5-5-26 Tonight we’re hanging with Tony Qualls. Tony is meadmaker/owner of Manic Meadery and brewer/owner of Gnosis Brewing. And he puts on the Sugarbelt Mead Festival every year. A busy guy!
Tony is not just a meadery owner, he’s also a musician. He toured in the band Groovatron for 12 years, doing over 1500 shows in 12 years (makes me tired just thinking about all that travel!).
In April 2024, Tony and the gang opened Gnosis Brewing, also in Merrillville, Indiana. Founded by Tony, Keith, Eric, Adam, and Brandon, the brewery embodies an unending quest for beer perfection, continually evolving to delight both new craft beer enthusiasts and seasoned connoisseurs.
With a commitment to quality over quantity, Gnosis Brewing rigorously tests each beer recipe through multiple batches and trials before it reaches the customer. The brewery aims to push the boundaries of traditional brewing, ensuring that every release meets their high standards of excellence.
Tony is a lifelong entrepreneur, having run a vinyl record company, painting company and a bunch of other businesses. Plus he’s a skilled tradesman in welding and carpentry (that would help with build out!).
Tony has been married to his lovely wife Vanessa for 12 years, and they have two kids. Not to sit on his laurels, Tony plans to pursue law school and recording backlogs of musical material while running his meadery (getting tired again, lol). He likes to mountain bike and ride his motorcycle in his free time (he has free time?).
Tony co-founded Manic Meadery with Keith Cantwell in 2018 in Crown Point, Indiana. Manic is a small batch meadery, and they also do wine and cider. They’ve gotten a lot of interest in their sweet dessert meads using whole fruit and often multiple adjuncts. Tony is also a BJCP mead judge, and holder of Mazer Cup awards for both home and commercial mead. The plans for Manic in 2020 include increasing self distribution, expanding their production space, and organizing a mead-only festival, the Sugarbelt Mead Fest.
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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
- May 6 – Wild Blossom Meadery, Chicago, IL – Optimo Swing-Jazz
- May 7 – DiFrancesco Meadery, Wrightsville, PA – Mead and Meditation
- May 7 – Vahalla Meadery – Bozeman, MT – Acoustic Jam party
- May 7 – Dancing Skeleton Meadery, Sapulpa, OK – Trivia Night
- May 9 – Brimminghorn Meadery, Seaford, DE – US Wrestling Justice
- May 12 – Honeytree Meadery, Nashville, TN – Writers Night and Open Mic
- May 13 – The Mead Hall, Charles, MO – Acoustic Jam
- May 14 – Nucleus Mead, Linesville, PA – Mead and Read
- May 14 – Vahalla Meadery – Bozeman, MT – Acoustic Jam party
- May 16 – Adesanya Brewery, Grandville, MI – Mead Samples with A New Image Salon
- May 17 – Foxes Den Meadery, Minooka, IL – Rock the PHight Kickoff Fundraiser at Papa Magoos Bar and Grill
- May 21 – Standard Meadery, Villa Park, IL – After Hours Networking
- May 21 – Vahalla Meadery, Bozeman, MT – Acoustic Jam
- May 22 – Manic Meadery, Crown Point, IN – Paint and Drink: Forest Fairy
- May 24 – Clear Skies Meadery, Rockville, MD – Acoustic music with Mike Rocke
- May 30 – McAlpine Meadery, Beach City, OH – 30 mile Bike Ride
- May 30 – Slash-o-Meadery, Nacogdoches, TX – Live Music with Dan McMahon
- May 30 – Hive Mind Mead and Brew Co., Caldicot, UK – It’s CANDY Disco night with Tandoori G
- May 31 – Bumbling Fools Mead, Minneapolis, MN – Mead Making Class
- May 31 – Wild Blossom Meadery, Chicago, IL – Grown-Up Book Fair
- May 31 – Helderberg Meadworks, Troy, NY – Mead and Read – the book ‘The Corpse Flower’ and an Artist Mead Up
- June 6 – The Ferm Meadery, Houston, TX – Fire NR Bones live music
You can buy mead online at https://shopmeads.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.