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3-26-19 Tonight we’re getting together with Jon Oppegaard, owner of Oppegaard Meadery in Tukwila, WA. Jon makes excellent mead, I’ve tried many of his products. He’s even done savoury meads, like his taco mead (yes, I said taco) that he released recently, and which was a huge hit, and sold out pretty quick. Jon has been making mead for over 10 years, and loves it.
He made his own because there wasn’t much available for him to get in his area when he discovered mead, and what he could find strained his bank account to support his mead habit, so, he decided to handle it himself. He’s been making mead ever since. After a while, he figured, ‘if I am going to make it and drink it anyway, and others like my stuff, why not go pro?’.
And so he did. He rented a small space to keep costs down, and it didn’t take long for his meads to become so popular that he had to expand. He really only expected his friends and family to show up, but that was not to be. In fairly short order, the place was packed all the time. This is what happens when you make great mead! He resisted the idea of mead-making as his ‘real job’ for a while, but the meadery growth and popularity of his mead convinced him otherwise.
Oppegaard Meadery is a casual place, lots of board games and story telling. There are cool hand-painted shields hanging on the wall, and often mead-infused cheesecakes show up from a local bakery (I’ve had some, they’re very tasty!). Jon himself is a tall dude, with a Viking-worthy beard, and many cool weapons (which show up on his social media feeds from time to time). He’s a great guy, and very dedicated to his mead. The thing he takes most seriously is the quality of his mead.
On a separate note (and to be expanded in a new post shortly) the MeadCon and Mazer Cup were amazing in Broomfield, CO for MeadWeek this year. And I’ve finally gotten my voice back (this is why we have no show the week after!), it left towards the end of the week and took a week to come back! Much mead was tasted, many speakers gave amazing info, and fun and learning was had by all.
Congratulations to all the winners in the Mazer Cup International Competition! Check out the home winners and the commercial winners!
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Show links and notes
- Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff
- The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff
Upcoming Events
- March 28 – Bos Meadery – Late Bloomers and Hypheria
- March 29 – Schramm’s Mead – Artist Reception for Chris Ahern
- March 30 – Starrlight Mead – Intermediate Mead Making Class
- March 30 – Brooklyn Women Homebrew Competition
- March 30 – Southern California Mead Alliance – Off Flavors Sensory Training
- April 5-6 – The Colony Meadery – Spring Wine Festival at Bear Creek
- April 6 – Meridian Hive Meadery – Run for Mead
- April 12 – Charm City Meadworks – Two Fierce Chicks Present: A Mead, Mera and Music Fundraiser
- April 12-13 All Wise Meadery – Wine Riot New York City
- April 13-14 Starrlight Mead – 8th Annual Festival of Legends
- June 1 – Warped Pours II – Pour Harder – Metro South Homebrew League Homebrew Festival
- July 27 – Orcas Island Cider and Mead Festival
Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at gotmeadlive@gotmead.com and tell us about it!
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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