‘Mead with Love’ looks (and tastes) pretty damn good!

Between International and Liquors on La Salle, Columbia students have limited options when it comes to where they can buy their alcohol. Enter the three self-titled ‘Mead Meisters’: homebrew enthusiasts and free-spirits set on providing the Columbia community with the opportunity to join a ‘mead club’ for a small monthly ‘contribution.’ Two Bwoggers sat down with the anonymous ‘Mead Meisters’ to learn more about their mead brewing process and to sample some of the final product.

After being graciously welcomed into the Meisters’ suite and de-facto brewery, Bwog was offered samples of two of Mead with Love’s most recent September flavors —American Pie and Lavender Lover— to sip while the conversation got underway. (The reviews of this month’s mead varieties are at the end of the article.)

Bwog: So, how did you get into making mead?

Mead Meister 1: It was really a spur of the moment thing that started this past summer. My family ended up moving away from New Jersey, and my father just asked if I wanted a bunch of home brewing equipment, so he wouldn’t have to bring it with him during the move. So, of course I said sure, because why not? All in all, it was about $500 worth of brewing equipment that I was just given. And I was out to dinner with [Mead Meister 2] in the Village a little while after that, and asked “Hey, I have a crazy idea: do you want to go brew some mead right now? I have all this equipment and want to do something with it.”

Mead Meister 2: And I said yeah, of course! Because it was the summer, we really didn’t have much going on, so we decided to go for it. So we went and tracked down [Mead Meister 3] that night and asked the same thing, and so the whole thing was born.

B: Before we really get into the questions: what is mead?

MM: Mead is really just a mix of honey and water that’s fermented with yeast, kind of in a similar way to wine. You can also flavor mead with a ton of different ingredients, like spices or fruits or herbs, which is what we’re doing.

Who knew fermented honey could be so tasty?

B: How long does the whole process take, and how much can you produce?

MM: In total, it takes about a month from when we first put all the ingredients together to start fermentation to final bottling. We were working with just two 5-gallon carboys [large plastic or glass containers used for fermentation], but we just got a new 12-gallon carboy, so when we’re operating at capacity, we can now put out ~70 bottles of mead. We’ve tried to stagger when each flavor comes out, so there’s only around a two weeks delay between each new flavor.

B: Speaking of flavors, how do you come up with the different flavors of mead you make?

MM: We’ve really focused on tailoring our flavors to fit the season. Our first flavor (which was made during the summer) was ‘Golden Ticket,’ which really drew from a lot of bright and crisp flavors: peach, ginger, cucumber. ‘Summer Thyme’ was our flavor for the end of summer, with rose water, raspberry, and herbal thyme notes.  ‘American Pie’ (blackberry and vanilla) and ‘Lavender Lover’ (lavender and lemon) were our two September flavors, and those really marked the shift from summer flavors to fall. But in the future, we’ll definitely continue to do seasonal flavors, and we might bring back some fan-favorites if people want them.

B: What kind of plans do you have for the future of ‘Mead with Love’?

MM: We’d love to increase supply to meet demand. [All the Meisters laugh.] But really, the response we’ve gotten has been incredible, and all our mead is gone with 24-48 hours after bottling, easily. So, if space and time permit, we’d love increase the amount of mead we’re making so that every person who wants to join our membership and get a bottle can do so. We want to try out new flavors and figure out what people really like.

B: Are you worried about any legal issues about brewing mead in your dorm?

MM: Not really, no. It’s not illegal for us to make the mead, because home brewing alcohol is totally legal (and we’re all over 21). The only thing that we can’t do is sell the mead. So, we’ve organized things so that we’re not ‘selling’ the mead that we make; instead, we’re giving it away. We view ourselves as a community or a collective, where in order to be an active member in the community, you have monthly membership dues [Editor’s Note: The dues for the first month are $15, and $10 for subsequent months]. And as part of the community, you’re gifted with a bottle of mead each month that you remain active and pay your dues. So you’re not paying for the mead, technically. You’re paying for ‘membership.’

B: Is this something you see yourselves doing professionally?

MM: No, not really. We all have different interests, and while brewing is really fun, we have actual professional goals.

MM 2: But maybe if I get really rich by 30, I’ll open a brewery for the laughs.

B: If people want to join your ‘mead collective,’ how should they contact Mead with Love?

MM: We have a website (meadwithlove.com) where people can join our mailing list for more information. The password is “meadwithlove,” if you can figure out how to get into the site!

Technically not alcohol (yet)!

Mead reviews:

Lavender Lover: Described as a mead with a “lavender aroma and bright citrus notes [that is] reminiscent of a crisp fall sunrise.” Lavender Lover, like most of Bwog’s past lovers, was satisfying in the moment, but perhaps not quite as impressive as we had hoped. The blend of herbal and citrus elements was innovative and thoroughly pleasant on the tongue, but the mouth feel of the mead was thin, like the final product was a little watered down. 7/10

American Pie: Unequivocally the favorite from the two flavors sampled. Described by the Meisters as having, “blackberry hues and vanilla undertones [which] imbue the bottle with the last hints of hot summer nights and the warm memories of autumn’s cozy days,” this mead managed to balance being both  refreshing and wildly flavorful in the best way possible. Even Grandma’s best baking efforts have nothing on the Meisters and this mead. 9/10

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. For the majority of their answers, the Meisters agreed to speak as a collective.

Photos courtesy of the Meisters