Drink

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Find Your Favorite Meadery in D.C.

January 24, 2024 @ 10:00am |

Looking to check out a meadery? These meaderies take us through what makes mead a versatile beverage and why it’s our area’s most underrated drink.

For many in the DMV, mead is the drink you get at the Maryland Renaissance Festival — a bee sting that’s sweet and mixed with cider. But zoom out a little, and you’ll find a few other meaderies in the area serving unexpected flavors, from dry and hoppy to sparking, spicy and fruity. Mead pairs perfectly with the fall weather, giving you a happy quick buzz with its surprisingly versatile honey base. We caught up with some local meaderies to learn more about our area’s most underrated drink. 

Charm City Meadworks

Perhaps the most recognizable mead brand in the DMV, Baltimore-based Charm City Meadworks popularized mead in their easy-to-drink, lower-ABV, carbonated offerings. Lucky for us, D.C. residents can find their pastel-branded cans in many grocery stores in the area. Though they’ve taken off, Austin Haynes, Charm City’s sales manager, says the mead world still feels like a small community.

“We’re all trying to do our own thing,” he says. “And there’s enough room for everyone on the shelf.”

Once a small homebrewing operation by founder James Boicourt, Charm City has spread to Pennsylvania, Delaware and Georgia along with the DMV. 

Charm City sources its honey locally and internationally, and now has a beehive inside of the taproom. 

“There’s probably a thousand bees,” Haynes says. “It’s so wild. We’re trying to help educate by making a green space for pollinators. People can learn something at the same time they try our stuff.”

There’s a common misconception with mead — that it’s sweet because of its base. But Charm City ferments most of the sugar out of the honey to give it a drier, low-calorie, low-sugar finish. 

“If you look at ABV, the numbers are closer to a seltzer,” Haynes says. “There’s definitely a market for the sweet varieties, but here, it’s not overbearing.” 

As for Haynes’ favorite flavor?

“I truly believe our pumpkin mead is one of the best things we make,” he says. “But we do have a new one worth trying — the Purple Reign, a little tribute to Prince. We used a little lemon, a little ginger and pea flower for a bright purple color; something cool for Ravens season.” 

Visit Charm City Meadworks in October where every Wednesday Baltimore’s best shows up for open mic nights, and every Thursday, you can test your knowledge at trivia nights. 6:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and 7 p.m. on Thursdays. 

 

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Clear Skies Meadery

Yancy Bodenstein, the executive vice president of Clear Skies Meadery, has been making mead for 20 years now. But just four days after he and chief executive officer Manisha Eigner celebrated the opening of their brick-and-mortar, the Covid-19 pandemic struck. Despite the setback, Clear Skies has only grown — they even expanded to a bigger space in Rockville last December. 

Bodenstien and Eigner stick with mead because of its versatility. Bodenstien explained that different beer and wine styles can sometimes limit creativity as their types are set in stone, but mead is a blank slate for new ideas.

“We have the culinary world at our disposal,” he says. “For example, you know chocolate and vanilla go well together — the culinary world has created those flavor pairings, and we can go from there.” 

A mead’s base can influence its flavors. For example, orange blossom honey is great for citrusy drinks, while buckwheat honey’s subtle flavors can be built upon with stronger ones like cherry or saffron. 

With mead, the flavors are very present, not just a subtle aftertaste. Some of Clear Skies’ current offerings include a ginger-focused pour, a margarita-flavored drink and an “oaky Chardonnay with a cream soda soul.” 

Eigner recommends treating mead as a specialty drink — and paying attention to the flavors, as they will add to your meal in more obvious ways than other alcohol. 

“Sip on it slowly,” she says. “Savor it like you would savor a glass of wine.” 

Join Clear Skies Meadery on October 13 and 27 for Harry Potter trivia while sipping on their “Love Potion 69” at 7 p.m.

Maryland Meadworks

Located right outside of D.C., Maryland Meadworks makes visitors feel like they’re not close to the city at all. The space is intimate — cozy, even — filled with a community table, converted church pews and a stage for local musical acts. 

Owner and Meadmaker Ken Carter sits at the center of the community space. During our interview, he’s greeting regulars, hyping local businesses (including meadery competitors) and introducing me to guests with details only a dedicated service provider would know. 

But this all started at home, where Carter experimented with different brewing techniques. He quickly fell for the versatility mead offers. 

“Mead is gluten free, it’s not as filling and it gives you a super happy buzz,” he says. “You can make mead that’s 5% or 20% alcohol. It’s super diverse — it works well with fruits, fruit juices, herbs, spices.”
The mead on tap fits the bill. Drinks range from dry and fruity to spicy, citrusy or hoppy. Some are mixed with cider, some with orange juice, some with lemonade. But it’s the honey that helps the flavors blend into unexpected and interesting concoctions. 

Maryland Meadworks sources its honey both locally and internationally for a wide flavor profile, and will often blend spring and fall varietals for consistency throughout the year. In that same vein, staff at Maryland Meadworks experiment by mixing different pours, like the Zanzibar’s tropical fruit notes with the Super Hy’s hibiscus and tart blueberry. 

“Honey is a flex fermentable,” Carter says. “You’re talking thousands and thousands of bees creating a product — it’s really complex.”

Fall is when the meadery thrives: They celebrate their anniversary with a Halloween party, open fire pits on the patio and break out warm fall flavors like pumpkin, fig, cinnamon and nutmeg. 

Celebrate Maryland Meadworks’ fifth anniversary from October 27 to 29. On the 27 and 28 there will be live music (with some Halloween selections) and baked goods from neighbor Shortcake Bakery starting at 7 p.m. each night, and on the 29 for a brunch party starting at 11 a.m. Costumes encouraged for the whole weekend.

Orchid Cellar Meadery + Winery

Orchid Cellar started with owner Andrzej Wilk carrying on the Polish tradition of home brewing mead until the family opened their full business in 2006. Located in Frederick, Maryland on about 15 acres of land, they keep beehives on site, own a small experimental vineyard, grow wildflowers all around and boast picturesque forest views. 

“Polish recipes are a little sweeter and higher in alcohol content,” General Manager Andrzej Wilk Jr. says. 

While many of their meads are Polish style, they still experiment with different flavors and modern approaches to meadmaking, like creating a line of six different spicy meads and adding sparkling versions that have less alcohol content.

Wilks points out that honey is not seasonally dependent — there’s not just one harvest. Honey doesn’t go bad, so they can store it indefinitely. 

“It can make anything from a light drink to a long-age premium product,” Wilk says. 

His favorite experiments have to do with spices, mixing fruits and peppers and seeing what works. Right now, their elderberry scotch bonnet is very popular — a flavor pairing Wilk found unexpected. 

Some notable meads on tap now include a sweet vanilla bean-flavored drink that pairs well with desserts, a mead that tastes similar to a classic cobbler and an award-winning red chile flavor perfect for pairing with Thai dishes. 

“It’s a great beverage to get into,” he says. “Honey is just a great vessel for flavoring.” 

Join Orchid Cellar Meadery and Winery on October 6 for extended hours from 12-9 p.m. for live music and food from Yume Teriyaki Grill food truck.

Charm City Meadworks: 400 E Biddle St. Baltimore, MD; charmcitymeadworks.com // @charmcitymead

Clear Skies Meadery: 15201 Display Ct. Rockville, MD; clearskiesmeadery.com //
@clear_skies_meadery

Maryland Meadworks: 4700 Rhode Island Ave. Hyattsville, MD; marylandmeadworks.com // @marylandmeadworks

Orchid Cellar Meadery + Winery: 8546 Pete Wiles Rd. Middletown, MD; orchidcellar.com // @orchidcellar

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