8-26-25 Tonight we're talking with Brian Green, owner of Centeur Imports in New Hampshire. Brian is bringing meads from Europe to the United States, and even has a direct online sales platform for people to get these meads shipped to them.

During a long career as a professor of sociology, Brian spent a lot of time in Eastern Europe traveling and doing research.  While there, he discovered incredible Polish, Czech and Slovakian meads.  In 2013, together with his wife Jana, Brian founded Centeur Imports to import wine and mead from Central Europe.  They quickly found that mead was their best selling product.  After learning all the ropes about how to handle import logistics and national U.S. distribution, Centeur Imports is thriving as a company and currently selling mead around the USA and online.  Their company goal is to be the premiere importer of mead for the U.S. market.

After establishing the company in 2013 as a family-owned-and-operated business, Brian and Jana have steadily increased the number of wines and mead imported, distributing both locally in New Hampshire and nationally.  Today, they offer wines and mead from across Europe and are working hard to expand our product line to include a wide range of rare and award- winning wines from the best producers.

Come and hear what Brian is up to and what meads he's planning to bring into the States!

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

JOIN CHAT ON DISCORD: https://discord.gg/4PEnAumq

Listen in! This player will show the latest episode:

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.

To join live, you can use this link, and here are instructions on how to join in. Once you enter the waiting room, we get a notification and will bring you in!

Upcoming Shows

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 28 - Viking Alchemist Meadery, Smyrna, GA - Mead and Mini X2 - paint minis

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 5 - pHunkadelic, Farmville, VA - Let's Talk Mead!

Sept 5 - Marlobobo Mead, Leuven, Belgium - Mead Madness

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

Sept 6 - The Bee Store, Lake Ridge, VA - Mead tasting with meads fro Negus Winery

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

Sept 13 - The Viking Alchemist Meadery, Smyrna, GA - Mead and Metal Artist Market

Sept 13-14 - St. Louis Renaissance Festival, Wentzville, MO - Ticket includes 4 samples of mead, a mead flask and entertainment (festival admission separate)

Sept 14 - Furrows to Fences, Fond du Lac, WI - From Hive to Glass: Mead Making Basics

Sept 20 - Texas Mead Fest, New Braunfels,

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.

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!

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.

 

To join live, you can use this link, and here are instructions on how to join in. Once you enter the waiting room, we get a notification and will bring you in!

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

6-3-25 Tonight we‘re talking with Peter Taylor, founder and meadmaker at Niddhoggr Mead in the UK.

Peter Taylor is the owner and founder of the Multi Award winning Nidhoggr Mead Co. based in the UK. His mead is has won the Mazer cup and Mead Madness cup several times and has a total of 11 medals across his 7 flavours.

All his mead is made using 100% honey and natural ingredients and he now has a 12,000 sqft factory and 20 staff in York in the UK.

In the heart of York, Nidhoggr Mead Co. has revived the ancient art of mead-making. Founded in 2020 by Peter Taylor, a Viking reenactor, the company began as a hobby in his girlfriend Ellie’s spare bedroom before transforming into a thriving business.

The breakthrough came when the Jorvik Viking Centre sampled the mead and asked if Peter was selling it. Their interest motivated him to start up a company producing mead commercially alongside his girlfriend (now his wife) and close friends John Bardwell and Severin Gammon. Soon, Peter and Ellie’s home was filled with fermenting batches — even their bathtub being used to melt raw honey.

Due to demand, the company moved from Acomb to a 4,000-square-foot facility in Pocklington. Nidhoggr mead, made with 100% pure honey, mineral water, and yeast, gained a reputation for their smooth, refreshing taste.

Their ambition took Nidhoggr to America, securing £2 million in deals across 14 states, including distribution at medieval fairs and ren fairs. With over 40,000 bottles set for export, the company expanded production further to meet demand.

Their dedication to quality has earned accolades, including Drink StartUp of the Year and multiple international medals for their wide range of meads.

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!

Sponsor:

From July 23-August 2, 2025, take a magical meadery tour, and step into the heart of Central Europe on a journey that blends history, culture, and craft in three remarkable capitals — Prague, Bratislava, and Warsaw. Explore vibrant cityscapes and quiet countryside, from medieval old towns and historic abbeys to family-run meaderies and world-renowned breweries. You will visit the Mead Museum in Prague, Strahov Monastery Brewery, Pilsner Urquell Brewery, Apimed Mead, Branislav Novosedlík Mead, Richtár Jakub Brewery, Pasieka Jaros Mead, Corpo Mead, and Apis Mead. This tour is limited to 25 people, reserve your spot now at europeandiscoveriesllc.com/tours/250723cmm 

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 Twitter @realGotMead and we'll tackle it online! The show runs from 9PM EDT/6PM PDT (United States) for about 2 hours.

To join live, you can use this link, and here are instructions on how to join in. Once you enter the waiting room, we get a notification and will bring you in!

Upcoming Shows

 

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

5-20-25 Tonight we're hanging out with Joe and Tricia Marshall, owner of Lily Belle Meads in Lancaster, NY. This husband and wife team are kicking it outside Buffalo with their meads!

Joe and Tricia's journey into mead was gradual but Tricia definitely led the charge on it.  In 2004 Tricia got Joe a home brewing beer kit for his 26th birthday and got herself a winemaking kit for his 26th birthday!  

She made wines, Joe made beers.  Tricia's personal goal was to make a delicious blueberry wine.  She wasn't happy with the results, so she did some research and found that she could replace the white sugar in the wine must with honey.  Well,, that changed everything and she never went back to making wine again.  It was all mead from then on.  Tricia won an amatuer award for one of her meads, that started all this.  

Joe was home brewing with a group and they had plans of a brewery but none of them would pull the trigger.  Tricia’s meads were great, but they were standard strength or higher…she wanted to start selling them but Joe just couldn’t see how when it took so long for them to make.

Then in 2012 or so she started making some 9-10% abv meads and it got Joe thinking…why couldn’t they make meads that were more like beers along with the honey wine style ones?  From there on in it was a lot of 1 gallon experimental batches for the next 2-3 years as they developed a business plan.  They incorporated in April of 2014.

In 2016, Joe and Tricia got their commercial license and started selling at the various farmer's markets.  It was at an indoor Farmer’s Market that they met John and Cathy Cimperman from 42N Brewing Company in nearby East Aurora NY and they asked if Joe and Tricia like to be part of the Full Circle Fest.  That led to another brew festival and from there it was a whirlwind and they opened their tasting room on W, Main St. in Lancaster NY on Sept 23, 2017.  Lancaster is about 20 minutes east of Buffalo NY.  Go Bills! (Go Lions! - Vicky)

Lilly Belle was the first meadery in Erie County and was embraced by the local craft beer scene where Joe and Tricia found niched out their place and eventually took their 7-8% session meads down to 5% and that has been a game changer for them.  They use a variety of yeasts, including wine and beer styles, and they are not shy to play around with flavors.  They can turn around session meads in 2-3 weeks and most traditionals and melomels in 2-3 months.  They also do some bochet's and those are 2-3 months as well. 

They have expanded their food menu and kitchen operations, added more space and entertainment options in the taproom, they expanded production capacity by 5x and probably the biggest change was how much Mead we package in bottles and cans.  Their initial model was to sell more by the glass in our taproom but that all changed with Covid.  Covid was the biggest obstacle they had no way of predicting.  The world is "back to normal" in many ways but the 2 years of Covid changed customer habits, wants, needs and expectations and they've been evolving to meet all of these ever since.  They've also entered a National Mead Competition the past 2 years and taken 2nd place overall and last year 1st place overall.

Tricia started her career at Roswell Park Cancer Institute as a floor nurse, then moved onto Research Nursing, onto Assistant Corporate Compliance Officer then Senior Quality Analyst.  She stepped away in 2015 to put time into growing Lilly Belle Meads, but continued to work part-time jobs.  During the pandemic, she found herself working a med-surg floor at BGH.  Such an eye opening experience to witness how the pandemic rocked the healthcare system.  She spent 2 years full time at the meadery but now finds herself back at Roswell, in a job that is 80% remote thanks to the pandemic.  Joe's current role is Budget Compliance Specialist in the Clinical Trials Office and he loves it!  

Joe was a Special Education Preschool Teacher for Gateway-Longview...

5-6-25 - Tonight we’re talking with Alen RadoŠević with Fool Moon Meadery in Romania. Alen makes excellent mead and has a meadery that sells in Romania only (for now).

Alen is owner and meadmaker at FoolMoon Transilvania - Romania. Alen is Certified through the Level 2 Mead Judging Program at the European Mead Makers Association. He is also winner of gold and silver medals at the 2025 Mead Madness CUP (MMC).

Alen is relatively new to mead, but it hasn’t slowed him down at all. He’s been making mead since 2020, and has a long family tradition of making wine and rakija. Somewhere in 2020, Alen switched from sourdough to mead because he wanted to feed his sourdough with honey. There was a small experimental batch and it grew into passion.

Fool Moon opened in 2023, but didn’t go public until 2024, after wending their way through a mess of paperwork in Romania. I got to meet him and sample his mead, and hang out at the Copa Hidromiel 2024 in Mexico City, where he nabbed a couple medals.

Join us to talk mead with Alen!

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!

From July 23-August 2, 2025, take a magical meadery tour, and step into the heart of Central Europe on a journey that blends history, culture, and craft in three remarkable capitals — Prague, Bratislava, and Warsaw. Explore vibrant cityscapes and quiet countryside, from medieval old towns and historic abbeys to family-run meaderies and world-renowned breweries. You will visit the Mead Museum in Prague, Strahov Monastery Brewery, Pilsner Urquell Brewery, Apimed Mead, Branislav Novosedlík Mead, Richtár Jakub Brewery, Pasieka Jaros Mead, Corpo Mead, and Apis Mead. This tour is limited to 25 people, reserve your spot now at europeandiscoveriesllc.com/tours/250723cmm 

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

May 20 - Joe Marshall - Lily Belle Meads, Buffalo, NY

June 3 - Brian Green - Centeur Imports - mead importers

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 8 - Kingview Mead, Mt. Lebanon, PA - Day One acoustic music

May 9 - Apis Mead and Winery, Carnegie, PA - Vinyl Rewind live music

May 10 - Mr. B’s Meadery, Seattle, WA - Charcuterie Making Workshop at Mr. B’s White Center

May 15 - Nucleus Mead, Lineville, PA - Mead and Read event - bring a book and find new reads

May 17 - Sugarbelt Mead Festival, Crown Pointe, IN - Many meaderies with their wares at this festival - live music, food trucks and more!

May 17 - Four Brothers Mead, Festus, MO - JJ playing live music

May 18 - Perry Vine, South Bend, IN - Brews and Bites: Five Course, Small Bites and Mead Pairing

May 21 - Kingview Mead, Mount Lebanon, PA - Trivia Night

May 22 - The Skeptic Meadery, Mount Juliet, TN - Mead Making 101

May 23 - Grimsby Hollow Meadery, Middleville, MI - Dungeons and Dragons Mead Up

4-22-25 Tonight we’re talking with Arne Defurne, owner and head meadmaker of Clockwork Bee Mead in Antwerp, Belgium. Arne has a nano-meadery that is growing, and makes some pretty ‘ok’ mead, producing mostly dry and off-dry meads, which is uncommon. We will dig into this and see what Arne is up to over there.

Back in 2019, Arne came to the 2 first European meadmakers conferences and at the end of the second one was told to bring his own mead next time. Little did they know he had started making first batch right before leaving for EMMAcon. Arne is one of the people behind European meadmakers Association and worked on the just launched realmead certification program in Europe.

It was 2019 and Arne did not have a pico meadery but a shower meadery (see photo to the right). He had a separate spare shower where he installed a rack where all fermentation was done. In 2020 he entered in the Mead Madness Cup home competition in Poland, but due to covid EMMcon was canceled and the Mead Madness Cup was an online medal ceremony and Arne won 2 gold medals. From then on the hobby became too expensive (he made more than 15 different meads in 1 year) and he started as a gypsy meadery at the Blacksmith's Meadery.

From a mead enthusiast to home meadmaking spiraling out of control, and two years ago launching the first Belgian gypsy meadery under the guidance of the Blacksmith's Meadery. Driven by a passion for intricate flavor combinations, Arne’s goal is to reintroduce this ancient beverage to modern audiences with a fresh twist. As a mead maker, he focuses on crafting what he loves to drink. He’s deeply intrigued by how different flavors interact and how to blend them effectively. This curiosity leads him to explore methods that allows him to elegantly and fully integrate these flavor profiles into his meads. As a result, his products are uniquely positioned as semi-dry and dry meads, setting them apart from the more typical sweeter options.

As a certified Belgian craft producer, Arne uses only the finest local ingredients and honey sourced from controlled European origins, resulting in high-quality meads that have already earned several awards.

Join us to chat with Christian and explore meadmaking!

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

May 6 - Alen RadoŠević - Fool Moon mead, Transylvania

May 20 - Joe Marshall - Lily Belle Meads, Buffalo, NY

June 3 - Brian Green - Centeur Imports - mead importers

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

Tonight at 9PM ET, we will be chatting with Christian Mlotschek, a home meadmaker in Ontario, Canada. Christian is a newish meadmaker, and has jumped in with both feet to make meads.

Christian’s brewing adventures started in 2022 when he joined the Society for Creative Anachronism. He’s  brewed about 40 batches of mead, beer and cider including a few historical meads from various manuscripts.

This past year he started competing in both beer and mead. His "Mixed up Mel" melomel won gold at the Ales Open in April '24, and he received a Gold for his Semi-Sweet Wildflower Trad. at Brew Slam in December '24.

He did my first commercial collaboration this past November with Counterpoint Brewing in Kitchener allowing him to learning experience on larger equipment, bringing his Battered Ram Buckwheat Braggot to the masses. It was well received and mostly sold out in a short period.

His current projects are:

a period adjacent tradional mead recipe where he conscripted 8 other brewers in the SCA to help him fill a mead barrel that he purchased from Rosewood Estates Winery in Ontario.

shared mead with and taught some local Cubans on his recent trip how to make it with the promise he gets to try their attempts when he goes back next.

bench trials of various varietals to do a sampling of source honey and fermented mead, including his local wildflower, fireweed, coriander, meadowfoam, blueberry blossom and Ontario Buckwheat.

The future is hopefully contuing to build his library, more competitions and experimental archeology making recipes from various sources and creating period style Brewing equipment to showcase at demos.

Join us to chat with Christian and explore meadmaking!

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

April 22 - Arne Defurne - Clockwork Bee Mead, Antwerp Belgium

May 6 - Alen RadoŠević - Fool Moon mead, Transylvania

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

April 9 - Green Mountain Mashers, Essex, VT - Mead Series Part 4: Specialty Meads

April 10 - Red, Wine and Brew, Mentor, OH - Mead Tasting with meads from Brothers Drake Meadery - Columbus, OHDutch Creek Meadery - Athens, OHFour Fires Meadery - Maumee, OHFeisty Brood Meadery - Northfield, OH

April 10 - Viking Alchemist Meadery, Smyrna, GA - Mead and Mini painting

April 11 - Artifice Ales and Mead, Mannheim, PA - Line Dancing!

April 11 - St. Ambrose Cellars, Beulah, MI - Kyle Brown live music

April 12 - Cupka’s Bee Good Meadery, Auburn,

3-25-25 Tonight we’re talking with Yoo Kwan, owner of Booze and Buzz Meadery in Seoul, South Korea.

Kwan was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1988, but shortly moved out and spent most of the 90s and mid 2000s in Italy, Rome.  There he was able to develop his palate on honey, as it was his first choice as a back sweetener on fruits that were usually to sour to eat (strawberry, apple etc). He also enjoyed making honey water, or sometimes with lemon juice, only to be drank cold as a energizer during hot summer and hot medicinal tea during cold winter.

During his early-life in university he enjoyed not only drinking, but making cocktails with different varieties of booze, and extensively used honey to make honey flavoured wine and beer (also known as honey beer at some point in the late 2010s in Korea)

Such passion for honey grew to a point where he wondered, what if you make a fermented drink out of honey, rather than mixing honey into pre-existing wine & beer? It was at that moment when he discovered mead from a PC game called Skyrim, he decided to make one for himself.

The next year he teamed up with his college buddies to build a local meadery called bebee's brewery, later renamed to 3 bears Meadery,   Even though they weren't the first meadery to come up, they gained more fame and popularity through SNS virals, and his passion for mead didn't stop when he had to step down and quit abruptly due to personal reasons. Kwan’s research on mead continued in his house, day or night, and when he came across the European Mead Maker Association in 2018, he was encouraged to send his first entries to the competition by Mateusz Blaszczyk, who was organising Kings of Mead from Poland. There he achieved 2nd place in Metheglin, then 1st place in Specialty Mead in 2019 and 2nd in Mazercup 2020 while running his personal Mead Laboratory where he taught everything he knew about Mead through more than 120 classes for 2 years.

After realising how difficult it was for folks to make anything back at home, Kwan came up with a business idea to develop the next Gen homebrewing device hoping to expand the culture of homebrewing and promoting mead in Korea.

But before proceeding with hardware manufacturing business, it is important to build a firm brand as an award winning brewery/meadery for extra credibility. Hence his second meadery was founded in 2022, and their latest avenue jumped over 210% compared to the year before.

So far, aside from amateur awards, Booze & Buzz Meadery has won several places in both Mexico and European Mead competition.

2023 MMC : Pyment 1st

2024 MMC : Braggot 1st

Sparkling 3rd

2024 Copa del Hidromiel : Traditional 3rd

2025 MMC : Braggot 2nd

                     Sparkling 2nd

Their mission is to create the best experience in making, drinking and sharing booze around the world.

Booze & Buzz Meadery Inc. is a subsidiary company of Booze & Buzz Inc, which primarily develops and sells smart homebrewing device. But before we advance with our smart homebrewing device, we decided to launch a meadery and introduce mead properly for many strategic reasons. Being recognised as a high quality mead making brand would later help them to bring their products closer to the users, and they want to position their brand as mead artisans who developed smart homebrewing device and not vice versa. (as clearly shown by LG electronics, they have launched their automated beer brewing machine with a little success)

Here is a short article written about Booze and Buzz shortly after they established their company

https://news.samsung.com/global/introducing-the-five-latest-startups-to-be-supported-by-samsung-as-spin-offs-from-the-c-lab-inside-program

Located in the northern side of Yong-In city, Gyeonggido Province, their meadery mainly focuses on producing traditional mead with wildflower honey, and from time to time single sourced honey traditionals would be available.

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

2-25-25 Tonight we’re talking with Rob Ratliff, meadmaker and author of “The Big Book of Mead Recipes”, “Let There Be Melomels” and “Let There Be Session Meads”.

An experienced meadmaker, Rob has been studying mead and its creative aspects since 2006. He has won multiple awards during competition with his meads at the Annual Mazer Cup International Mead Competition over the years and is regularly sought out for his input on recipe ideas. As a certified BJCP Mead Judge, Robert also enjoys offering pointers to entrants in upcoming competitions.His extensive collection of meads, and meadr ecipes, has been gathered from around the world. A retired soldier (and former sailor), he is a veteran of the Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan wars, has lived in 7 states, and visited most of the rest. Between his civilian and military careers, he has lived in or travelled to approximately 20 countries spanning the globe. Wherever he goes, he looks for local meads to sample and local mead makers with whom to share his knowledge with and to learn and unique local brewing techniques from.

Come and listen and lets talk recipes with Rob!

 

This player will show the most recent show.  [break]

To listen live, you can find us on Youtube (Youtube starting 1-15-25), 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: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClXObw9sufjUx3NWRX02CxA

X(Twitter): https://x.com/RealGotMead

Facebook: https://www.facebook.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

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

Feb 26 - Cloud City Modern Mead, Leadville, CO - Mindfulness MeadUp

Feb 26 - Cupka's Bee Good Meadery, Auburn, IN - Mead Makers Night

Feb 28 - European Mead Makers Conference, Kraków, Poland

March 1 - Dawg Gone Bees Apiary and Meadery, Hanover, PA - Mead Making Class

March 1 - Grimsby Hollow Meadery, Middleville, MI - Drink Mead, Learn Things - Fantasy Drawing Workshop

March 1 - Four Brothers Mead, Festus, MO - 3 Pints Gone live music

March 5 - Kingview Mead, Mt. Lebanon, PA - Trivia Night

March 6 - Kingview Mead, Mt. Lebanon, PA - Cover 2 live music

March 7 n- Bumbling Fools Mead, Minneapolis, MN - Viking Mead Tour - Party Bus!!

March 8 - Starrlight Mead, Pittsboro, NC - Mead and Food Pairing Experience

March 8 - Four Brothers Meadery, Festus, MO - JJ Live Music

March 9 - The Parched Pug, Libertyville, IL - Mead Making Class

March 9 - Wild Blossom Meadery and Winery, Chicago, IL - Cookies and Mead Pairing

March 10 - Happy Butts Honey, Watertown, SD - Mead Making Workshop

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