It all begins with an idea…
An idea and a couple of friends.
It has been pointed out to me by several good friends that I should be regularly posting updates, notes, images, etc. with regard to mead making, business ventures and my personal reflections. I have been hesitant to “go big,” primarily out of the fear of failure. It is quite difficult to put one’s self out there, as it were, but the time has come to believe in my product and more importantly, myself.
While I’m excited to begin by answering many of the questions people have asked regarding what mead actually is, its history and how it is produced, I will give a brief account of how all of this came about and those who have been vital on my path to this point. I often use the plural pronouns “we, us, our” as I could not have gotten here and cannot continue without the support and assistance of the many wonderful people in my world. Hence, the name Kindred Spirits comes directly from the group effort that this project has always been.
I wrote a brief summary of our beginning in our crowdfunding campaign, and will not here chronicle the timeline in which this amazing group became a family, but I will say the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Wisconsin was a large part of it, and the place where we first imbibed the “Nectar of the Gods.” I have ever since associated mead with Renaissance Europe, the middle ages, fantasy, and mythology, as many people do. However, as a tease regarding the history of mead, every culture around the world has had a version of this honey-based beverage sometime after humans began growing crops and herding animals.
A few years later, three of us began homebrewing in Racine, WI. Eric, Bruce, and I spent many a Saturday afternoon whipping up concoctions of mead and beer. Our first batch, in fact, was mead; a simple “traditional” sweet mead, one bottle of which I still have in my personal collection. There remain other bottles of our early days in brewing floating around, as well. It would seem that mead (thus far) ages quite well.
Homebrewing is an incredible adventure in art and science, and if done properly drinking from the previous batch while brewing the next is rather satisfying. Over the years, we would pitch in $20-$30 each, buy the necessary items and ingredients for the next batch, and any remaining cash would go toward our next upgrade in equipment. We bottled and shared our delight with family and friends, inevitably kegging our delicious nectar and serving on tap at parties and gatherings – so much easier than bottling.
Life imposes change on us whether we approve or not. I do believe, however, that it tends to be in the best interest of everyone involved. Bruce and his family moved to Georgia for work, and I later moved to Madison with a teaching certificate in hand. Long story short, I found no full-time teaching positions, but did find part-time work at a 10-barrel brewpub. This is where the real education began. The 10-barrel batch is a perfect size for continued variation in styles and flavors, and it is pretty much hands-on at all points. With more equipment, better equipment, and larger equipment I had the ability to learn more of the chemistry and biology of brewing, as well as sanitation, fermentation and expectation. Knowledge is often best gained through making mistakes and learning from them. Nuff said.
Two plus years later I was hired on at New Glarus Brewing Company when the company was building its second facility up the hill. The 100-barrel brewery is not much different than a 10-barrel brewery. More, better, larger. But always learning. I stayed there for nearly 14 years learning and dreaming my own dream.
Originally the dream was a Brewpub/Bed & Breakfast, an inn, you know; e.g., the Prancing Pony from LOTR, if you will. I have since changed my focus to mead instead of beer. The dream otherwise remains the same. However, while I know quite a bit about brewing, fermentation, and the like, I know very little about business. I have been taking business classes, mead-making classes and continued homebrewing mead, again with the help of two others: Kevin and Steve.
I am now working part-time jobs again and we have found a temporary home for making mead professionally in Stoughton, WI under the roof of Mershon’s Cidery. It is a slow start up, but it is official, and we now have bottles in liquor stores and in bars.
My own dream of the inn remains in my head and heart.