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7-28-26 Today we’ll be chatting with Clyde and Sarah Hays, owners of Vinland Meads in Murchison, TX.

Vinland Meads is a family-owned meadery and artisan kitchen in Murchison, Texas, founded by Clyde and his wife, Sarah,. Although the company was officially formed in 2024 and their public tasting room opened in 2026, Clyde’s history with mead began more than twenty years ago. He became interested in mead through his love of Scottish and Northern European history, and he mentioned to his grandfather that he wanted to learn how to make it. Rather than giving him a written recipe, he shared stories about how his own grandfather had made mead in Scotland. Those conversations taught Clyde about honey, patience, craftsmanship, and the importance of allowing the process to take the time it needs. He began experimenting from there, and those lessons still guide every batch he makes today.

Vinland Meads first began at Hays Manor, our family farm in East Texas. That is where they incorporated the company, developed their recipes, and operated in production-only mode before moving the winery license and public operation into Murchison. Hays Manor remains an important part of their story. It is home to their apiaries, Scottish Highland cattle, farm animals, and the hawks we work with as licensed falconers. Their own bees provide as much honey as they can, and they supplement that with raw Texas wildflower honey from beekeepers whose apiaries and practices they know personally. The farm taught them many of the values that shape Vinland today, especially patience, stewardship, and respect for where their ingredients come from.

Sarah and Clyde are also the parents of seven sons, and Vinland has always been a family story rather than simply a business venture. One of Clyde and Sarah’s proudest moments is hearing their sons tell people what their family does and hearing the pride in their voices. Sarah is the majority owner, manager, and creative force behind the business, while Clyde serve as Head Mead Maker and oversee marketing. Sarah’s belief in what Clyde was creating is one of the main reasons Vinland exists. Years ago, she brought home their first beehives and joked that Clyde would no longer need to buy honey for his mead. Those hives could never produce the thousands of pounds they now use, but they represented Sarah’s belief that Clyde’s longtime passion could become something much larger.

When they moved into Murchison, they wanted to create more than a traditional tasting room. Vinland Meads now includes an artisan kitchen, which focuses on locally sourced ingredients and food designed to pair with mead, as well as the Rose & Raven Bookshop, curated by Sarah. They also host live music, trivia, educational classes, beekeepers’ gatherings, community events, and other experiences that make Vinland feel more like a modern gathering hall than a typical winery.

Their goal is to introduce people to mead as a sophisticated and culturally significant beverage, not simply something associated with Vikings or Renaissance festivals. They produce handcrafted meads using Texas honey, locally sourced fruit whenever possible, and a process that generally takes about six months from honey in the tank to mead in the bottle or keg. Every bottle has a story behind it, which is why their tagline is, “Every Bottle a Story. Every Sip a Saga.”

Join us to hear more from Sarah and Clyde!

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!

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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 every other Tuesday starting Jan 13, 2026.

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!

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You can buy mead online at https://shopmeads.com

Vicky Rowe
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