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Florida mead... any recommendations?

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Bnektar makes a tasty product but it's still alcopop-ish. And it's really expensive!


Sent from my TARDIS at the restaurant at the end of the universe while eating Phil.
 
Ariadne said:
There is a mead producer in the Gainesville area that has a wide selection, unfortunately the only one that was palatable was the OB, but it was quite good. http://www.hoggetowne.com/index.html
In Orlando, a local store near my house carries a fair selection of meads. I had one last week that was mango and black pepper which sounds crazy but tasted great! http://www.patsliquororlando.com/
Wish I knew more options but that's all I have found for drinkable mead here.
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The first link you provided was for the homebrew shop here in Gainesville. Were you thinking about Royal Manor over in Interlachen ( http://www.royalmanorwinery.com/)? They make a pretty good blueberry melomel.

There's also Odd Elixir down in DeLand http://www.oddelixir.com, but I'm not sure if they're open yet.
 
I'm not 100% on this because I can't find my notes, but I think the syrupy too sweet was a Florida mead. Royal Meadery

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1430908708.815965.jpg

I am sure it was this one.


Sent from my TARDIS at the restaurant at the end of the universe while eating Phil.
 
That homebrew shop makes their own mead as well. Im pretty sure that it was theirs that was at the renne festival (the store name is the name of the renne festival). I try to keep business cards for these kinds of things so I can reorder, but they pile up in my purse :(.

I found the mango one online here: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/b-nektar-necromangocon/190189/
I really thought this one was a nice light daily drink.
 
Ariadne said:
That homebrew shop makes their own mead as well. Im pretty sure that it was theirs that was at the renne festival (the store name is the name of the renne festival). I try to keep business cards for these kinds of things so I can reorder, but they pile up in my purse :(.

I found the mango one online here: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/b-nektar-necromangocon/190189/
I really thought this one was a nice light daily drink.
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Hoggetowne Ale Works doesn't have an alcohol license, so they cannot sell any beer or mead, just ingredients (but I think they're working on changing that).

Royal Manor is the source for the mead available at the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire (lots of things in the Gainesville area are named Hogtown/Hoggetowne, doesn't mean they're all related). I should know because I'm a member of the homebrew club that does all the alcohol sales at the med faire (Hogtown Brewers).
 
I found some pics of the people at the Hoggtown place and that is definitely not the people that I met at the faire. The bottles from Royal do look familiar so you may be right that it was them. My daughter and I thought they were all pretty awful except the plain OB one, but we do not like wildflower honey AT ALL so that could just be our bias.

I was wondering if you knew about the alcohol sales laws, though. My research on the FL laws has only turned up that you need a wine and beer packaging license which is only $100 to sell it for consumption off premises. If you know of something else, I'd like to know because we are trying to decide whether to keep the mead making here in FL when we scale up to sale or move elsewhere. FL's lax license requirements puts it high on the plus side of our list!
 
Unfortunately, I don't know much about the alcohol sales law here in FL. Call or write to Joe Pasco (owner, head vintner/mazer at Royal Manor)...he could probably help you navigate the laws.
 
So I received my bottle yesterday and drank the whole 750 ml. B Nectar's Episode 13. It was a sweet traditional aged in bourbon barrels. It reminded me a lot like dystopia by moonlight meadery but more on the sweet. A little too sweet for my taste probably why they put in a 750 ml bottle. A blend of wild flower and orange blossom I assume with smooth vanilla tones from the barrel. Can definitely smell a floral bouquet followed by a medium oak presence.
 
Ariadne said:
I found some pics of the people at the Hoggtown place and that is definitely not the people that I met at the faire. The bottles from Royal do look familiar so you may be right that it was them. My daughter and I thought they were all pretty awful except the plain OB one, but we do not like wildflower honey AT ALL so that could just be our bias.

I was wondering if you knew about the alcohol sales laws, though. My research on the FL laws has only turned up that you need a wine and beer packaging license which is only $100 to sell it for consumption off premises. If you know of something else, I'd like to know because we are trying to decide whether to keep the mead making here in FL when we scale up to sale or move elsewhere. FL's lax license requirements puts it high on the plus side of our list!
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That 100 sounds like the COP-1 which is consume ON premises and designed (I think) for brewpubs that also serve food and for temporary events like a renfair.

The licenses abs how much they cost are all online. I can assure you there is no such thing as being able to sell alcohol for $100. There are bonds to get, conditions to be met and the process is so convoluted that without a consultant you're not going get it right the first time.

Trust me. If it was easy or cheap I would have done it a long time ago. If it was one or the other I would still have done it, but it is neither easy nor cheap to legally sell alcohol in Florida. Dade county adds another local layer of difficulties and I assume other counties also add little tidbits of ridiculousness.


Sent from my TARDIS at the restaurant at the end of the universe while eating Phil.
 
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