10-12-21 James Boicourt - Charm City Meadworks - Session Meads - on the Dry Side – Got Mead? The Largest Mead Resource on the Web

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James Boicourt - Charm City Meadworks 10-12-21 We’re headed to Baltimore, where we’ll catch up with James Boicourt, founder and owner of Charm City Meadworks.

James began making mead back in college (NC State) around 2004, after taking a great class on introductory beekeeping. He was already trying out homebrewing, and got so interested in beekeeping and entomology that he ended up taking a graduate level bee class. What else was a college kid going to do with a bunch of surplus honey anyhow? Of course he fermented it. It seemed like a great idea for a business someday, as there was very little available anywhere at that time, and when you could find or order it, choices were usually very limited.

The knowledge base for making mead at that time was also very limited, particularly with regards to yeast strains, care and feeding of the yeast, etc. he remembers looking up some of the early example recipes on GotMead.com. He took what he was able to find and did several large controlled experiments over the years, doing a few batches of a control recipe, and working out which variables had the largest impact on taste. Needless to say 25 5 gallon batches running in parallel was not always the most easy of things to find a person willing to host early on.

In early 2014, James and a good friend were looking to invest their time in something in the craft beverage industry. After some hard looking, Andrew and James circled back to mead because we felt like it was a relatively untapped opportunity that they could bootstrap. From early on their focus was on lighter, lower abv products, and predominantly canned ones, primarily because they enjoyed drinking them on a daily basis, and friends highly encouraged those as a very drinkable option. Covid has certainly been a big hit, but going from 1200 sq ft a few years ago to 10,000 in just a few years has been an interesting ride.

The Charm City Meadworks taproom is at 400 E Biddle St, Baltimore, MD 21202.

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Upcoming Shows

October 26 – Yancy Bodenstein – Clear Skies Mead
November 9 – Wendy Rohan – Rohan Mead
November 23 – Steve at Experimeads

Show links and notes

Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff
The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff

Upcoming Events

- Oct 14 – Capital Hive Meadery, Leesburg, VA – October Mead Up
- Oct 14 – Wildflyer Mead Co, Navasota, TX – Adult Coloring Night
- Oct 14 – Victory or Valhalla, Dixon, CA – Ax throwing venue is hosting a mead making class
- Oct 16 – Starrlight Meadery, Pittsboro, NC – NC Wine Festival at Koka Booth Amphitheater in Cary, NC
- Oct 16 – Cape Town Mead Company, Maitland, Cape Town, South Africa – Mead Tasting
- Oct 1-31 – Humblebee Meadery, BC, Canada – Huck it in the Bucket: A month-long special promoting HumbleBee Meadery and Axewood Axe Throwing at the Whistler Racket Club’s Courtside Cafe, Patio, and Bar
- Oct 16 – Michigan Mead Cup – Awards Ceremony – 5PM ET
- Oct 16 – Bos Mead Hall, Madison, WI – Mad Laughs: Stand up Compedy and Mead
- Oct 17 – Skål Beer Hall, Seattle, WA – Fall Mead Festival, featuring Æsir Meadery – Everett, WA, Artivem Mead – Bellingham, WA, Ethereal Mead – Battleground, WA, Hierophant Mead – Freeland, WA, KVLT Mead – Tacoma, WA, Oppegaard Meadery – Tukwila, WA
- Oct 21 – AMMA Mead Matters – Honey Tasting with Z Specialty Food
- Oct 23 – Wandering Bard Meadery, Greenville, SC – Advanced Mead Making Class
- Oct 30 – Maryland Beer, Wine and Spirits Festival – Clear Skies Meadery, Maryland Meadworks and the Buzz Meadery will be pouring
- Oct 30 – Viking Alchemist Meadery, Smyrna, GA – Mead and Mischief
- Nov 6 – Suwanee Wine Fest, Suwanee, GA – featuring Etowah Meadery from Dahlonoga, GA
- Nov 6 – Wandering Bard Meadery, Greenville, SC – Beginning Mead Making Class
- Nov 9 – Oppegaard Meadery, Tukwila, WA – Mead Making Class – everything provided!
You can buy mead online at https://shopmeads.com

Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at gotmead@gotmead.com and tell us about it!

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Vicky Rowe

Owner at Gotmead.com and Craft Beverage Marketing

Vicky Rowe has been active as a promoter and supporter of the mead industry since the mid-90's with Gotmead.com, and is totally serious about seeing the mead industry take its rightful place as a popular craft beverage on the world recreational drinking stage.

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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