Podcasts about mazer cup

3-11-25 Tonight we're hanging out with Jason Elder, a home mead maker from Kansas City. His name shows up regularly on the comp results, and I can confirm he makes some pretty ‘ok' mead. Jason has been homebrewing in Kansas City since 2010 and started making Mead and Cider in 2016. He wanted to broaden his brewing experience and found that his love for making mead was higher than for making beer. He's won awards at several competitions such as NHC and Mazer Cup. He's considered the "Honey person" for Kansas City as since he has over 2000lbs of honey in storage and about 110 different varieties. He loves talking and drinking anything mead and enjoys mentoring people that are new to mead and are interested in making it for themselves. Jason is a BJCP Judge in Beer, Mead and Cider and is also a proctor for Cider exams. Jason was President of the Kansas City Bier Meisters for 2 years as well as an officer on their board for 2 years before that. He has also been the First Round site organizer in Kansas City for the past 5 years as well as part of the Mazer Cup staff for the past 2 years. He believes that he brings a unique perspective from his experience and knowledge along with a flair from the Plains! Join us to chat with Jason and talk mead! To listen live, you can find us on Youtube, Twitch, X (Twitter), and Facebook on the Gotmead Page. On our new platform, chat is part of the podcast! Just comment from wherever you are watching, and we'll see it!! If you'd like to call in, we can get you a link to come on! Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/meadwench YouTube: YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@Gotmead X(Twitter): https://x.com/RealGotMead Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GotMead Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/GotMead Sponsor: Look no further than Honnibrook Craft Meadery in Castle Rock, Colorado, for your go-to destination for wonderful, light, and refreshing mead! We have 20 meads on tap and four seasonal mead slushees.  Go to honnibrook.com for review our tap list, upcoming events and to order online! Crafting excellent mead requires excellent honey. Luckily The Honey Jar is here to help. Since 2005 The Honey Jar has been supplying delicious pure raw honey in easy to handle 12-pound pails to hobbyist brewers around the United States. Visit us at TheHoneyJarHome.com/gotmead 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 @realGotMead and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT (United States) Join us on live chat during the show Upcoming Shows March 25 - TBD April 8 - TBD April 22 - Arne Defurne, Clockwork Bee Meadery, Antwerp, Belgium Show links and notes Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Let There Be Session Meads by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events March 12 - Cloud City Modern Mead, Leadville, CO - Mindfulness Meadup March 12 - Green Mountain Mashers, Essex, VT - Mead Series Part 3: Spiced Meads March 13 - Scale and Feather Meadery, Avondale, AZ - Mead and a Medium March 14 - Blöm Mead and Cider, Ann Arbor, MI - Femme Feedback Mic Night March 15 - Dawg Gone Bees Apiary and Meadery, Hanover, PA - Mead Making Class March 15 - Four Brothers Mead, Festus, MO - Five Year Anniversary Party and St. Paddy's Day Party March 15 - Grimsby Hollow Meadery, Middleville, MI - Drink Mead, Learn Things: Spirit Dragon Jar Workshop March 15 - Viking Alchemist Meadery, Smyrna, GA - Mead and Minis: Dragons March 15 - Starrlight Meadery, Pittsboro, NC - CLAWS Avian Rehab March 16 - Harvest Ridge Winery, Toughkenamon, PA - Mead and Cheese Pairing March 16 - Scale and Feather Meadery, Avondale, AZ - Spring Mead-eval Market March 19 - Cloud City Modern Mead, Leadville, CO - Mindfulness Meadup March 19 - Kingview Mead, Mt Lebanon, PA - Trivia Night

8-27-24 Tonight at 9PM ET we will be talking with Matthew Chrispen, with the Texas Mead Association and Texas Mead Cup, and we're doing a live demo of the BJCP Mead Exam tasting, and will be talking about getting certified and things to be aware of. Matt started brewing in November 2009 after a gift of Mr. Beer from a buddy and got hooked. He started blogging at Accidentalis.com a year later, focusing more as a journal focusing on personal progress, homebrewing perspectives, the Brew-Magic, Grainfather, and how Brew-Easy gear setups, and brewing water chemistry how-to's. IHestarted making mead in 2014, under the guidance of members of the Austin Zealots and immediately found success with a medal at his first NHC. 2015 was the year Matt started helping with NHC First Round here in Austin, and he passed the original Mead Examination (written and tasting together) with the help of classes with Eric Lowe and Mike Simmons. As he honed his mead-making, he had a little success at various competitions, including The Mazer Cup and the old Masters of Homebrewing Competition. A few years ago, he made BJCP National and has been grading since. After a short stint at Meridian Hive as GM during Covid and the great Texas Ice Storm, Matt has refocused on mead making and working with the Texas Mead Association and Texas Mead Cup to increase mead awareness and qualify mead judges in Texas.He is passionate about writing high-quality scoresheets and providing helpful feedback. Join us to chat with Matt! 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] Sponsor: Look no further than Honnibrook Craft Meadery in Castle Rock, Colorado, for your go-to destination for wonderful, light, and refreshing mead! We have 20 meads on tap and four seasonal mead slushees.  Go to honnibrook.com for review our tap list, upcoming events and to order online! 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 @realGotMead and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Upcoming Shows Sept 10 - Copa Hidromiel competition in Mexico with Vicky and Kevin Show links and notes Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Let There Be Session Meads by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events May 1 - Sept 1 - Copa Hidromiel Mexico Competition Registration - get your entries in now, Copa Hidromiel is offering an entry discount of Aug 28 - Oppegaard Meadery, Seattle, WA - Paint and Sip Class Aug 30 - Adesanya Meadery, Grandville, MI - August Rendezvous Aug 30 - Apis Wine and Meadery, Carnegie, PA - 732 the Electric Duo Live Aug 30 - Lancaster Homebrew, Lancaster, PA - Mead Making Class Aug 31 - Black Mountain Cider and Mead, Black Mountain, NC - 11th Anniversary Celebration Sept 4 - Kingview Meadhouse and Winery, Mount Lebanon, PA - Trivia Night Sept 7 - Dawg Gone Bees Meadery and Apiary, Hanover, PA - Mead Making Class Sept 7 - Honeytree Meadery, Nashville, TN - Mead Making Class Sept 12 - Kingview Mead, Mount Lebanon, PA - One Ray Live Sept 14 - Maniacal Meadery, Ypsilanti, MI - Annie's Experimental Mead Release Sept 19 - Bumbling Fool Meadery, Minneapolis, MN - Charcuterie Design and Trivia Sept 20 - Green River Bee Company, Hendersonville, NC - Mead Making Class Sept 21 - Four Brothers Mead, Festus, MO - Blight of Many Live Sept 21 - Starrlight Mead, Pittsboro, NC - Meadfest SCA Mead Demo Sept 27 - Standard Meadery, Villa Park, IL - Makers and Mead Friday Fall Market Sept 10-12 Copa Hidromiel, Mexico City - international mead competition for home and commercial mead You can buy mead online at https://shopmeads.com If you want to get your event on GotMead Live,

The team from Hiveworks Mead is in the studio for Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras to talk about their way of making mead. Alexander Mendoza, CEO and Head Mazer, Sean Duckworth, COO and Julian Frank, CFO, are taking turns on the two guest microphones in our small converted train car. They will be at Beer City this Saturday, Feb. 24, in Courthouse Square. The Hiveworks Mead team all grew up in Sebastopol together and now they are partners in the company. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Skyborne First they taste Skyborne, a simple recipe of honey, water and yeast, plus carbonation. They just wanted to make a beverage that they could enjoy with any food. The more honey you add, the higher the ABV. A lot of traditional mead could be 2-3 pounds of honey per gallon of mead. Their mead is lower in alcohol so they can use less honey. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! Kind of like wine, kind of like beer The partners started Hiveworks Mead in Sebastopol in a shed with one fermenter, and experimented until their product was a hit at some parties. That was when it was time to go pro. Even though it is classified and taxed as a wine, mead is actually made on equipment that is much more like that of a brewery. The aluminum cans use a lot less carbon dioxide, than glass bottles. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Alexander carries the title Head Mazer. Some meadmakers fancy the term. A mazer is a type of traditional medieval wooden cup, low and wide, with a rise in the middle. There happens to be a well-known annual mead competition called the Mazer Cup, based in Colorado, whose logo is shaped like a mazer. This may have suggested the idea for that term. * * ‘Mazer' as a meadmaker has no root word history in English nor in any of its contributing languages. Given that mead can be drunk from a mazer, calling a meadmaker a ‘mazer' could be compared to calling a vintner a ‘glass' or a brewer a “mug” or a Kombuchist a “tightly capped bottle.” But if people like the term, they will use it, and if enough people adopt it for enough time, it will become documented. 

12-5-23 Tonight on GotMead Live at 9PM EST we're talking with Brian Galbreath, owner of Unpossible Meadery in Dwight, IL, just off Route 66. Brian started fermenting ciders and then mead in 2013. Pete Bakulic told him to focus on traditionals when he got started. [break]Brian went on to take a Mazer Cup win with his Montmorency Barrel Aged Mead, where he won the 2016 Home Mead Competition in the experimental mead category. Now his commercial meads are still taking awards in competitions. Unpossible Mead is located in Dwight, IL (which is about 80 miles southwest of Chicago).  Just having celebrated 5 years, Brian Galbreath and his small crew are looking forward to many more years of making session, varietal trads, and running their barrel program. 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! Sponsor: Honnibrook Craft Meadery. Rated the very best winery in Colorado! Visit our state-of-the-art meadery and tasting room south of downtown Castle Rock, Colorado, in a converted man cave. Mention the Got Mead Podcast this month for a free draft taster!  Google H-O-N-N-I Brook for hours and directions. They love visitors!  www.honnibrook.com 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 @realGotMead and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Upcoming Shows December 5 - Brian Galbreath, Unpossible Mead Show links and notes Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Let There Be Session Meads by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events Dec 6 - Oppegaard Meadery, Tukwila, WA - Mead and Cheese and Cheese and Mead pairings Dec 6 - Kingview Meadhouse and Winery, Mount Lebanon, PA - Trivia Night Dec 7 - Manaical Mead Co, Ypsilanti Township, MI - Thorsday, bring your viking horns Dec 7 - Starrlight Mead, Pittsboro, NC - Mead Club Party - Ben's 60th Birthday Bash Dec 8-10 -  Honeygirl Meadery, Durham, NC - Mead and Macaron tasting Dec 9 - Apis Mead and Winery, Carnegie, PA - Decemberfest Party with 732 The Electric Duo - live music Dec 9 - Four Brothers Mead, Festus, MO - John Jarrett live music Dec 14 - KingView Meadhouse and Winery, Mount Lebanon, PA - Day One acoustic music Dec 16 - KingView Meadhouse and Winery, Mount Lebanon, PA - Ugly Sweater Party Dec 17 - KingView Meadhouse and Winery, Mount Lebanon, PA - Chocolate Dip and Sip You can buy mead online at https://shopmeads.com If you want to get your event on GotMead Live, let us know at gotmead@Gotmead.com 

It's that time of year again when the The Malty Boyz™ celebrate the coolest holiday: 4/20! This year Stephen's indulging his sweet tooth and assumbled a collection of mead from four mead producers never before featured on the podcast. Scrolling through Mazer Cup and homebrewing compeititon results, Stephen reached out to Matthew Mead, The Meredery, Klausing Mead, and Williamson Mead and Brewing to see what these highly decorated mead producers are all about and what their commercial ambitions mean for mead fans. In the Beer News, Alex and Stephen do a deep dive into the Bud-lash from the right wing community after Bud Light endorsed a transgender spokesperson.  Thanks to Highland Park Brewing for sponsoring this episode! Follow them on Instagram @HighlandParkBrewery! Head to our Patreon for weekly exclusive content. Get the Malt Couture Officially Licensed T-shirt. Follow DontDrinkBeer on Instagram and Twitter.

October 4, 2022 - Tonight we're headed to the west coast, to talk with Mark Tanner, owner of Seattle Mead Company and Deception Cellars in Washington state. Mark is a Seattle native, and retired Army Lt. Colonel. He's been homebrewing for over 25 years, and making mead professionally since 2018. Mark got interested in mead a while back, and was the first Washington resident to pass the BJCP Mead exam, and went on to teach prep classes for the first two BJCP Mead exams in Washington. Mark opened Seattle Mead Company in 2018, and just opened a tasting room in Anacortes, WA, just north of Deception Pass, as northwest as you can get and still be in the United States. Seattle Mead Co has a flagship mead line that is berry-forward and ranges from off dry to medium sweet. Deception Cellars offers meads designed to mimic dry fruit forward jammy red wines. They age on oak, and are positively made to age for decades (though you can drink them now too!). The Deception Cellars meads are currently taking about 18 months to properly age, oak and blend. He's gone on to take a number of medals with his meads, and most recently picked up a few at the Mazer Cup. Mark is very intense on his meadmaking, and we're going to dig deep tonight on what he's doing. Join us! 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! Sponsor: Honnibrook Craft Meadery. Rated the very best winery in Colorado! Visit our state-of-the-art meadery and tasting room south of downtown Castle Rock, Colorado, in a converted man cave. Mention the Got Mead Podcast this month for a free draft taster!  Google H-O-N-N-I Brook for hours and directions. They love visitors!  www.honnibrook.com 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. Upcoming Shows October 18 - Keith Seiz, National Honey Board Show links and notes Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Let There Be Session Meads by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events Oct 5 - Hierophant Meadery, Mead, WA - Drink Mead at Green Bluff Harvest Festival Oct 5 - Over the Moon Farmstead, Pittsfield, NH - Mead and Read - "At the Edge of the Orchard" by Tracy Chevalier Oct 6 - Bragging Rooster Beer and Mead, Warrenton, NC - Music Bingo Night Oct 8 - Meadiocrity Mead, San Marcos, CA - Open Mic Night and Mead Oct 8 - Ogden City Brew Supply, Ogden, UT - Mead Making Workshop Oct 8 - Starrlight Mead, Pittsboro, NC - Beginning Home Mead Making Class Oct 8 - Apis Mead and Winery, Carnegie, PA - Twilight Queen Release Party Oct 9 - Bragging Rooster Beer and Mead, Warrenton, NC - DIY Workshop! Oct 13 - Wildflyer Mead Co, Navasota, TX - Book Club - this month "The Last Thing He Told Me" Oct 15 - Bragging Rooster Beer and Mead, Warrenton, NC - Poses with Pints - Yoga Class Oct 15 - Graham Ordinary, Bedford, VA - Mead in the Mountains - Honeymoon Edition! Oct 15 - Honey & Hops Brew Works, Front Royal, VA - Music & Mead featuring Bearded Harmony Oct 15-16 - Batch Mead, Temecula, CA - Meadtoberfest! Oct 21 - Starrlight Meadery, Pittsboro, NC - Autumn Mead Pairing Dinner Oct 22 - The Brimming Horn Meadery, Milton, DE - Mead O'ween Spooktacular Oct 29 - The Viking Alchemist, Smyrna, GA - Mead and Mischief '22 Oct 29 - Brix Urban Winery and Market, Sainte Genevieve, MO - All Hallows Mead

7-27-21 Tonight we're back across the pond and hanging out with Danique Staal, owner of De Noordelijke Mederij (The Northern Meadery). Danique makes some very interesting meads, including a Stroopwafel mead that took gold and Best in Show at the European Mead Makers Kings of Mead Competition Mead Madness Cup in 2020, the largest mead competition in Europe. Danique got interested in mead at an early age, he was always interested in the old sagas, myths and legends. There was a lot about mead in those stories, and he only really knew it was made from honey. Life goes on, and after high school, Danique joined the military, and after his service became a police officer. And as a police officer, he realized after a traffic accident that he couldn't help out the injured people, and decided to study nursing. Whew! Busy man!! Once he completed his nursing studies and was working as a nurse, he picked up various activities, like doing national strongman competitions.....and making mead. Making mead became his passion. While he was doing an international internship for nursing, he was invited to a Medieval festival, where he was given a horn of mead. And he was off and running. He decided to make mead for himself, and when he got home to the Netherlands, he dug up an online mead recipe, and proceed to make a really bad mead. Everything he could do wrong, he did wrong. (Don't we all? LOL) A few years later he went to another Medieval festival, and had more horns of mead. He decided to try again. One carboy became two, which became four, and before he knew it, he'd taken over an entire room of his house with buckets of mead. He was taking it to parties, and his friends starting 'paying for supplies' and he was breaking even. This was looking good, so he applied for the licenses, got a location, and opened Northern Mead. He was in the process at the time of switching from handicapped healthcare to forensic nursing, and when he asked for a day a week to work on the meadery from his job, they said no, then he took a gold and two silver medals at the Mead Madness Cup and his decision on what to do was made for him. Danique quit nursing, and jumped into meadmaking full time professionally. Now Danique is bringing mead to the larger public. People were confused with what mead really is, since it's 'new' to so many. He changed his meadery name to 'De Noordelijke Mederij' (The Northern Meadery) where he makes regular mead (Northern Mead), braggots (Viking Mjød) and session mead (Nord Mead). This way, people can differentiate between the different products and they don't have problems with the pronunciation of the meadery itself. Danique won 3 bronze medals at the Mazer Cup last year and 1 gold medal, 2 silver medals and Grand Champion of 2020 at the Mead Madness Cup. But the most important thing for him is to share my passion with everyone. Join us tonight at 9PM EST to talk mead with Danique! 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! Sponsor: It's now mead slushee season, and we are celebrating with four rotating flavors. Each one is a dangerously delicious glass of heaven. Visit the state-of-the-art meadery and tasting room south of downtown Castle Rock, Colorado, in a converted man cave.  Mention the Got Mead Podcast this month for a free slushee taster!  They love visitors! www.honnibrook.com 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,

3-30-21 Tonight we're talking Polish mead, and all other things mead with Kris Plizga and Scot Schaar. Both of these gentlemen are accomplished mead makers, and both are pretty darn good Polish mead makers. Kris' mead adventure started many years ago while he was still living in his home country. At that time Poland was probably the only place on earth where mead was still produced by several companies and was available almost in every better supplied liquor store. After tasting many of them and his first try of Jadwiga półtorak he was hooked and it became his favorite drink for special occasions and celebrations. There were several other styles of mead produced and each regional manufacturer would have some sort of historically or locally connected special edition usually with a nice story or legend behind it. After moving to the US he was only able to get mead while visiting Poland or very seldom in ethnic stores in areas densely populated by emigres from Central Europe. This situation was not satisfactory for him and since he also had become a beekeeper and had an abundant supply of honey, he decided to try reproducing some of the favorite meads on his own. This in turn led to searching for knowledge, learning about mead history and also meeting like minded people. The first group he got in contact with was an online forum frequented by many polish home meadmakers. The guidance and help he got from them was priceless. It is from them, that he learned about American competitions and online resources. He was not aware that mead was gaining popularity and had such following on this side of the Atlantic. He signed up for mead making classes at UC Davis, became a member of GotMead Forums, signed up for AMMA and National Homebrewers Association, attended MeadCon and Mazer Cup few times. In 2018 he entered his first mead competitions; MidWinter, Mead Free or Die and Domras Cup. To his surprise won BOS mead at MidWinter competition and few 1st, 2nd and 3rd placings at the others. 2019 brought even more prizes and a few BOS placings. In 2020 he participated for the first time in Mazer Cup competition and his Buckwheat and Sour Cherry historical Polish mead was rewarded BOS placing and two other meads placed second. Scot Schaar is 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. 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 you...

Tonight at 9PM ET, we'll be talking with Dustin Deisher and Jeff Anderson, award winning home meadmakers. The topic at hand is bench trials. In making mead, we do our fermentation, feed our yeast, and do our racking and stabilization. But once that's all done, the mead needs to be finished. And as anyone with more than a couple batches under their belt can tell you, yeast don't read the alcohol range info on the packets, and fermentations often end where you want to make adjustments after it finishes. It may need more acid, or tannins, or need sweetness or flavors from fruits, spices or a honey varietal adjusted to get to the final result you want. And that is where bench trials come in. Figuring out what needs to be added or adjusted to get that final mead flavor profile is a process, and we're going to dig into that tonight. Dustin Deisher started brewing with his former band mate and best friend Jeremy Goehring in 2013 after binging on Skyrim. After getting some equipment and some pointers from the local homebrew shop they were on their way to conjure up some liquid gold! In 2014 they met other fellow mead makers when they joined the Lincoln Lagers Homebrew Club. After their first medal at a major competition (2nd with a wildflower traditional at the 2014 Mead Free Or Die) they were hooked. They spent many years competing with standard strength meads. It wasn’t until the last couple of years they really started pursuing session meads. After applying some techniques used in brewing beer they could add new elements such as carbonation to their arsenal! Dustin started using different beer yeasts and post fermentation additions to produce balanced and sparkling melomels. This eventually led them to the Mazer Cup where they were able to put their hydromels to the real test. They had the pleasure to do a scale up of one of their 2019 M3A Mazer Cup winners at Boiler Brewing Co. Along with competing, Dustin became a Certified Beer and Mead BJCP Judge. Becoming a judge has helped him develop a better palate for varietal honeys. When they used these in their hydromel batches it took everything to a whole new level. Last year they saw the fruits of their labor when they placed 2nd BOS under Ken Schramm at The Valkyries Horn. Dustin's next step in his mead making career is to bring sparkling hydromels to his local craft brew industry. Jeff Anderson been homebrewing for 8 years. His main love is brewing traditional German styles of beer but after Curt Stock visited his brew club for their annual Sower's Cup competition several years ago, Jeff fell in love with the idea of making fast turn around hydromel strength meads and specifically fruit and berry meads. Most of his inspiration is pulled from his culinary experience and he really just loves to experiment with different flavor combinations. Currently, he is also a BJCP certified beer and mead judge. Before covid, Jeff was on track to round out the trifecta with a cider cert as well until NHC was cancelled. He really loves education in homebrewing and makes it a goal to continually add new techniques to his brewing toolbox. 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. Upcoming Shows Feb 2 - Clint Walker,

We're back after an extended hiatus, and in this episode we find out that over the break, Ryan scores at the Mazer Cup! Jeff re-visits Graf with a new recipe he found at Brulosophy. JD talks about way back when Mississippi Chris was on the show how they both started a Graf using a recipe found at HomeBrewTalk.com. In segment 2, we hook up with Will Otte, a homebrewer with a bit of useful science behind using bentonite as a clearing agent.  Get your pen & paper out guys, you'll want to take notes on this one! We wrap the show with Will and a few Facebook friends.

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.

Have you ever thought about beekeeping as a career and passion? This week’s guest explains why you should. We have the pleasure of interviewing Michael Jordan. No, not the NBA superstar and lead role in Space Jam, but master of beekeeping and award-winning mead maker. Known as the BEE Whisperer, Michael is the founder and CEO of A BEE Friendly Company INC in Cheyenne, Wyoming. A BEE Friendly Company INC aren’t just beekeepers… they’re bee activists, educating others on how to properly keep and care for bees and so much more. Tune in today to learn all about the fascinating and highly nuanced world of beekeeping!    You’ll hear: How Michael got started in beekeeping 1:21 What the inherent dangers for bees are in almond fields? 6:08 Why more people should be raising bees 11:21 What bee products you can sell as a farmer 14:00 What a reasonable price is for a beekeeping class 18:14 How much time needs to be allotted to beekeeping 22:50 How many hives a budding beekeeper should start with 26:23 How diseases and pests get spread, and how can you prevent them 29:49 Why Michael uses essential oils 36:55 When you should take honey, and how much you should take 41:57 What the educational aspect of A BEE Friendly Company INC is about 49:13 What Michal would change in his business given the opportunity to start over 58:45 How many people are currently working at A BEE Friendly Company INC 1.03:26 The biggest mistake Michael sees new beekeepers making 1.09:16 How young a kid can reasonably start practicing beekeeping 1.12:27 Michael’s favorite tool for beekeeping 1.15:29 Where you can find out more about Michael and A BEE Friendly Company INC 1.18:00   About the Guest: Michael Jordan started keeping bees in 1999. He has a super passion working with kids in the art of beekeeping. He has a program that has been put into effect in one of Wyoming's Alternative High Schools. Teaching beekeeping is the largest money maker in the agriculture field for the investment. He is a world class mead maker, making one of the only Meads that has CBD/THC in it. He even has won a world award, A MAZER Cup, showing it to 70 of the worlds largest mead makers. He teaches beekeeping all over the world, teaching a system called the M-3 9/11 method of Commercial Beekeeping. Showing how to make $500 to $1000 per hive. He lives in Cheyenne Wyoming, and manages 250 hives year round.    Resources: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/abeefriendly/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/michaeljordan_bee_whisperer/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtnR4PIYWPz7o6pkG6gkrpQ?view_as=subscriber

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. 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 taproom...

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. 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/blog/meaderies/support-meaderies-during-coronavirus-where-to-get-mead-online-and-pickup/ Visit our mead directory at https://gotmead.com/blog/commercial-mead/ Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at gotmeadlive@gotmead.com 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. 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,

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. 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)...

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,

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. 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

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. 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 gotmeadlive@gotmead.com 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. 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. 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. 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 gotmeadlive@gotmead.com and tell us about it!

5-21-19 It's time for Texas! Texas Mead Works, that is. Mike Poole, owner and meadmaker of Texas Meadworks, in Seguin, TX, joins us tonight. Mike began making beer, mead, and wine while living in Washington State in the early 1990s.  He currently has approximately 26 years experience fermenting.  With his wife, he opened Texas Mead Works and Blue Lotus Winery in 2010 in Seguin, Texas.   Last year in September, they opened a second tasting room in the  Texas Hill Country.  Under the Texas Mead Works brand, they have 9 varieties of still meads selling in liquor stores all over Texas.  They also have a number of seasonals also still. .  They have recently launched a new line of meads under the brand “Saint Michaels Mead” that are all carbonated.  These are currently only available in kegs.  These kegged meads are also available all over Texas.   Mike is coming to talk with us about his mead journey, starting with nasty diesel fuel tasting mead, and culminating in a triple 100 score at the Mazer Cup (wow!).   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. 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 20-22 - Wye Valley Meadery - London Wine Fair May 24 - Apis Meadery - JDA Band and the Rogue BBQ food truck May 24 - B. Nektar - Trailer Park Boys Trivia May 25 - Honeygirl Meadery - Mead and (Bee)sign - paint beehives at Buddha Bee Apiary May 24-25 - Wild Blossom Meadery and Winery - Singles Mingle Event May 25-26 - Linganore Winery - Caribbean Wine and Music Festival 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 gotmeadlive@gotmead.com and tell us about it!

Mazer Cup medalist Pavel Anisimov visits the Mead House to share some thoughts on his mead making, a last minute schedule change for segment 2 leads JD and Jeff into a discussion on using used bourbon barrels and barrels in general and we wrap the show with a couple Facebook Friends.

3-26-19 Tonight we're getting together with Jon Oppegaard, owner of Oppegaard Meadery in Tukwila, WA. Jon makes excellent mead, I've tried many of his products. He's even done savoury meads, like his taco mead (yes, I said taco) that he released recently, and which was a huge hit, and sold out pretty quick. Jon has been making mead for over 10 years, and loves it. He made his own because there wasn't much available for him to get in his area when he discovered mead, and what he could find strained his bank account to support his mead habit, so, he decided to handle it himself. He's been making mead ever since. After a while, he figured, 'if I am going to make it and drink it anyway, and others like my stuff, why not go pro?'. And so he did. He rented a small space to keep costs down, and it didn't take long for his meads to become so popular that he had to expand. He really only expected his friends and family to show up, but that was not to be. In fairly short order, the place was packed all the time. This is what happens when you make great mead! He resisted the idea of mead-making as his 'real job' for a while, but the meadery growth and popularity of his mead convinced him otherwise. Oppegaard Meadery is a casual place, lots of board games and story telling. There are cool hand-painted shields hanging on the wall, and often mead-infused cheesecakes show up from a local bakery (I've had some, they're very tasty!). Jon himself is a tall dude, with a Viking-worthy beard, and many cool weapons (which show up on his social media feeds from time to time). He's a great guy, and very dedicated to his mead. The thing he takes most seriously is the quality of his mead. On a separate note (and to be expanded in a new post shortly) the MeadCon and Mazer Cup were amazing in Broomfield, CO for MeadWeek this year. And I've finally gotten my voice back (this is why we have no show the week after!), it left towards the end of the week and took a week to come back! Much mead was tasted, many speakers gave amazing info, and fun and learning was had by all. Congratulations to all the winners in the Mazer Cup International Competition! Check out the home winners and the commercial winners! 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. 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 Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events March 28 - Bos Meadery - Late Bloomers and Hypheria March 29 - Schramm's Mead - Artist Reception for Chris Ahern March 30 - Starrlight Mead - Intermediate Mead Making Class March 30 - Brooklyn Women Homebrew Competition March 30 - Southern California Mead Alliance - Off Flavors Sensory Training April 5-6 - The Colony Meadery - Spring Wine Festival at Bear Creek April 6 - Meridian Hive Meadery - Run for Mead April 12 - Charm City Meadworks - Two Fierce Chicks Present: A Mead, Mera and Music Fundraiser April 12-13  All Wise Meadery - Wine Riot New York City April 13-14 Starrlight Mead - 8th Annual Festival of Legends June 1 - Warped Pours II - Pour Harder - Metro South Homebrew League Homebrew Festival July 27 - Orcas Island Cider and Mead Festival Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at gotmeadlive@gotmead.

2-12-2019 Tonight at 9PM EST, we're talking with long-time mead history buff Dan McFeeley. Dan has been on the Gotmead forums for almost as long as Gotmead has *had* a forum. He was a regular poster in the Mead Lovers Digest email list before Gotmead even existed, and you can find his posts in the MLD archives on Gotmead. He hasn't been super active lately, life and parenting has kept him busy, but his interest in history, and mead history, is still keen. Dan has written several articles (linked below) on mead and mead history over the years. Back when he was actively making mead, he won a number of medals (and there weren't all that many comps then!) in the Indy International, the International Mead Festival (the predecessor to the Mazer Cup) and the AHA Midwest Regional. Dan is going to talk with us about mead in history and legend. One of the discussions we're planning on is an examination of the 'honeymoon' legend, often talked about. We'll delve into mead in Africa and Europe, examine some of the sources used by Morse. We'll delve into indigenous culture, bees and beekeeping, and explore the cultural attachments of honey and mead. 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. 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 Articles by Dan: Honey in History. Dan McFeeley, Bee Culture: February 2002 Volume 130 Number 2. The Taste of Mead: Acidic Properties and Flavor. Dan McFeeley, Zymurgy: September/October 2006 Volume 29 Number 5. Those Olde English Meads. Dan McFeeley, Repast: Quarterly Publication of the Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor Fall 2010 Volume XXVI Number 4. Roger Morse in Review: Contributions to Mead and Meadmaking, Dan McFeeley Meads and Their Lactones: A Cautionary Tale for Mead Makers by Dan McFeely, “Bee Culture”, September 2002 Books: The Sacred Bee in Ancient Times and Folklore, Hilda Ransome A Sip Through Time, A Collection of Old Brewing Recipes, Cindy Renfrow Ancient Brews: Rediscovered and Re-created, Dr. Patrick McGovern Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverage, Dr. Patrick McGovern Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers, Keith Pepperell Ale, Beer and Brewsters in England: Women's Work in a Changing World, Judith Bennett Lady with a Mead Cup: Ritual, prophecy and lordship in the European warband from La Tene to the Viking Age, Michael J. Enright Wassail: In Mazer of Mead, Robert Gayre Mead: The Libations, Legends, and Lore of History's Oldest Drink, Fred Minnick Making Mead (Honey Wine): History, Recipes, Methods and Equipment, Roger Morse The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting, Eva Crane Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events February 14 - Wild Blossom Meadery - Make Your Love Wine for Valentines February 16 - Honnibrook Craft Mead - Grand Opening - Castle Rock, CO February 16 - Black's Fairy Meadery - Brazos Fest of the West February 16 - Rushford Meadery and Winery - Live Music by Skipper Jack February 23 - Valhalla Meadery - Mead-Ieval Fund Raiser March 2 - Wild Blossom Meadery and Winery - Mardi Gras Silent Day Party March 3 - Heidrun Meadery - Crabfest

Happy New Year and welcome back to Viking Fuel! In this episode I'll be reading over the categories and rules of the 2019 Mazer Cup. As I am competing myself I am really looking forward to it! I will be talking about the rules for the homebrew level, I will not be going over consumer level. I also will be sharing links for all the information on the Viking Fuel Facebook page. Music in this episode is the song Vanilla Sunshine by Gary Reid. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/vikingfuel/support

9-18-18 We're headed up to Pennsylvania tonight, to talk with Scott Neeley, head meadmaker at Kingview Meadery. Scott has been making mead since 2011, and did a lot of work at it, until he began to enter competitions in 2015. He has since picked up a number of medals, and a couple BoS medals. He ended up starting a meadery after visiting a number of meaderies around PA and OH, and as a man of German descent, and a lover of bees, felt it was the right move for him to make. Scott is adamant about using cold fermenting, and fresh ingredients, having decided not to employ flavorings. Currently, they have 19 meads available, several of which have taken medals in large competitions, including one at the Mazer Cup. Kingview has a number of meads available via their online site for PA residents, and on Vinoshipper. 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. Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want us to tackle your mead making questions, you can send us a question 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 DraughtLab - Sensory Guide for Craft Beer Danny Acevedo - Modern Mead Making Videos BJCP The Flavor Bible Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events Sept 21-23 Unpossible Mead - Unsoft Opening at Dwight Harvest Days Festival Sept 22 - Starrlight Meadery - Mead Day Celebration and Fall Festival Sept 23 - Black's Fairy Meadery - Pickle and Pints Sept 25 - Honeymoon Meadery - True Stories Told Live Sept 25 - 7C's Meadfest - Missouri Sept 28 - Apis Meadery - Caramel Apple Release Party Sept 29 - Orchid Cellar Meadery - Craft Beverage Festival at Red Heifer Winery Nov 17 - Bos Meadery - Progressive Dinner Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at gotmeadlive@gotmead.com and tell us about it!

9-11-18 Today we're getting together with Thomas Hubbe, co-owner of Bee Seasonal, a purveyor of Brazilian Honey. Thomas and Larissa founded Bee Seasonal because they love honey. Larissa noticed that in Europe, they routinely stock seasonal honeys from around the world, but in the US, not so much. So she and Thomas set out to rectify this. Their mission is to source organic honeys from beekeepers devoted to their bees, their communities and the land. They want to generate transparency by connecting consumers to producers, educating people about sustainable farming practices and the places where the honeys come from. They are sourcing and packing and distributing several Brazilian honeys that are sustainably sourced, and minimally processed. They are very tasty honeys, Bee Seasonal had a table at the 2018 MeadCon, and did tastings of all their honey, it’s very good, and has exotic flavors you don’t often see here in the US. We will also have with us Tom Repas, who is an award winning meadmaker (multiple perfect scores at the Mazer Cup) , a nationally recognized beekeeper and teacher, and an accomplished farmer. Tom will be our guest host this evening, as our resident honey expert, and because hey, honey, right? (And we just like Tom a lot). 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. Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! Show links and notes DraughtLab - Sensory Guide for Craft Beer Danny Acevedo - Modern Mead Making Videos BJCP The Flavor Bible Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events Sept 12 - Buzzed Bee Meadery - O.W.L.S. “Buzzed Bee Meadery” Program Sept 22 - Starrlight Meadery - Mead Day Celebration and Fall Festival Sept 23 - Black's Fairy Meadery - Pickle and Pints Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at gotmeadlive@gotmead.com and tell us about it!

5-29-18 Tonight we're getting with Billy Beltz, award-winning mead maker. Billy Beltz is the Co-Founder of Lost Cause Meadery located in in San Diego, CA. Billy and his wife Suzanna opened the doors to Lost Cause in November of 2017. After only six months of being open they have already amassed several national awards for their meads including medals at the Mazer Cup International, the San Diego International Beer Competition, and the CA State Fair Wine Competition. Prior to opening the meadery Billy was an award-winning home mead maker with over 34 medals for his mead including four Mazer Cup awards. He also had his research on ale yeast strains for mead making published in American Mead Maker and Zymurgy, and is a BJCP Certified Mead Judge. Lost Cause takes pride in crafting delicious, complex and slightly carbonated meads that showcase unique honey varietals and a passion for experimentation. The meadery is located in a shared space with a cidery (Serpentine Cider) and a scratch kitchen (The Good Seed Food Co.). If you want us to tackle your mead making questions, you can send us a question and we'll tackle it online! 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. 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. Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! Show links and notes Billy had a couple questions he asked in the AMMA group before the show. Here are the questions and what people had to say: What, if anything, is or should be sacred in mead making? (think use of certain ingredients or processes to make mead, is there anything you feel you'll never do, or does it just matter what the final product tastes like) Meads made for for mass appeal (sales) vs competitions (win awards) vs hype/ratings (like Untappd). Are these often the same or different meads? Why or why not? Carvin Wilson:   1 – Beside using a certain percentage of honey, I feel nothing should be sacred. You should not limit your palate, recipe design, or exploration based upon what others say. Exploration is one of the main components to innovation, so break rules and never stop asking what if or why. Item 2 - It’s nice when a mead can cover all three categories, but from talking with a lot of professional mead makers it seems what sells is not always what wins awards or carries a lot of hype. As a business owner, it’s important to keep your target audience in mind and that’s not always judges or hype buyers.   One of the reason I think a mead that sells well does not do good in competitions is it does not fit nicely into style guidelines. Another reason is judging will always be subjective, you must have a good mead on the right day in front on the right judges.  With a hype mead, not only do you need a solid mead, but you really need to have your social media and fan base game going strong to pull something of that nature off. There are a lot of meaderies making solid mead, but they are not paying attention to the social media aspect; thinking that their mead is good enough on it’s on to get hype. Alex Gonzalez: #2 - I think there is a lot of gray area there, and most of the time at least 2 of those will over lap. I personally pull from all 3 categories, though "mass appeal" & "untapped rating" are hard to separate for reasons that Sean mentioned. I pull inspiration locally from our surroundings, which includes produce/honey, cultural (both the communities and my own), as well as the local brewing community. What works and sells locally may very well be a mead in the low to mid-80s at Mazer,

Mazer Cup gold medalist, Josh Mahoney, returns to The mead House and sticks around for the whole show! He talks about his Double 50 award winner, a little on bee keeping, Jeff discovers an accidental infection that leads to a tasty sour mead. So you’re a mead maker and now

3-27-18 Whew, it’s been a busy few weeks! We return this week with something different, a cidery owner. Mead and cider go hand in hand, and there are many similarities. So, we're talking with Chris Sheldon, owner of Diner Brewi Co, in New York state. Chris first began trying his hand at brewing in 2008 while he was a junior at Boston College. He and his roommate were feeling unsatisfied with the beer made available to them in stores and at bars, so they sought out a beer-making kit to create their own. The first product wasn't what they'd hoped. But, after they had run out of ingredients, he took the kit and made his first batch of cider. Fast forward nine years later, and Sheldon has his ciders on tap in 16 different retailers in New York. Chris said after realizing that cider making had begun taking over his life, he knew he had to turn it into a profession. Join us to learn more about Chris' journey and his ciders. If you want us to tackle your mead making questions, you can send us a question and we'll tackle it online! 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. 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. Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! Show links and notes Black Swan Barrels White Labs Product Catalog New York Fermentation Fest Speed Brewing by Mary Izett Danny Acevedo - Modern Mead Making Videos American Homebrewers Association BJCP The Flavor Bible Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events April 21 - The Winemakers Shop Mead Competition Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at gotmeadlive@gotmead.com and tell us about it!

JD and Ryan at the table this episode, Jeff is getting ready for his trip to the Mazer Cup in Colorado. In this episode, Facebook Friends looks at several issues including a recipe by Shawn Larson using Shagbark! Ryan leads a discussion about using alternative bottle carbing sugars, and aging. Modern mead making implies make it fast so you can drink it now, but are we overlooking what JD calls, "time does a bottle good?" Thanks for listening, and be sure and rate us 5 stars on your favorite listening player, iTunes and Stitcher radio!

Is there such a thing as OMD (Obsessive Mead Disease)? Moises Martinez joins us tonight to talk about his! Also in this episode, Mazer Cup talk and the Hopper List update.  Thanks for listening, be sure and rate us 5 stars on iTunes, Stitcher radio or your favorite podcast player!

Join Tysen in Episode 59 of the Meadcast, as he interviews two organizers of the Mazer Cup. Learn the ins and outs of running the world’s largest mead only competition, and whet your appetite for joining us at the 2018 Mazer Cup in just a few short months! http://traffic.libsyn.com/meadmakr/Meadcast059.mp3 Right click here to download the … Continue reading "MC59: Mazer Cup 2017" The post MC59: Mazer Cup 2017 appeared first on MeadMakr.

10-3-17 We're back for another episode of Modern Meadmaking, featuring Ryan Carlson. We have covered the most current protocol for making great mead, from the very beginning all the way to stabilization. Now for a while we will be looking at specific categories, and how make these specific meads. Although not in any specific order. Tonight we have a very special guest, David Thiebault. David is one of those guys who makes mead making look easy. He has won 10 Mazer Cup medals and many other medals from some of the most prestigious competitions in the mead world, including "best of show". David is a great guy and can make anything under the sun. But tonight he is sharing his thoughts on how to make the best pyments on earth. I am constantly amazed how generous the mead community is when it comes to sharing what might normally be "top secret" information. It's a privilege to have David on our show. So sit back, grab a pencil and some paper, and get ready to move up several notches as we learn David's "top secrete" knowledge. Join us for GotMead Live Chat, on Skype, live during the broadcast!! You can join us here: https://join.skype.com/sOgoU06hcV7s during the show, and we'll pass along questions to the guest, and answer your questions! Join us 9PM ET tonight! (8PM CT/7PM MT/6PM PT) Want to join the conversation, give us a call!! 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. If you want us to tackle your mead making questions, you can send us a question and we'll tackle it online! 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. 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. Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! Show links and notes Meadmakr's Batch Calculator TOSNA Protocol - http://www.meadmaderight.com Rousing your yeast Joe Vinceguerra's Stabilization spreadsheet SO2 Management on MoreWine Weird Wine Flavors and the Science Behind Them The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events October 4 - Western Reserve Meadery - Chocolate Truffle Making party October 5 - Bos Meadery - Comedy at the Meadery October 6 - Superstition Meadery - Live Music - Tony and Kristin October 7 - Superstition Meadery - Live Music - Arturo Garibay October 11 - Brothers Drake Meadery - Music - Radarhill Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at gotmeadlive@gotmead.com and tell us about it!

Photo by Jaden Birchmore 9-26-17 We are continuing with Making Modern Mead, hosted by Ryan Carlson. I'm proud to announce that we have a very special guest speaker this evening. Tom Repas will be joining us this evening to speak about the proper use of sulfites. Also known as sulfur dioxide, k-meta and SO2. As we all know the web is full of misinformation about everything. And probably nothing more than how to properly employ sulfites and sorbate to stabilize a mead. And even more confusion comes when we dig into how to use sulfites to ensure we give our meads the best environment to age properly in ageing vessels. And then, how to prepare them to have along once you package them in bottles and kegs. Tom is a certified Master Beekeeper and a queen bee breeder. If that's not enough to prove he knows his stuff. Tom is the sole occupant of the very prestigious category of being the only person to have won Best of Show at the Mazer Cup not once, but two times. I'm proud to have with us tonight a most amazing man in many different ways. No one could be more kind and humble. As many of you know Tom is amazingly gracious with his time and acts as a moderator and a very solid contributor to the Mead Makers face book group. I'm proud to announce my friend - Tom Repas. Join us for GotMead Live Chat, on Skype, live during the broadcast!! You can join us here: https://join.skype.com/sOgoU06hcV7s during the show, and we'll pass along questions to the guest, and answer your questions! Join us 9PM ET tonight! (8PM CT/7PM MT/6PM PT) Want to join the conversation, give us a call!! 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. If you want us to tackle your mead making questions, you can send us a question and we'll tackle it online! 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. 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. Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! Show links and notes Meadmakr's Batch Calculator TOSNA Protocol - http://www.meadmaderight.com Rousing your yeast Joe Vinceguerra's Stabilization spreadsheet SO2 Management on MoreWine Weird Wine Flavors and the Science Behind Them The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events September 29 - McAlpine Meadery - Hurricane Relief Concert September 29 - Blacksnake Meadery - Last Friday Music at the Hive - Wyatt Lee Law September 30 - Viking Alchemist - their whiskey barrel aged mead is being released September 30 - Oran Mor Artisan Mead - Susan Rice, comedian Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at gotmeadlive@gotmead.com and tell us about it!

Matt Weide joins us for some discussion on Bochet style meads. Matt is a former AHA Mead Maker of The Year, and a Mazer Cup medalist. We'll also toss around session meads, an alternative to the high gravity traditionally brewed meads. JD also asks the crew for some feedback on a cyser inspired by British dry ciders. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast with your favorite player, and talk to us on Facebook and Twitter @TheMeadHouse

6-20-17 Bobby Slanz is back on Gotmead Live! In our continuing conversation with amazing mead makers, we're bringing him back to talk shop about making awesome mead. Along the way we're going to dig into what he's been working on, and talk some more about the seaweed mead he makes that is becoming the talk of the mead world, and creating a splash whenever it turns up. At some point, I really want to try this, since I wasn't fast enough at the Mazer Cup to get some! Bob likes to play with unusual ingredients, and his meads are, from all accounts, pretty damn fantastic. So let's dig into the methods he uses to make such tasty and interesting meads! Join us for GotMead Live Chat, on Skype, live during the broadcast!! You can join us here: https://join.skype.com/sOgoU06hcV7s during the show, and we'll pass along questions to the guest, and answer your questions! Join us 9PM ET tonight! (8PM CT/7PM MT/6PM PT) Want to join the conversation, give us a call!! 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. If you want us to tackle your mead making questions, you can send us a question and we'll tackle it online! 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. 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. Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! Show links and notes Bladderwrack Seaweed - http://www.seaweed.ie/descriptions/fucus_vesiculosus.php Vanilla Beans - Beanilla Entries are open for competition at the Eltham and District Wine Guild Oak and Mead - Petar Bakulic Titrets sulfite testing kit The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events St. Ambrose Cellars - Live music every Friday night – Thirsty Thursday (35% off Refills) – Open Mic Nights on Thursdays (6PM) Meridian Hive Meadery - last Friday of every month - Board Game Mead Up at the Tasting Room Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at gotmeadlive@gotmead.com and tell us about it!

5-30-17 Welcome to another episode of GotMead Live! We're chatting with Carvin Wilson tonight. In case you've been hiding under a rock, no, Carvin isn't a meadery owner, he's a regular meadmaker. And this year he burst out of the woodwork at the Mazer Cup and took home 4 Mazers. (He's also snagged 3 medals at Mead Free or Die and 6 Midwinter Competition medals). He also rented a big party suite in the hotel and entertained, well, *everybody* for the entire week of the AMMA Conference and the MCI. If you didn't get a chance to meet him or talk with him at the MCI or elsewhere, Carvin is a great guy. He makes amazing mead, and he's easy going and really approachable. Did I mention he makes amazing mead? Come hang out with us tonight! Join us for GotMead Live Chat, on Skype, live during the broadcast!! You can join us here: https://join.skype.com/sOgoU06hcV7s during the show, and we'll pass along questions to the guest, and answer your questions! Join us 9PM ET tonight! (8PM CT/7PM MT/6PM PT) Want to join the conversation, give us a call!! 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. If you want us to tackle your mead making questions, you can send us a question and we'll tackle it online! 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. 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. Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! Show links and notes Oak and Mead - Petar Bakulic Titrets sulfite testing kit The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events St. Ambrose Cellars - Live music every Friday night – Thirsty Thursday (35% off Refills) – Open Mic Nights on Thursdays (6PM) Meridian Hive Meadery - last Friday of every month - Board Game Mead Up at the Tasting Room Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at gotmeadlive@gotmead.com and tell us about it!

3-28-17 Weeee'rrrrreeeee BAAAACCCKKK! Sorry for the long hiatus, folks! A.J., Hamish and I headed out to the AMMA Conference and Mazer Cup a week after the last show, and a week later, A.J. headed home to Canada, and Hamish and I headed to Florida for a week where Hamish and his good friend Bruce hung with Manny, and when my hubby John and I got there 3 days later, we did all sorts of fun stuff in the keys with Hamish and Bruce. Come listen, we have some good stories. And, we'll have Bob Slanz, meadmaker, beekeeper and meadster-about-town in New York, and Susan Ruud, meadmaker and owner of Prairie Rose Meadery in North Dakota to give us their home and professional outlooks on the AMMA Conference and Mazer Cup, and to talk mead with us. NEW!! Join us for GotMead Live Chat, on Skype, live during the broadcast!! You can join us here: https://join.skype.com/sOgoU06hcV7s during the show, and we’ll pass along questions to the guest, and answer your questions! Join us 9PM ET tonight! (8PM CT/7PM MT/6PM PT) Want to join the conversation, give us a call!! 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. If you want us to tackle your mead making questions, you can send us a question and we’ll tackle it online! 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. 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. Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! Show links and notes The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff The American Meadmakers Association The Mazer Cup International 2018 Upcoming Events

This week Ken Schramm from Schramm’s Meadery joins me to discuss big sweet fruity meads and melomels.  Ken is a founder of the Mazer Cup, author of the book The Compleat Meadmaker, nationally award winning mead maker, and founder of Schramm’s Meadery near Detroit. You can find show notes and additional episodes on the blog […]

This week Ken Schramm from Schramm’s Meadery joins me to discuss big sweet fruity meads and melomels.  Ken is a founder of the Mazer Cup, author of the book The Compleat Meadmaker, nationally award winning mead maker, and founder of Schramm’s Meadery near Detroit. You can find show notes and additional episodes on the blog […]

2-7-17 We're having way too much fun with this! Tonight we're talking with Billy Beltz, winner of 32 medals over last 2 years, including 2 Mazer Cup medals, for meads under 6 months old. Most were even younger than that! He's also won a number of medals for his capsicumels, coffee meads and traditionals. He definitely knows his stuff! Billy has been homebrewing for over 10 years, and has a lot of interesting ideas, and has gotten a lot of his ideas and techniques from Charlie Papazian, Petar Bakulic and right here at GotMead. Billy is also opening a meadery this summer, Lost Cause Meadery, in San Diego California. Lost Cause will be teaming up with a local Cidery and open a co-branded tasting room space and production facility in San Diego in late summer, early fall 2017 with locally sourced, complex carbonated meads. NEW!! Join us for GotMead Live Chat, on Skype, live during the broadcast!! You can join us here: https://join.skype.com/sOgoU06hcV7s during the show, and we'll pass along questions to the guest, and answer your questions! Join us 9PM ET tonight! (8PM CT/7PM MT/6PM PT) Want to join the conversation, give us a call!! 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. If you want us to tackle your mead making questions, you can send us a question and we'll tackle it online! 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. 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. Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! Show links and notes AMMA Mead Conference and MeadUp Mazer Cup International Competition and Tasting Event Yeast Washing Guide Magnetic Stir plate for yeast starters  Economical stir plate First Steps in Mead Culture - Pierre Rajott Upcoming Events Honey and Pollination Center at UC Davis - Feb 11 - Feast, a Celebration of Mead and Honey St. Ambrose Cellars - Live music every Friday night – Thirsty Thursday (35% off Refills) – Open Mic Nights on Thursdays (6PM) Golden Coast Mead - Feb 18 - Make Mead at Home class Bos Meadery - Feb 8 - Music: All That Heaven Allows, and Feb 9: Comedy at the Meadery - A Charity Event Meridian Hive Meadery - Feb 24 (and last Friday of every month) - Board Game Mead Up at the Tasting Room Melovino Meadery - Feb 17 & Feb 18 - Mead and Chocolate Pairing Oran Mor Artisan Mead - Feb 25 - Music at the Meadery - Intuitive Compass Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at gotmeadlive@gotmead.com and tell us about it!

6-21-16 We're still hanging out in the Great White North this week, and talking with Ed Nowek from Planet Bee! Planet Bee is a honey farm and meadery in British Columbia. They've picked up their share of medals from the Mazer Cup competition. AJ and I, and *special guest* Wayne Boncyk, from the GotMead Forums and the Mazer Cup will be talking about stabilization and backsweetening your meads. Got questions? Want to join the conversation, give us a call!! 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. If you want them to tackle your mead making stuff, you can send us a question and we'll tackle it online! Join us, 9PM Eastern Tuesday night!! 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. 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. What we were drinking: AJ - Vicky - Wayne - Ed - Show links and notes: Enology and stabilizing chemical calculators .5 Micron filters from MoreBeer Upcoming Events: Starrlight Meadery - Mead Tastings - multiple dates, go check it out!!![break] Bos Meadery - multiple artistic events - check in on their calendar for movie nights, art displays and more![break] It's National Pollination Week! Here in Raleigh, join the festivities here, where they'll be bringing together beekeepers, ecologists, policy makers, and activists to talk about the birds and the bees! B.Nektar - Death Unicorn release party - June 25[break] National Mead Day - Aug 6[break] Brothers Drake Meadery - ongoing concert events California Master Beekeeping Course - Sept 11 and 18 Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at gotmeadlive@gotmead.com and tell us about it! Save

Join us in episode 37 of the Meadcast where we interview Philip Lorenz of Nectar Creek about session meads. Nectar Creek swept the session dry category of the Mazer Cup 2015. In this episode you’ll learn the Nectar Creek way of making mead. We’ll also cover some tips on how to carbonate your meads at … Continue reading "MC037: A Session with Phil" The post MC037: A Session with Phil appeared first on MeadMakr.

In Episode 34 we bring you news that Billy Beltz, recent 2 time medal winner at the Mazer Cup 2016, completed the Great Mead Ale Yeast Experiment. With 12 different yeasts, his experiment was pretty comprehensive from a study perspective and provides another data point considering how and when to use an ale yeast in … Continue reading "MC034: Mead Ale Yeast Experimentation with Billy Beltz" The post MC034: Mead Ale Yeast Experimentation with Billy Beltz appeared first on MeadMakr.

We had a blast just a few short weeks ago at the 2016 Mazer Cup. In this episode, you’ll hear about the trip, the cool people we met, and the great meads we had. Well, mostly the trip and the competition. There were so many meads to be had, it’s hard at this point to … Continue reading "MC033: Mazer Cup 2016 Recap" The post MC033: Mazer Cup 2016 Recap appeared first on MeadMakr.

March 22, 2016 - In this episode we are doing something a little different. We've double trouble again, with both the AMMA and the Mazer Cup in attendance! The Mazer Cup International was held this past weekend (and AJ and I couldn't attend, whah!!), and before the largest mead-only competition in the world starts, the American Mead Makers Association holds it's annual meeting.

Every now and again, we like to revisit our tasting chops in an effort to identify what meads we want to make and consider the process that allows the professionals to make such delicious beverages. We were lucky enough to source the three Nectar Creek dry session mead winners from the 2015 Mazer Cup as … Continue reading "MM031: West Coast Cyser and Session Mead Tasting" The post MM031: West Coast Cyser and Session Mead Tasting appeared first on MeadMakr.

In Episode 5, we recap our experience at the 2015 Mazer Cup, the world’s largest mead only competition. With over 320 commercial and 360 home mead entrants, it truly is an experience to behold. This year’s edition included the annual American Mead Makers Association meeting, the commercial and home mead making competitions, the Mead Mixer, … Continue reading "MeadMakr 005: The Mazer Cup" The post MeadMakr 005: The Mazer Cup appeared first on MeadMakr.