8-12-25 Tonight we're talking with Matthew Mead, a home meadmaker who has burned up the competitions over the last couple years with his excellent mead. He has set out to win in competitions in every US state. And so far he's doing really well!

Matthew been making mead since around 2017, he got into making meads when a local friend who was opening up his own meadery told him with his last name he needed to start making mead. He started entering his meads into competitions to get better feedback on them and from there he joined Modern Mead Makers on Facebook to learn how to make better meads. His first mead wins were the Texas Mead cup around 2018 and that got him hooked into competitive homebrewing which eventually led him into judging.Matthew is one of the few BJCP Beer, Mead and Cider Judges. He is well known for his excellent cherry meads using local fruit and honey.

Matt has a wife and two kids, his daughter is 18 and about to go to college, and his son is almost 13. They put up with his homebrewing mess around the house for the most part but they do love his wins and celebrate dad when he wins. Sometimes he talks them into tagging along with him to pick fruit or go to his competition / judging weekends.

Matthew is a member of a couple Michigan Homebrew clubs: PrimeTime Brewers, Keepers of Kraft, Michigan Mead Coalition. He is also a member of the Master Homebrewer Program with a rank of Grandmaster V, with Master of Mead, Cidermaster, Golden Gavel and Jack of all Trades awards.

Matt has multiple best of show wins over the years for Beers, Meads and Ciders at various US competitions. Last year he managed four Mazer cups wins, which was a personal best for him. He has won medals at Mead Madness in Poland twice. He haswon medals in both Canada and Mexico mead competitions. He usually finishes in the Top 5 for meadmaker of the year. Matt is not listed this year because hedid not renew my membership.

Matthew's goal last year was to win a medal in every state that offered a homebrew competition. He managed to complete that early this year with a win in South Carolina.  If there are any homebrew competitions in DL, HI, ME, MS, MT, SD, WV let Matt know.

His latest big win was that he won Amateur Grand Champion at the Indiana State Fair for winning a Silver in Weissbier, a gold in Traditional Mead, a gold in Fruit Mead, a gold Perry and a Silver for Indiana made cider. He took 3rd for Best of Show Mead/Cider as well.

Join us to talk mead with Matthew!

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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 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 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

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

Aug 13 - Barcade, Detroit, MI - Mead-Evil Madness! - Costume Party, wear your ren faire garb and win a season pass to the MI Ren Faire! Mead from Nidhoggr Mead

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 - Ravenwood Meadery, Huntsville, AL - Mead Experience and Tour

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

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

Aug 16 - Apis Mead & Winery, Carnegie, PA - 732 the Electric Duo live music

Aug 20 - KingView Mead, Mount Lebanon, PA - Trivia Night

Aug 22-23 - Brewery 33, Logan OH - Mead Fest - live music, vendors and merch. Plus maple cinnamon mead and other flavors!

Aug 29 - Wandering Wind Meadery, Charleston, WV - Karaoke & Mead

Aug 30 - MoonJoy Meadery, Lenoir, NC - Mead and Mindfullness

Sept 5 - White Winter Mead, Iron River, WI - Mead Mile race

Sept 6 - Grimsby Hollow Meadery, Middleville, MI - Drink Mead Learn Thngs - Victorian Potions and Poisons

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

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