At Muncie pub The Heorot, a chalice sits among 20 beer glasses that line the bar on any night of the week. Served in the chalice is mead, arguably the first beverage to be fermented. Mead, or honey wine, is best known for its sweet flavor and the rich traditions associated with it.
"We do it because it's The Heorot," owner Stan Stephens said. The bar's name comes from a scene from the epic poem "Beowulf" in which the main character and his army enjoy a celebration at the Heorot, a king's mead hall.
Despite this classic literary reference, not many people purchase the honey wine served at The Heorot, which is one of the only places to serve mead in Muncie.
"It's not a big seller," Stephens said. "Mead's kind of expensive."
A RARITY BECOMING POPULAR
Part of the reason mead is more expensive than a beer or a glass of average-priced wine is because of its rarity. According to the International Mead Association, there are about 200 meaderies in the world, and 60 of them are in the United States. But, Julie Herz, a representative of honeywines.com, said the industry has been growing quickly in the past few years. That's why she helped create the International Mead Association.
"I founded the association with one other person," she said. "The association is all about getting the word out about mead and making it a more mainstream drink."
In 2002, the inaugural year for the association, the International Mead Association hosted its first International Mead Festival in Chicago. About 350 people came to the event.
On Friday, the Fifth Annual International Mead Festival will play host to more than 1,000 people in Denver.
More than 100 commercial meads and more than 235 homemade meads from seven countries will compete for gold, silver and bronze medals in a series of taste competitions at the event.
The only commercial competitor from Indiana is the Bloomington company Oliver Wineries, with its Camelot Mead.
Indiana has about five other commercial meadmakers within its borders. The closest to Muncie, New Day Meadery, opened in May in Elwood.
NEW DAY MEADERY
Elwood, Ind. is about 30 miles northwest of Muncie in Madison County. Elwood's claim to fame is the former home of Wendell Wilkie, a presidential candidate in the 1940 elections. Brett Canaday and his wife Tia Agnew, owners of New Day Meadery, are trying to renovate the town's old, rundown label.
"We're interested in building the local economy," Canaday said. New Day Meadery uses all local products in its fermented beverages. By buying his honey and fruit from local vendors, Canaday said, he can work with the farmers to grow special varieties of fruit for the mead. For example, he said, he is working with a local farmer to plant a Russian variety of plum for a new kind of mead.
New Day Meadery is run completely by Canaday and Agnew. They started making meads at home, and they would bring them to friends on occasion. At one time, the couple would have about 30 carboys bubbling with concoctions Canaday would try.
"My wife and I have always been interested in owning our own business, but we never knew what to do," he said.
Mead-making fell into their hands, he said. Canaday, who went to Purdue, studied food systems and worked with the wine lab during his college experience.
"Of course, being a student, I appreciated all drinks that were fermented," he said.
The couple started keeping bees as a hobby, and it all came together from there, Canaday said.
To start the business, the couple visited meaderies all over the country. The owners of meaderies and wineries are usually very helpful to people who want to start their own, Canaday said. New meaderies attract tourists to all of them, Canaday said.
New Day Meadery did not enter into the International Mead Festival this year because the company sold out of four of its six varieties and could not send the three cases required to enter into the competition because of the sales.
"We hope to enter next year," Canaday said.
THE CUSTOMERS
Annie Devery, a Ball State University speech pathology graduate student, drank mead with her fianc+â-¬ regularly at the Heorot.
"I had never drank it before," Devery said. "It wasn't his favorite, so I would have the leftovers."
While the Heorot carries Oliver Winery's Camelot Mead most of the time, recently the bar started selling Red Stone mead, a well-known brand from Denver, by the bottle.
Devery said she prefers the sweeter taste of the Red Stone over the Camelot.
"The cherry ones are the best," she said.
But, Devery warns, take your first taste of mead on an empty stomach.
"They don't go well with food," she said. "But give it a try."
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