Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:21:40 — 129.7MB)
8-1-23 Tonight at 9PM Eastern we’re headed out to Colorado, to talk with Mike and DJ from Honnibrook Meadery. AJ and I met Mike and DJ at the 2019 MeadCon and MazerCup, and I was *blown away* by their salted mango session mead (and all their other meads). These guys are doing something right, and if you haven’t tried it, you need to. Kevin visited them in 2022 and loved their meads.
Honnibrook Craft Meadery has been open for 4 and a half years now and the guys are really dialing in on serving session meads, refreshing meads below 8% ABV that are easy drinkers. The meadery is located just a little over a mile south of downtown Castle Rock Colorado in a man cave garage unit. They have over 85 approved mead recipes and offer 20 meads on tap along with mead slishees or mulled meads, depending on the season. They’re currently up to 15 barrels a week in their production. They are up on Vinoshipper, so you can get their meads for your very own!
DJ and Mike are both longtime home brewers that met at church and started brewing beer religiously every weekend for about ten years, experimenting with all the spectrum of styles. DJ even worked part-time as an assistant brewer at a very successful Denver Brewery to learn a lot about the beer business. DJ also has a culinary degree and worked as executive chef at the local country club. Their experimenting was not limited to beer, and they made several meads too. The meads received such a positive response they changed their focus to mead completely. They have attended the mead making classes at UC Davis to hone their craft and understand the commercial side of mead making and tinkered on draft mead recipes for several years with the focus on being professional mead makers. They both have won awards individually and together in the amateur and professional mead competitions. DJ is working full time at the meadery and Mike has his day job working in IT, so the meadery is open Tuesday-Sunday evenings and you can even set up an appointment.
This player will show the most recent show, and when we’re live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don’t get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes!
Sponsor:
Honnibrook Craft Meadery. Rated the very best winery in Colorado! Visit our state-of-the-art meadery and tasting room south of downtown Castle Rock, Colorado, in a converted man cave. Mention the Got Mead Podcast this month for a free draft taster! Google H-O-N-N-I Brook for hours and directions. They love visitors! www.honnibrook.com
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 @GotmeadNow and we’ll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let’s talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you’re a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow.
Upcoming Shows
- August 15 – Ben Cheney at Scale and Feather Meadery
- August 29 – Kent Slaymakers at Slaymaker Cellars
- September 12 – Don Miller at Texas Rivers Distilling Company
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 3 – Maniacal Mead, Ypsilanti, MI – Mead Hall Thursday
- Aug 4 – Kinsale Mead, Cork, Ireland – Mead-Ella – Kinsale Mead at BarBarElla Cork Mead Masterclass
- Aug 4 – Good Omen Mead, Escondido, CA – Latin Nights featuring Salsa, Bachata, Cumbia
- Aug 5 – Starrlight Meadery, Pittsboro, NC – National Mead Day
- Aug 5 – Honeygirl Meadery, Durham, NC – National Mead Day featuring Kelly Jackson Live
- Aug 5 – Meadiocrity Mead, San Marcos, CA – National Mead Day
- Aug 5 – Viking Alchemist Meadery, Smyrna, GA – National Mead Day
- Aug 5 – White Bear Meadery, Maplewood, MN – National Mead Day
- Aug 5 – Alternative Beverage, Belmont, NC – National Mead Day
- Aug 5 – Hunters Moon Meadery, Severence, CO – International Mead Day open house
- Aug 5 – Wyrd Leather and Mead, Portland, OR – National Mead Day
- Aug 5 – Wildflyer Mead Co, Navasota, TX – International Mead Day
- Aug 5 – 5/4 Meadery, Roswell, GA – International Mead Day
- Aug 5 – Stonehaus Meadery, Stroudsburg, PA – National Mead Day with the Two Taboo
- Aug 5 – Laurel Highlands Meadery, Greensburg, PA – Cousins Main Lobster – National Mead Day
- Aug 5 – MeadKrieger Meadery, Loveland, CO – Stand Up Comedy Showcase featuring Jozalyn Sharp (Standup NBC, VICE TV)
- Aug 5 – Honey and Hops Meadery, Front Royal, VA – Music and Mead with Bearded Harmony
- Aug 5 – Grimsby Hollow Meadery, Middleville, MI –Drink Mead, Learn Things – Celtic Mythology: Where to Begin?
- Aug 5 – Helderberg Meadworks, Troy, NY – Blackbraid Mead release – a blueberry and sumac mead
- Aug 5 – Hickory Tree Farm Apiaries, Kent City, MI – Mead Make and Take class
- Aug 5 – Sandwich Medieval Centre, The Quay, Sandwich, UK – Mead Making Workshop
- Aug 5 – Hickory Tree Farm Apiaries, Kent City, MI – Mead Make and Take Class
- Aug 8 – Battle & Brew, Sandy Springs, GA – Minis and Mead: Aquatic – Geek Paint and Sip Class
- Aug 10 – KingView Mead, Mount Lebanon, PA – Day One (acoustic) music
- Aug 12 – Moonjoy Meadery, Lenoir, NC – Mead and Mindfulness at Wolf Moon Salt Cave & Stress Reduction Center
- Aug 12 – Batch Mead, Temecula, CA – Free Axe Throwing
- Aug 12 – North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC – Cider, Mead and Art Experience: What’s the Buzz?
- Aug 18 – Leonard Oakes Estate Winery, Medina, NY – Mulberry mead release
- Aug 19 – Arthurdale Heritage, Arthurdale, WV – Mead Workshop and Tasting
- Aug 19 – Batch Mead, Temecula, CA – Honey 5k Fun Run
- Aug 26 – World of Beer, Melbourne, FL – Cider and Mead showcase
- Aug 26 – B. Nektar, Ferndale, MI – Italian Honey and Mead Pairing by Bees in the D at B. Nektar
- Aug 26 – DMen Tap, Chicago, IL – Mead Fest 2023
You can buy mead online at https://shopmeads.com
If you want to get your event on GotMead Live, let us know at gotmead@Gotmead.com
She is also an experienced marketing coach and consultant who has recently decided to focus her marketing expertise exclusively on the craft beverage market to help meaderies, cideries, breweries and distilleries expand their business and get more customers while doing what they love.
- 4-21-26 – Blair Housley – Etowah Meadery – Dalonega GA - April 21, 2026
- 4-7-26 Carlos Herrera – Texas Longhouse Meadery and the Texas Mead Association - April 7, 2026
- 3-24-26 Melody and Kyle Stout – Space Time Mead and Cider – Dunmore PA - March 24, 2026