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Tonight we’re talking with Chad Wiltz, owner and meadmaker at Garagiste Meadery in Tampa, Florida. Chad has been making mead since 2014, and opened Garagiste in late in 2017, after winning the Home Meadmaker of the Year in early 2017.
Chad had a life-altering event (though he didn’t realize it at the time) in 2014, when he visited a small meadery in Michigan and tried their meads. And that started a quest for him. He wanted to have more mead that was THAT good, and headed back to Tampa to give it a shot, making home meads Having no local meadmakers to draw from, this gave him the luxury of being unafraid to experiment with flavors and ingredients not associated with meads. Some experiments failed and others worked great, all had a powerful influence on how he saw mead and what he thought mead could be.
Like any hobby he dove face first into meadmaking. His goal was simple, to create memorable experiences through mead using locally produced ingredients to the extent possible. Soon he was sharing those meads with friends and they shared them with others. A phenomenon of sorts was born and fast forward another year and he was being invited to pour at local festivals.
In early 2016 he decided to make Garagiste Meadery a legitimate business. The original concept was a side job of sorts, he’d make mead between the other day jobs. In April 2016 he launched a crowdfunding campaign to get started. Without much expectations or fanfare they put themselves out there. The campaign closed a month later making Garagiste Meadery the largest publicly funded Meadery in history.
After some soul searching we decided that we’d throw our fate to the winds and let the voice of the people be heard. Garagiste Meadery would be a full Meadery with a Tasting Room and become the family business. As the Meadery came together they felt the impetus to get better. Still making home meads as they worked their way towards opening, and opened in late 2017.
Thankfully, some great meadmakers embraced them and helped refine Garagiste Meadery to where they are today.
Join us to talk with Chad! And get a 20% listener discount by using GOTMEAD = 20% at Garagiste!
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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
- November 15 – Luke Goucher – Obscurity Mead and Cider/Obscurity Brewing – Elburn, IL
- November 29 – Manny Elgarresta – Mangrove honey and mead making challenge
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
- Nov 2 – Over the Moon Farmstead, Pittsfield, NH – Mead and Read November – Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
- Nov 2 – Drinking Horn Meadery, Flagstaff, AZ – Mead Hall Trivia
- Nov 4 – Pye Road Meadworks, Odessa, FL – Murder and Mead – murder mystery event
- Nov 5 – Meadiocrity Mead, San Marcos, CA – 3rd Anniversary Party
- Nov 5 – Wandering Bard Meadery, Greenville, SC – Guided Mead Tasting – Special Reserve Bottles and Introduction to Mead Making Class
- Nov 5 – Philip Carter Winery, Hume, VA – Harvest on the Halfshell – Wine, Cider, Mead & Oysterfest!
- Nov 5 – Amber Dragon Meadery @ Play Faire Park, Abilene, TX – Mead Festival
- Nov 6 – Lilly Belle Meads, Lancaster, NY – Sunday Brunch
- Nov 6 – Starrlight Mead, Pittsboro, NC – First Sunday Sound Bath
- Nov 7 – Drinking Horn Meadery, Flagstaff, AZ – Mead and Magic, the Gathering
- Nov 12 – Starrlight Meadery, Pittsboro, NC – Intermediate Mead Making Class
- Nov 12 – Four Brothers Mead, Festus, MO – Live music with Bacon
- Nov 12 – Wyrd Leather and Mead, Portland, OR – Mad Hatters Mad Mead Party – Alice in Wonderland Night!
- Nov 12 – Batch Mead, Temecula, CA – Free Axe Throwing at the Tasting Room
- Nov 12 – Mystic Ambrosia Mead, Santa Fe, NM – Fall Mead Tasting with Plyhumnia and Jordan Jonas
- Nov 13 – Cape Fear Spirits and Beer, Wilmington, NC – Mead Church w/Starrlight Meadery!
- Nov 16 – KingView Mead, Lebanon, PA – Name that Tune and Trivia Night
- Nov 19 – Starrlight Meadery, Pittsboro, NC – Getting Ready for Turkey Day – mead and Thanksgiving food pairing
- Nov 19 – Moonjoy Meadery, Lenoir, NC – Mead and Mindfulness
- Nov 26 – Honey & Hops Brew Works, Front Royal, VA – Music & Mead – Featuring: Gunner Heathe
- Nov 26 – Wyrd Leather and Mead, Portland, OR – Small Business Saturday
- Nov 27 – Wildflyer Mead, Navasota, TX – Goat Yoga!
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.
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