3-1-22 Tonight on Gotmead Live we’re headed to paradise, Hawaii, that is. We’re getting together with Shawn Darryl Harris, honey wrangler at Wao Kele Honey Farm, and meadmaker.
You may have seen Shawn in the various mead groups on Facebook, letting people know about the amazing honeys he has available like lehua, ulei, princess tree, coffee blossom, macadamia, mamane and several other exotic island honeys. (You can drop an email to him at islebuzz@gmail.com to see what is currently available). He does 10 lb pourable spout bags of honey that he ships, shipping cost included, for a very reasonable price.
Shawn has lived on the big island in Hawaii since he was 12, and was 15 when he got some honey at the farmers market and fell in love. His first honey was lehua blossom (some know this as Christmas berry), and he loved the floral notes it has. He couldn’t buy much, as honey was $20 a quart in those days, yet he did his best to get it every month, and was pretty much addicted to honey in or on everything. He eventually expanded to try macadamia blossom honey, ulei blossom honey, coffee blossom honey, mamane blossom honey and a few others.
The beekeeper got to be a friend, and he bought his first beehive from that beekeeper. At that point Shawn had no fear of bees, and had only been stung once. He had that hive about a year, but steered away from beekeeping after a sting on his ear left him with a vicious headache for a month. Then his beekeeper buddy moved off the island, leaving Shawn without his honey fix. Shawn says ‘others didn’t put the aloha into products like his friend did’.
So, after he graduated high school, Shawn found himself needing work, and needing to help his family in starting their farm. He got a job with one of the largest honey outfits on the island. He got over 100 bee stings his first day!! Shawn figured if he didn’t die by the end of the day, he’d keep going, the job market on the island was pretty competitive.
He evenutally moved to work full time on his family’s farm, and they built up their hives slowly, mostly through bee removal services. There was tons of honey on the island, and many of the honey producers had their established customers. So, they ended up selling at farmers markets and slowly building their own clientele and catering to the tourist market.
Shawn started making mead 9 years ago, learning from a fellow beekeeper who would either be making a mead, rack a mead and/or share a mead every time Shawn would stop by. He only made traditional meads (with that honey, it’s a slam dunk!), so Shawn got into making sweet traditionals with his amazing honeys.He’s ventured out into cysers a bit, and another he does is a soursop and pineapple juice mead that he would add coriander, fennel stems, nasturtiums, orange zest and holy basil. It was a unique mead that was made all with ingredients he grew himself. His wife is also a meadmaker and one of her first was a strawberry melomel. During COVID, Shawn had some time due to farmers markets being shut down, and got to hitting the mead groups and saw what everyone was doing in the mead world, and now he’s got all sorts of new ideas.
Join us to talk with Shawn and see what he’s up to with his meads, and learn more about his honeys.
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Upcoming Shows
- March 15 – Ian Rushing – Honey and Hops Brewworks
Show links and notes
- Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff
- The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff
Upcoming Events
- Mar 2 – Drinking Horn Meadery, Flagstaff, AZ – Mead Hall Trivia
- Mar 3 – Wildflyer Mead, Navasota, TX – Painting on the Porch
- Mar 5 – Brimming Horn Meadery, Milton, DE – Mead and Read with author Lea Svendsen: Loki and Sigyn
- Mar 5 – House of Honey and Sticky Spoon Cafe, Perth, West Australia – Candle Making and Mead
- Mar 5 – Four Brothers Meadery, Festus, MO – Bella the Bard performing
- Mar 4 – Wandering Bard Meadery, Greenville, SC – Advanced Mead Making class
- Mar 10 – Wildflyer Mead Co, Navasota, TX – Book Club – No Words by Meg Cabot
- Mar 19 – Lincoln Fill Station, Snellville, GA – Mead Fest featuring 17 different meads, and a viking inspired meal
- Mar 19 – Zoll Vineyards, Dutton, VA – Cider and Mead Grand Tasting
- Mar 19 – Wildflyer Meadery, Festus, MO – Heley Woolbright Band
- Mar 26 – Viking Alchemist Meadery, Smyrna, GA – Mead and Metal Live Blacksmithing and local artists
- Mar 26 – Deep Water Vineyard, Wadmalaw Island, SC – Candlemaking and Mead Tasting
- Mar 26 – Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego and Wild Willow Farm, San Diego, CA – Mead and Honey Workshop
You can buy mead online at https://shopmeads.com
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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.
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