Groennfell Meadery
  • Our Meads
    • Year-Round
    • Seasonal
    • Buy Mead Online
    • Mead Finder
  • About
  • Blog
    • Articles
    • Videos
    • Thursday Fun Facts
    • Cocktails
    • Homebrew Recipes
    • Food Recipes
  • Contact
    • Marketing Materials
  • Store

Craft Mead – A Possibly Contentious Article

9/15/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Groennfell Meadery makes Craft Mead. 

We say it on our website, at brewfests, on distributor ride alongs, in our tasting room, and everywhere we are allowed to speak about our product: Groennfell Meadery makes Craft Mead.

Or, to put it another way, Groennfell Meadery does not make Honey Wine.

Or yet another way: just as all apple wines are ciders, but not all ciders are apple wines; all honey wines are meads, but not all meads are honey wines. [1]

We just realized, however, that very few people have anything more than the murkiest of concepts about what exactly qualifies as a “Craft Mead” and how it differs from what the vast majority of the meaderies in the United States produce. Even our excellent Mead Varieties Poster doesn’t really offer any answers.

So, today we are offering our definition of Craft Mead. This is not a definition of “hand crafted mead.” Nor is it a definition of “artisanal small batch mead.” It is not an attempt at describing what makes a mead good or bad. It is our definition of Craft Mead.

To us, a Craft Mead is a mead that is designed in the tradition of craft beer or craft cider and marketed alongside them. Here are our guidelines and parameters for qualifying to us as a Craft Mead. Exceptions are in the footnotes.
  • Packaging: It must be packaged in “traditional beer packaging.” This can be beer bottles (12 oz., 22 oz., and some 500 ml), cans, or kegs. If you want to be put in the craft beverage section in a liquor store, it really helps to look like you belong there. [2] 
  • Carbonation: It must have bubbles. [3]
  • Alcohol Content: Again, “beer range” is a pretty good target, so 4% - 9% abv. [4] 
  • Price: It must be affordable enough to appear reasonable alongside ciders and beers. Making a high quality product that can sit on a shelf for 10¢-35¢ per ounce is a real challenge, but it is an absolute must. [5]

Many meadmakers seem to find price to be their greatest limitation when it comes to brewing and selling a craft mead. Even if you hit every other metric, if the shelf price is $8 for a 500 ml bottle, that would work out to an absolutely outrageous $34 six-pack. At that price it can be a very well crafted mead, perfect for a special occasion, but it doesn’t fit our definition of a Craft Mead. [6] Furthermore, $8 for a 500 ml bottle is well below what most meaderies would consider charging!

So why does it matter? It matters because we want to help everyone succeed in the mead industry. We are not defining Craft Mead because we think it’s better or we want to exclude Honey Wines from the marketplace.

We feel that having a clear definition of Craft Mead will help other meaderies produce a product that really has a place on the shelf alongside all of the great craft beers and ciders out there.

We know that not everyone will agree with our parameters, especially the packaging, carbonation, alcohol content, and price ones, but it's good to have a definition somewhere on the internet.

Oh, and there's one more thing: Craft Mead can't be brewed by a big multi-national brand disguising themselves as craft meadery. It's not like anyone's doing that yet, but we are not excited about the prospect of a Shock Top Mead.

[1] Or pick your analogy: ales : beer, cheddars : cheese, astromechs : droids
[2] Yes, we’re intentionally excluding 375ml and 750ml bottles, even though those are what the Feds want.
[3] Could a craft meadery get away with one still product? Possibly, but it would very much be the exception and not the rule. We’ve had a few still beers. They were an… exception and definitely not a rule.
[4] Are there 14% abv. beers? Sure. But if you have something at 14%, you’d better have a few around 5% as well. In this case, as with the bubbles, it’s partially the company it keeps.
[5] Again, exceptions can of course be made for absolute monsters or funky seasonals, but only if they’re in a family that includes some reasonably priced kin. Please see 3 and 4 above.
[6] Yes, we know. Bombers. Please read our thoughts on the Bomber Scam Here.


0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Blog

    Groennfell Meadery is Vermont’s premier craft meadery. Inspired by Old Norse legends, brewed with extraordinary ingredients, Groennfell’s meads are unlike anything you’ve had before. Crisp, clean, and astoundingly drinkable, the only way to explain any one of Groennfell’s meads is to try one yourself.

    RSS Feed

    Recipes using Mead

    Categories

    All
    About Mead
    Announcements
    Articles
    Ask The Boss
    Ask The Meadmaker
    B Corp
    Bees And Honey
    Bevv
    Cocktails
    Colchester's Mead Hall
    Construction
    Contest
    Distribution
    Drink Your Values
    Events
    Firkin Friday
    Food
    Friendly Viking Fund
    Gifts
    Holiday
    Humour
    Infographic
    Kolbitar
    Legal Matters
    Logo
    Mead History
    Meadmaking
    News
    Photos
    Playlists
    Podcast
    Poem
    Quizzes
    Recipes
    Renaissance Faire
    Sale
    Science
    Seasonal
    Skillful Saturday
    Survey
    The Feast
    Thursday Fun Fact
    Updates
    Vermont Craft Mead
    Videos

    Archives

    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013


    Newsletters

    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2016
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016​
    • Older
    Sign up for our emails!
Home  |  Our Meads  | About  |  Blog  |  Contact  |  Store
650 Industrial Park Rd. Saint Albans, VT 05478
(802)497-2345
Privacy and Use Policy