HONEYGIRL MEADERY

Where it began

I became interested in mead in 2004, after visiting a meadery in Homer, Alaska. I was visiting my sister, who introduced me to mead at Ring of Fire Meadery. There I tasted a mead made with the honey from the local fireweed flower. We had been out hiking through a gorgeous field of fireweed that morning, and then there we were, drinking it that afternoon. The connection was very powerful, and the experience really stuck with me.

I was home brewing in Durham at the time, and always invited a group of friends to come hang out and help out with the making, bottling, and of course, drinking. After the Alaska experience we made lots of mead. And everyone really liked it. True, when you give your friends alcohol, they usually really like it. So when one of the meads (hibiscus lemonthyme) won a second place ribbon at the NC State Fair in 2012, it was enough external validation to tip the balance, and the seeds of Honeygirl Meadery were planted.

Our Goals:

• To produce high quality, hand-made meads
• To promote and support beekeeping and honeybees
• To improve the bees’ natural habitats with more pollinator gardens
• To honor and elevate the traditional domestic arts that are the basis of the sustainability movement… using what is available wisely and creatively…cooking, gardening, canning and preserving, mead making… all make use of seasonally abundant ingredients