We have many varieties of meads ranging from Dry to Sweet.

 

Regular Line-Up (Available Year-Round)

Dry Orange Blossom

Made with the same ultra-premium orange blossom honey as our sweet mead. This one's fermented dry. Bone dry. The perfect accompaniment to a delicious meal. Notes of citrus, honey, and beeswax. Serve chilled.

Orange Blossom

Our orange blossom mead is made from the honey of orange and other citrus trees, and is aged on American oak. The flavor and bouquet will transport you to warm climates, where citrus groves stretch on for miles and miles. This mead will continue to mature wonderfully in your cellar.

Wildflower

Made with Michigan wildflower honey. This mead captures the essence of the natural beauty of Michigan. It has a wonderfully complex floral aroma and flavor. We use a ‘no boil’ technique in our mead-making that preserves the subtleties of the raw honey. Aged briefly on American oak for complexity.

Wildberry Pyment

A ‘Pyment’ (pie-ment) is a mead made with grapes. This one is made with clover honey, shiraz grape juice, and natural wildberry concentrate. It is full bodied and semi-sweet. Makes a great sangria or try it over ice as a spritzer. Our most popular mead.

Vanilla Cinnamon

A light colored, sweet mead made with whole cinnamon sticks and vanilla beans. The beans are sliced open by hand before being added to the mead to ensure maximum flavor extraction. This recipe continues to win awards wherever it goes. Try this mead served warm on cool nights with someone special.

Silver Medal - 2007 National Homebrew Competition

 

Limited Releases

 

Backwoods Cyser (375ml)

A cyser (pronounced: Size-er) is the name for a mead that is made with apple cider. We used fresh pressed, unfiltered Michigan apple cider and fermented it with local wildflower honey. We then aged this mead in 12 year old bourbon barrels for 1 1/2 years. The mead is the back sweetened with local star thistle and buckwheat honey. Serve this at cellar temp in an over-sized wine glass, or a snifter. This is the best thing since our Bourbon Barrel Mead. 14% ABV

 

Barrel Aged Dry Cyser (375ml)

A dry mead made with apple cider and wildflower honey. We matured this mead in oak barrels for about a year to mellow the flavor and contribute to the body. Best served chilled. Pairs wonderfully with food.

 

Pineapple Coconut Melomel (375ml)

Our Pineapple Coconut Mead is so delicious, our dear late friend Jon once called it ‘God Juice’. Orange blossom honey, pineapple juice and coconut make this one of our most exciting releases to date. The flavors will take you to tropical shores with warm breezes. 14% ABV - Sweet (FG 1.023).  Sold out in the meadery, although some bottles may be available in stores.

 

Bourbon Barrel Mead (375ml) - A few bottles still available at the meadery.

This very limited batch shows just how complex a mead can be. This mead is made with a blend of orange blossom and buckwheat honey, then is aged in a bourbon barrel. This process mellows the mead and adds a noticeable bourbon flavor for a wonderful sipping mead. This mead ages well. 17.5% ABV - Sweet (FG 1.026)

Gold Medal - 2009 World Expo of Beers

Bronze - 2009 Mazer Cup International

Bronze - 2010 Ratebeer.com Best Beers in the World

 

Margarita-Style Melomel - (375ml)

Made with dark and light agave nectar, orange blossom honey, fresh lime juice, lime zest, and orange zest. This mead was inspired by the popular tequila beverage. This is a variation on a recipe that's been floating around our homebrewing club (F.O.R.D.) for years. 14% ABV

 

Yo Momma's Strawberry Pizzazz (375ml)

This fantastic mead recipe was shared with us by guest mead maker Jamie VanKuren (known on Gotmead.com as Yo Momma). Almost 5 pounds of fresh strawberries were used per gallon to deliver a beautiful aroma followed up by incredible flavor. Simply a classic mead to share with someone special. The flavor is rich with fresh strawberries and honey. The seeds and acidity from the strawberries help to balance out the sweetness and provide a well rounded, fresh fruit character. 14% ABV. Serve cellar temperature.  Sold out in the meadery, although some bottles may be available in stores.

 

Ethiopian Harrar

Ethiopian Harrar coffee is one of the oldest coffee beans still prouduced and is known for its distinctive fruity wine flavor.  To make this mead, we cold-soaked nearly 1/2 lb per gallon of it for 48 hours to extract as much of the wonderful flavor and aroma as possible.  Roastmaster and coffee nut Frank Lanzkron-Tamarazo (owner of Chazzano) provided his consultation for this collaboration between the two Ferndale, MI companies.  The coffee was selected to pair perfectly with the earthy Michigan wildflower honey.  Serve at cellar temperatur.  Sold out in the meadery, but there may be some available in stores.

 

Zombie Killer Cherry Cyser

Zombie Killer Cherry Cyser is made with Michigan tart cherry juice, apple cider and star thistle honey.  It is sweet but balances nicely with the tart cherries.  Be careful...it is extremely addicting and refreshing.  Serve cold...Zombies hate the cold!

 

Ken Schramm Signature Series

The Heart of Darkness (375ml)

Meadmaker Ken Schramm crafted the Heart of Darkness exclusively from his home grown fruit. This mead represents a true labor of love. Hand-picked and hand-pitted morello cherries were fermented with black currants, red raspberries and Michigan honey from Larry Yates’ Sawmill Lake Apiaries. Virtually all of a season’s fruit production was used for each vintage, limiting its production to a small number of individually signed and numbered bottles. The Heart of Darkness is free run, unfined and unfiltered, yielding a deep, intense character. It pairs beautifully with grilled meats, bleu cheese, and dark chocolate

2008 - This is the first ever, commercial release of Ken's world famous mead. To commemorate this momentous occasion, each bottle is hand signed, numbered, and the neck was sealed with wax. Only 110 bottles were produced in 2008/2009. Those bottles are sold out.

In 2009, the fruit yield was not sufficient to produce a vintage.

A 2010 vintage is expected to be released in the summer of 2011.

 

Ginger Mead (aka: The Moviestar) - SOLD OUT

Seeking to create a pure, refreshing and unapologetic expression of ginger and Orange Blossom Honey, consulting meadmaker Ken Schramm has crafted the ginger mead. Bracing ginger character and balanced, lingering sweetness make this mead a perfect accompaniment to a wide range of bold flavors, including sushi, Indian and Thai cuisines, full bodied cheeses and smoked meats or fish. Serve lightly chilled. One sip will lead to another, we can assure you.  Sold out in the meadery, although some bottles may be available in stores.

 

Xtra Limited Releases

 

Mike's Big O'Melomel

This special release celebrates the best of show winner in the 2009 Michigan Renaissance Festival home brewing competition.  You hold the commercial version of the winning recipe by Michael Spears.  It is made with orange blossom honey, mandarin oranges, orange zest and fresh ginger.  Big citrus aroma, along with subtle ginger, is supported by a nice orange-honey flavor. Only 15 gallons were produced.

 

Strawberry Banana Pizzazz

Yo Momma's Strawberry Pizzazz aged with bananas.  Huge banana aromas with sweet strawberry to back it up.  Just released in April 2011.

 

 

SOLD OUT

 

Cranberry Melomel - SOLD OUT

A delicious melomel crafted by meadmaker Paul Zimmerman. Orange blossom honey with fresh cranberries and orange zest. Sweet/Tart. Delicious.

The D's Bees-SOLD OUT

A traditional mead made with renegade honey collected from illegal beehives kept within Detroit city limits. These hives were hidden/protected by placing them on the roofs of abandoned buildings and in local backyards. The mead has a hint of spice to it that is unique to the honey. The mead was supposed to stop at 14% ABV, but just like the city of Detroit, it just wouldn't give up and ended at 17% ABV.

 

Tupelo - SOLD OUT

Our tupelo mead captures the unique aromas and delicate flavors of the honey from tupelo trees, which grow in the swampy areas along the Gulf Coast of the U.S. Beehives are kept along the river swamps on platforms or floats during the tupelo bloom to produce the rare, certified tupelo honey. This mead ages well. 

Buckwheat - SOLD OUT

This mead is not for the weak or timid. The bold, rich taste of buckwheat honey, in all of its glory, carries through into this mead. Buckwheat honey has a very earthy, almost malty, flavor and aroma. We use only 100% pure buckwheat honey in this mead. Enjoy with your favorite barbecued foods.

 

Thanksgiving Mead (November 2009) - SOLD OUT

Based loosely on a pumpkin pie recipe. This mead is made with clover honey, pumpkin, cinnamon, clove, and ginger. We wouldn't call it a pumpkin pie mead because the pumpkin is very subtle, but it will pair wonderfully with all of your Thanksgiving desserts. Only about 38 bottles produced.

 

Fall Harvest Cyser (October 2009) SOLD OUT

We took some reserve apple cider from our Bourbon Barrel Cyser and made this xtra limited batch. Fermented with fresh pressed apple cider, clover and wildflower honey. We fermented it dry, then sweetened with a little bit of wildflower and buckwheat honey, then aged it with some cinnamon and clove. The spices are subtle but present. The buckwheat honey adds a dark brown sugar-like character. We also threw in some American oak for good luck.

Spiced Peach and Apricot Mead (September 2009) SOLD OUT

Clover honey, peaches, apricots, ginger, cinnamon, and clove. Only 48 bottles produced.

 

Blueberry Melomel (July 2009) SOLD OUT

Only 6 gallons of this sweet mead were made on April 7th, 2009. A Melomel is a mead made with fruit. This one is made with tupelo and clover honey, along with currants, blueberries and blackberries. This is a truly fantastic mead that is both smooth and complex, with big flavor and aroma that draws you in. A classic mead to be shared with someone special.

Cherry Buckweat Mead (June 2009) SOLD OUT

If you like our buckwheat mead, you will love this cherry buckwheat mead! The flavor and aroma of the cherry juice really compliments those of the buckwheat honey. A fantastic balance of fruitiness and earthiness contribute to a truly complex libation. Buy one to drink now and one to lay down for a nice long rest in your cellar - this mead will continue to mature for many years.

Raspberry Chipotle Mead (March 2009) – SOLD OUT

Silver Medal Winner at the 2009 World Expo of Beers in Frankenmuth, MI. This mead is made with 2 pounds of raspberries per gallon, and dried chipotle peppers, giving it a sweet heat kick. Don't worry, it's not really that hot. The peppers just give it a smoky, and slightly warming character.

 

Pineapple Melomel (August 2008) - SOLD OUT

This mead is big on flavor! We combine 100% pineapple juice, fresh pineapples, shredded coconut, and orange blossom honey for this wonderfully tropical mead. It's absolutely fantastic! This award winning recipe is sure to please when served chilled on a hot day.

 

Cherry Riesling Pyment (April 2010) - SOLD OUT

 

Dry Tupelo Mead (March 2010) - SOLD OUT

 

Chocolate Raspberry Love (February 2010) - SOLD OUT

We made this mead to release in 2009, but it just wasn't ready in time for Valentine's day. So we let it bulk age for another year, which worked like magic! This sweet dessert mead is made with real cocoa and raspberries and makes for one decadent end to any meal. Reminds me of one of those chocolates with real fruit inside. Share this one with your sweetie.

Dry Shiraz Pyment (January 2010) - SOLD OUT

Here's one for those that ask us, "don't you have any dry meads?" Of course we do, and here's another one. This pyment was made with shiraz grape juice and Michigan wildflower honey. Its big bold fruit flavor has a smack of tannins. This one will be great to age.