7-29-25 Tonight we're talking with Corey Mason, owner and meadmaker at TreeHive Meadery in Brocton, Illinois.

Corey was introduced to mead in 2012. IHe started picking up bottles for a friend when he went on trips. He finally found one he liked. It was a Polish mead, and he picked up several other meads.  After that he went down the rabbit hole of mead and never looked back. He  would get Moonlight Meadery, B. Nektar, Wild Blossom, and Wyldewood Cellars meads there. But that wasn't enough.

He found New Day Meadery when he went through Indianapolis. He started ordering from VinoShipper. There were not many to order from back then. Now there are tons of options.

Along the way he decided to start making his own mead. His first two batches failed. They tasted good but they didn't ferment. He put everything from the recipe in... he joined all the mead making groups he could find. Started trying out everything that he learned. Basically Lived and Breathed mead all of the time. Obsessed is probably the best way to describe it.

Around 2017 Carrie his wife said he needed to stop or make it a business. So Ihesigned up for the Advanced mead making class at UC Davis. While sharing there a wise person told him what he needed to change to make my mead better. He met some truly great individuals there and many of them are award winning mead makers and a lot are professionals now. It still took two more years for things to fall into place.

Corey was making mead with the guy who introduced it to him and they entered the Mazer Cup together. They got a gold and a silver. They were trying to get something going together but it fell apart. Around tbis time Corey also decided to try his hand at judging. He stewarded at the Mazer Cup one year then started the process to become a judge. It truly helps you figure out what you're doing.

Fast forward and Corey ended up giving the mead meeting for the local homebrew Club in Champaign and while he was there he talked to someone who had a friend with bees and a building. Within a week they decided to start a meadery together. It took over a year to get all of the paperwork right but they did and he started making mead professionally on November 5th, 2020.

So almost 5 years but it seems like yesterday. Corey has lots of respect for all that have come before him and all of the knowledge that was shared with him and others along the way. He has over 500 bottles of other meaderies meads in his cellar.

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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 send us a question via email, join to ask a question on the show, or via X @realGotMead and we'll tackle it online! The show runs from 9PM EDT/6PM PDT (United States) for about 2 hours.

 

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Upcoming Shows

Aug 12 - Matthew Mead

Aug 26 - Brian Green - Centeur Imports

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

July 30 - Hidden Hive, Vista, CA - Cheese and Bees: A Social Cheese & Mead Event

July 30 - Viking Alchemist Meadery, Smyrna, GA - Mead and Improv

July 31 - Breedens Orchard, Juliet, TN - Mead and Meditate - Skeptic Meadery Meads

Aug 1 - Bumbling Fools Meadery, Minneapolis, MN - Summer Comedy Showcase

Aug 2 - White Bear Meadery, Maplewood, MN - National Mead Day!

Aug 2 - Apis Mead & Winery, Carnegie, PA - gonesouth live music

Aug 2 - Heidleberg Meadworks, Esperance, NY - 2025 Mead Weekend

Aug 2 - Funktastic Meads and Beer, Midlothian, VA - Mead Day

Aug 2 - Scotzin Brothers, Lemoyne, PA - Mead Day

Aug 2 - Brothers Drake Meadery, Columbus, OH - Mead Day

Aug 2 - WA Meadworks, Lindenhurst, NY - Mead Day

Aug 2 - Alternative Beverage, Belmont, NC - Mead Day

Aug 2 - Metsiederei Eckert, Zofingin, Switzerland - Mead Day

Aug 2 - Viking Alchemist, Smyrna, GA - Mead Day

Aug 2 - Honeygirl Meadery, Durham, NC - Mead Day

Aug 3 - Fae Nectar, Lake Lure, NC - Mead & Mischief D&D Night

Aug 6 - Kingview Meadery, Mount Lebanon, PA - Trivia Night

Aug 6 - Hidden Hive, Vista, CA - Cheese and Bees: A Social Cheese & Mead Event

Aug 9 - Four Fires Meadery, Maumee, OH - Make Your Own Mead - Hands On Fermentation Workshop

Aug 9 - Four Brothers Mead, Festus, MO - Discord and Rhyme live music

Aug 9 - Four Fires Meadery, Maumee, OH - Make Your First Mead - A Hands On Fermentation Workshop

Aug 10 - St. Ambrose Cellars, Beulah, MI - Alpacapalooza! with Northern Alpacas

Aug 13 - Hidden Hive, Vista, CA - Cheese and Bees: A Social Cheese & Mead Event

Aug 14 - Breeden's Orchard, Mount Juliet, TN - Mead & Meditate - Skeptic Meadery Meads

Aug 16 - Dawg Gone Bees Apiary & Meadery, Hanover, PA - Mead Making Class

Aug 16 - Four Brothers Mead, Festus, MO - Blight of Many live music

Aug 16 - DMen Tap, Chicago, IL - Mead Fest 2025

Sept 13 - St. Ambrose Cellars, Beulah, MI - Barn Dance 2025

You can buy mead online at https://shopmeads.com