Why isn't mead more mainstream?

[JayH]

1st, I got the prices from a guy named Nick at a wine wholesaler in Connecticut. However I'm starting to question the pricing and I think I will actually call up a grower or two here in my area and ask the same questions and see what I'm told.

However assuming the pricing I got from Nick was accurate, then the material cost for Mead and Wine are similar (remember that the actual material cost is a small part of the the overall cost for a winery or meadery). So I assume the fact they they can afford to age longer has a lot to do with just the massive volume of wine sold.

In addition is the fact that they have been at it for a long time, so if you only save back a couple percent of your yearly production each year, now 20-50 years later you have a whole years worth of production that has been sitting around. It's hard to start a business with the idea that you can't sell any of your product for the first couple of years.

 

[wy_white_wolf]

"Why isn't mead more mainstream? "

I think the answer might be found in asking: "Why did grape based wine become more popular than Mead?"

It's much easier to grow grapes to support a large consumption than raise bees to make make mead

 

[mmclean]

It's much easier to grow grapes to support a large consumption than raise bees to make make mead

Is it?

I think it would be easier to start a bee yard that will start producing the first year, than to start a vineyard.

Not to mention the cost.

 

[tweak'e]

interesting thoughts. i'll try to remember to ask some of the wine growers i know over the weekend.

i don't know the difference in buisness. bees here often run a "one good year in three" rule ie you have one good season which has to cover the next two years. i'm guessing grapes are far more stable so will have more production for the cost.

 

[Medsen Fey]

No Catholics were harmed (hopefully) in the production of Medsen's last post! ;D

I certainly hope not; and no harm (or insult) was intended.

And with all due respect to Medsen, I prefer to remain more optimistic. ;D

.... but I think that a similar emergence of the American craft wine industry (which started before the craft beer emergence, but took longer overall to catch hold) demonstrates that it is possible for any alcoholic beverage to pique the general public's interest.

Thinking back to the mid 1960's or so, a few hardy fools out in the vicinity of Napa, California, decided to try to make wines that were more than jug-swill quality, despite the fact that there was no extant market in this country for such a home grown product. ...

All I'm saying is that the same can happen with mead.

You make a darned good point. What we need is for the quality to continue to improve (or more precisely, for the volume of quality mead to increase). Then at some point, we need a "judgment of Paris" moment (like California wine had) when mead is judged toe to toe with wine.

I think that could occur when looking at pairing foods with mead. We know there are some foods that wine simply doesn't compliment - spicy Thai or Mexican or Indian, heavily fried foods, and such. If folks can identify a niche or two for meads where they can shine with foods that tend not to work with wines, it could create a nucleus to allow commercial meads to grow.

So don't worry Wayne - I think your optimism is contagious.

 

[wayneb]

I like the way you think!

Here's another corollary thought: Perhaps the largest growth market for mead isn't here in N. America, nor in Europe, but maybe it is in Asia. Given the natural fit between many meads and traditional Asian cuisines, marketing of quality mead as a luxury product for export to Asian countries might be a way to jump-start the industry.

 

[tycoon]

I would also like to add that the asian market has a large potential for alcoholic beverage consumption...

I think it would also be interesting to learn more about how the few places where mead is mainstream have managed. I.e. Poland (and maybe Ethiopia?). Poland used to import wines from Bulgaria and other Soviet Bloc countries, but after the iron curtain fell, wine from other countries started to compete in that market. It would be interesting to learn what happened then: did mead lose a lot of market share, how, etc.....

 

[BBBF]

If the trend for bee keeping continues to grow, I think mead's popularity will follow. Is there a better way to use your surplus honey? Then you sure your mead with friends and family and they find out about mead or that it's better than that syrupy sweet stuff they once tried.

 

[mccann51]

CCD is going to be a major impediment to increased bee keeping, I would assume. That said, if there is a market for it, research will be done, and my feeling is that with enough minds working on something, most anything is solvable... somehow.

I do still wonder if honey product could ever reach the quantities necessary for mass production of mead, but I have nothing to base that on, so it's not a point I will argue.

As per public perception, I think what all of us is doing is hugely beneficial for mead becoming popular. As others have more eloquently stated, people try bad mead, and assume they will hate all mead (an un-adventurous bit of human nature that I have always found rather obnoxious). But every time we harangue somebody into tasting our delectable endeavors, we often hear "oh, well I like that mead"; the next step is then convincing them that it's not just our mead that is good, but that mead in general is a very quaffable beverage in general, and it's just a matter of production quality (I have an uncle who brewed mead once, with some bulk Sam's Club honey, and now he assumes all mead is crap; can't wait to hit him up with some farmer's-market-honey mead).

It's definitely grassroots at this point, but I feel that us acting as mead ambassadors is a strong first step in the right direction. Getting other homebrewers into meadmaking is another method for increasing appreciation of mead; kind of a chain-reaction thing.

 

[AToE]

I think even little steps like joining local brew clubs and getting homebrewers interested (or more interested, since many will have attempted to make mead at least once) is a good thing too.

The club I joined has asked me to take over one of the meetings at some point to have a mead day (I'm the only person there who doesn't primarily make beer, so I'm slowly becoming known as the mead guy) to talk about the differences between making mead and beer, and to show people some of the different styles mead can be. (I'd be pushing this website too, as I don't really see how a discussion of making mead without mentioning gotmead.com could even be possible!)

My main problem right now is that I don't feel confident enough in my own stock of mead to bring and show people along with my talk. I've got a good blueberry mel and that's about it, most of what I have that I consider to be "good" is still needing more age.

 

[JayH]

Working with your club does work. When I moved back to Southern California in 2005 and joined our local club there was one other person making mead. I talked the local shop to hold a mead day that year and only one person showed up and he was 2 hours late.

We now have 12-15 people actively making mead and at our last mead event we had over 20 people show up and make mead.

 

[mccann51]

As well a local clubs, helping give advice on other homebrew forums seems like a good way to get primarily beer-oriented brewers making good mead to keep them interested. Hopefully they eventually stumble up GotMead.

 

[wayneb]

My main problem right now is that I don't feel confident enough in my own stock of mead to bring and show people along with my talk. I've got a good blueberry mel and that's about it, most of what I have that I consider to be "good" is still needing more age.

It is likely that we can send you home with a few representative samples after the MCI is over (provided your "checked bag mead transport test" proves out when you come down here). That is, of course, if you're willing to share them with all those other folks!

 

[AToE]

It is likely that we can send you home with a few representative samples after the MCI is over (provided your "checked bag mead transport test" proves out when you come down here). That is, of course, if you're willing to share them with all those other folks!

Hmmm, I might get greedy! That would be a great idea though, but the problem is I'd need a couple/few 750ml bottles of each kind, because even with really small pours those things empty FAST at our meetings. Something like 70-80 people usually show up I think.

I think I might have enough of my own stock ready for whatever meeting I'll do, other than a really good dry traditional (by that time I'll have a semi sweet well aged, a couple more melomels and maybe a braggot).

 

[tweak'e]

It's much easier to grow grapes to support a large consumption than raise bees to make make mead

ok, i had a good discussion with one the local wine makers here.

basically what it comes down to is that its far far easier to do grow large amounts of grapes than it is to collect honey.
while a vineyard may not produce anything for the first few years they more than make up for it volume later on.
beekeepers tend to start small and build up, so they don't get much production for the first few years. while they get some in the first few years they just can't match a vineyards volume later on.
while i haven't worked out the math, i would guess a vineyard would produce anything from 10x to 100x the volume for the same cost/work than a beekeeper.

edit: quick and dirty maths comparing small vineyard to small beekeeper shows a vineyard should produce about double the fermentable volume than a beekeeper. however a vineyard can upscale a whole lot easier, while a beekeeper production per person doesn't really change much.

 

[mmclean]

ok, i had a good discussion with one the local wine makers here.

Did you talk to a beekeeper?

I don't think one discussion with one person on one side of the discussion makes a fact.

Many beeks reported 150-200 lbs per hive for 2010 honey yield.

 

[tweak'e]

Did you talk to a beekeeper?

I don't think one discussion with one person on one side of the discussion makes a fact.

Many beeks reported 150-200 lbs per hive for 2010 honey yield.

i'm a beekeeper so i compared our production, and other small beekeepers that we process for, per person to a small vineyard. while it does vary depending on beekeeping methods used and also different grapes produce different yields, the overall effect is that its much easier to produce grapes than it is to produce honey.
its also much easier to upscale with grapes so you get economy of scale coming into effect a lot more.

you may get 200lb per hive but there is a limited amount of hives a person can look after before you need to hire more staff. compare that to, for eg, the 450000 pounds of grapes a single person vineyard can produce which would give something like 40000 gallons of juice.

 

[wayneb]

One other thing to note -- for fermentation purposes, you can't compare volumes of grapes directly to volumes of honey (or weights, for that matter). While grapes provide about 75-80% of their total volume as directly fermentable juice at an equivalent SG of around 1.090, you'd have to dilute your honey significantly to get it down to that SG. So, a given volume of honey will yield far more fermentable must (once diluted) than an equal volume of crushed grapes.

Was that taken into account with your quick and dirty math? I should think that once the difference is taken into account, the cost difference between the two equivalent musts would be much smaller.

 

[TheAlchemist]

... If you travel too far out (dude)of the Amateur Brewing Circle, (again, at least in America) Meads are associated with basement dwelling, renaissance fair going, 40 year old virgins at worst; and weed smoking hippies at best...

Hey!

Who you callin' a basementdwelingrenfairegoin'weedsmokin'hippie?

 

[JayH]

When I called the wholesaler I specifically told him what I was trying to calculate. That is when he quoted me $7gallon for low end California Must. He said they sold it that way buy the tote (250 lbs) ready to be fermented.

I'm starting to question that price though so I've decided to call around tomorrow and get a couple more quotes just for grins.