,” says Bill Anderson, communications director for the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch. Anderson estimates it takes four to six months to apply for a manufacturer’s licence, one to two months for a store endorsement, and seven to 12 months for a lounge endorsement.
Moreover, when operating a meadery there are often specific rules which must be followed. For example, according to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and Ministry of Rural Affairs website, in that province (where meaderies are also licensed as wineries,) if one wishes to open a meadery they must have a Beekeeper Certificate of Registration and a minimum of 100 hives. In B.C., there are similar minimum hive requirements that Middle Mountain's 22 hives don't meet. An exception was made, says Grond, because the rules were introduced after Middle Mountain had been established.
Though it requires only three ingredients, mead-making can be an extremely expensive and challenging experience. That said, both Grond and Roman say it's a rewarding one. Grond says she has no trouble selling every litre of the 5,000 Middle Mountain produces each year, with 75 per cent of those sales on-site. Further, she welcomes others in the far-from-saturated mead industry by saying, “the more the merrier.” However, her invitation is not without warning, “It's not for the faint-hearted . . . Don't quit your day job.”
A brief history of mead
“Through the hall then went the Helmings' Lady, to younger and older everywhere carried the cup, till come the moment when the ring-graced queen, the royal-hearted, to Beowulf bore the beaker of mead” - Beowulf (Translated by Frances B Gummere).
As author Eoghan Odinsson writes in his book Northern Lore: A Field Guide to the Northern Mind-Body-Spirit, the origins of mead “are lost in prehistory.”
Although the exact origins may be lost, the known history of mead is diverse and storied, with many, including French gastronomy author Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, arguing it's “the ancestor of all fermented drinks.”
According to Odinsson, the earliest surviving reference to mead is within the book of Rigveda, a sacred text of Hinduism, thought to be written between 1700-1100 BC. Yet the oldest archeological evidence of the drink dates to 7000 BC, with Odinsson writing, “pottery vessels containing a mixture of mead, rice and other fruits along with organic compounds of fermentation were found in northern China.” The researchers behind the study Odinsson references, Patrick E. McGovern et al., claim mead played a significant cultural role in ancient China and “contributed” to the advance and intensification of agriculture, horticulture, and food-processing techniques.”
- Rob Wilson