8-11-20 Tonight at 9PM ET, we are continuing our regional mead makers series and talking with Billy Beltz, Erick Holden and Harold Gulbransen, all in Southern California. Each is a very talented meadmaker, and we’ll talking about (of course) meadmaking, and how they do things in SoCal.

Billy Beltz, Lost Cause MeaderyBilly Beltz is the Co-Founder of Lost Cause Meadery located in San Diego, CA. Established in 2017, Lost Cause Meadery specializes in complex, aroma-driven meads across a wide range of modern and traditional styles. Lost Cause was one of the most awarded meaderies in the world in 2019, earning five medals from the 2019 Mazer Cup International (tied for most in the world) and a third-place Best of Show award at the National Honey Board’s inaugural Mead Crafter Competition. Billy’s experiments with yeast strains for mead making have been published in American Mead Maker and Zymurgy. He is also a BJCP Certified Mead Judge and holds an MBA from San Diego State University.

Eric Holden has been an avid home mead maker and brewer for 13 years and is a nationally ranked BJCP mead judge.  He started off as a homebrewer but quickly realized he was a much better mead maker. He has won over 100 awards for his meads including two final round National Homebrew Competition medals, 3 Mazer Cup wins, and a few Best of Shows.  He loves to push the envelope with new and exciting meads and only makes 1 thing twice.  When not making mead he spends most of his free time climbing, hiking and volunteering with the Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit.

Harold Gulbransen has been a member of Quaff homebrew club in San Diego since 1996, serving as President in 2004-2005.  He has been active in the judging scene of the Great American Beer Festival as well as the World Beer Cup since 2003.  He was a member of the AHA’s Governing committee for 6 years and a Master level BJCP judge.  He has been the Organizer for the final round of the 2011 National Homebrew Competition and a first round organizer many times.

Harold Gulbransen has been homebrewing beer for more than 20 years.  He became interested in mead making while attending a QUAFF club meeting in San Diego in 1998.  The time commitment to brewing mead is less intensive than brewing beer, but the blending, acid balancing, fruiting and spicing of meads leading to a balanced final product fascinates him.

Harold and his wife JoAnne have been living in San Diego for over 36 years.  He has three grown daughters, three grandchildren, and two sons-in-law who are avid homebrewers.  Between batches of homebrewed beer and mead, Harold maintains a busy Prosthodontic practice in La Mesa, California.

 

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Coming up:
Show links and notes
Upcoming Events
  • Aug 26 – White Labs – A Look at the Nutrient Needs of Mead
  • Sept 17-19 – Valkyries Horn Mead Competiton – registration until Aug 22.
    The one and only KEN SCHRAMM will judge the GOLD medal winners from the Valkyries Horn Mead Competition to determine the Best Of Show!
    He’s consented to do a virtual tour of his meadery, film his commentary for the top 5 meads, provide a Q&A session after the awards ceremony, AND do a virtual tasting walkthrough of his Raspberry mead (you might want to order one to follow along)!
    Join them at 7pm on Saturday September 19th for the awards ceremony to see the BOS mead revealed by Ken.
    Submit your questions to info@valkyrieshorn.com and see if Ken will answer your questions.
  • September 26-October 1 – Mazer Cup International Competition
  • October 1 – Valhalla – The Meading of Life Mead Competition – deadline for entries is 9-19, judging starts 10-1
  • 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 gotmeadlive@gotmead.com and tell us about it!

Vicky Rowe
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