Wilderbee Farm & Mead Werks
THE RESURGENCE OF MEAD. OLD IS NEW AGAIN.
Google mead and you’ll find quotes about it from the Bible. It’s that old. Even older. One of the first alcoholic beverages, 5,000 years ago, mead was the favored drink of kings. It was so popular in the old world that the term `honeymoon’ meant a month when the newlyweds drank mead as an aphrodisiac.
Traditionally, mead is a concoction of honey, water and yeast. It can be dry, sweet, or in between. You can find mead all over the world. Each has its own flavor as it is made with honey from native plants and fermented with local spices.
Mead fell out of favor when sugar replaced honey as the primary sweetener, and wine and beer became popular.
Now, thanks partly to the success of HBO’s fantasy series “Game of Thrones” and the resurgence of craft beer and cider, mead has attracted a new fanbase. Among them are Eric and Casey Reeter, owners of Wilderbee Farm near Port Townsend.
Nine years ago, the couple lived on an urban plot in West Seattle where they grew a garden that included blueberries and lavender. They decided to look for land where they could eventually retire to a 2-acre blueberry farm, but instead found 12 acres of raw pasture and wooded land on the outskirts of Port Townsend.
Their first move was to start keeping honeybees and certify their farm as organic. “It’s a lot easier to do at the start than transition later,” Casey says. They realized a small farm must have multiple crops in case of failure, so they planted lavender, pumpkins, flowers and blueberries – a diversity of forage for pollinators. The goal was to create a destination U-Pick farm that would attract visitors.
Three years into it, they were ready for the farm’s next adventure. Honeybees, their first endeavor on the farm, ignited the idea to make mead. But how?
Online, they found the Nordic Heritage museum in Ballard, took a class and made 5 gallons of mead. It was tasty and fun to make. They turned their pantry into a meadery and started home brewing.
“The first mead was not the greatest,” Eric recalls. As they experimented with different ingredients, the mead, “slowly got better until friends said, ‘Man, this is GOOD! You should enter it in some contests!’”
They did, starting at the top with the international Mazer Cup. “We did OK, and got great feedback, which we implemented right away,” Eric says. The next year, they won 1st place in their category! “That got the ball rolling,” he laughs. “We were inspired.”
In 2016, with confidence to enter the Mead Free or Die competition in New Hampshire, they submitted 8 meads in the home brew category. All 8 medaled. “And best of all, we won Mead Maker of the Year,” Eric beams.
That prompted the decision to go professional. They researched and networked with mead makers throughout the country asking for their idea of the “perfect meadery.” Then they built it.
“We have the ideal meadery for making small batch handcrafted meads, thanks to their help,” says Casey. It took longer and cost more than expected.
“We should have worked another 10 years to pay for it,” Eric quips. “But it’s all worth it.”
“This is a ‘family’ operation,” continues Eric. Close friends Kevin and Christine Stevenson jumped in with both feet three years ago. Casey’s father, Larry who works on the farm and makes woodcrafts for the farm store, helps when the call for all hands on deck is needed. “We couldn’t have done this without the support and help from our closest friends and family.”
There are two parts to the farm. The farm’s name, Wilderbee, blends two loves: the wilderness and bees. Mead Werks, with an e, is a nod to Casey’s German heritage.
Combining old world techniques with modern equipment, the meadery produces an array of complex meads, ranging from light to sweet. It takes a lot of bees to produce a batch of mead, so they source honey from a beekeeper in Eastern Washington who sends his bees to blackberry blossoms and local flowers, so the honey is varietal. One batch of mead requires 120-150 gallons of honey, which takes a single hive a full year to produce. They will also source honey from their own hives for special limited release batches.
From raw ingredients, through the fermentation process to the tasting room, aged mead can be ready in 6 months to a year, or up to 5 years ageing in a barrel, depending on the desired outcome.
“It can be quite an experiment,” says Eric. “We’re in it for the long haul.” The Mead Werks currently offers three traditional meads – dry, semisweet, and sweet – as well as bourbon barrel aged reserves. Coming soon, when the labels are approved, is Cyser, a mixture of honey, water and apple juice.
Eric and Casey welcome visitors to the farm and are usually on hand to greet them. “There are ducks, nature trails to enjoy, you can have a picnic, or wander around the fields of lavender.
We’re visitor-friendly,” Eric says. “People come from all over to enjoy the rural atmosphere. Some folks come and spend half an hour just talking to the Soay sheep, then leave,” he grins.
“That’s wonderful. That’s what we offer; life’s simple pleasures.”
Wilderbee Farm & Mead Werks
223 Cook Ave Ext,
Port Townsend, WA 98368
360.379.2434
What is mead?
Mead is an ancient fermented beverage made with honey. The legend of mead dates back millennia across Europe, Africa and Asia. From simple ingredients of honey, water, and yeast comes a deliciously complex beverage with layers of character. It can be made dry, semi-sweet, or sweet. It can be aged in bottles or barrels, each adding new flavor and dimension to the final mead. It can be naturally sparkling or carbonated and served chilled for a refreshing summer drink. It might even be spiced and served warm on a blustery winter evening. Today’s mead makers are giving this old-world beverage new life—creatively experimenting with distinct varietals of honey and adding fruit, hops, grain, herbs, and spices to make a genuinely unique beverage to suit a wide spectrum of tastes.
The Mead Werks at Wilderbee Farm, Port Townsend
Our meadery specializes in traditional meads made in the style of white wines ranging 13-14% ABV. We use raw, unfiltered blackberry blossom honey from the Pacific Northwest.
Our meads are aged sur lie (on the lees) to provide richness and complexity, and portions are reserved to age in bourbon and oak barrels. These traditional and barrel aged meads are available for tastings, pours, and purchase in bottles at the meadery year-round.
Open Saturdays and Sundays 12-7.
Check our website for winter hours www.wilderbeefarm.com.
New releases June 2019
Semi-sweet Cyser (mead fermented with juice from organic sweet apples on the farm), and a Metheglin (spiced mead) made with orange blossom honey and finished with an infusion of vanilla bean.
Bring a picnic, sip some mead, relax and enjoy the farm!