Honey Bee Harvest Festival brings mead to Niwot

Though Niwot can lay claim to fame as the original home of major craft brewing talent, a different beverage, mead, had its chance to shine during last weekend's Honey Bee Harvest Festival. Bartenders at The Wheel House served it to crowds of customers throughout Saturday afternoon. Drinkers could choose from three mead varieties and eight mead-based cocktails, all featuring offerings from Boulder-based Redstone Meadery.

The tasting spectrum for mead samples ranged from lighter to more intense and each option was between eight and 12% ABV. The first was a blood orange mead that had the richest color, but lightest flavor of the trio. A black raspberry mead was sweeter with a lighter mouthfeel, and the straightforward honey mead was heavier, reminiscent of a dessert wine, but was the best at showing off its honey base.

Guests enjoyed the mead, which ran out fairly quickly due to demand.

The Wheel House also offered eight options for mead-based cocktails that offered options for those who didn't want to have their honey wine poured straight from bottle to glass. Cocktails included Nectar-Aid, a black raspberry mead and lemonade, a spritz, and a mead version of a tequila sunrise. Guests' favorite was something that the Wheel House called a Black Forest Cake which was a black raspberry mead and Guinness, which the Wheel House typically has on tap.

Wheel House owner Erik Bergeson kept busty throughout the afternoon. "The festival was a resounding success and the mead tasting was popular.We had our best single day at the Wheel House and La Musette [the Wheel House 's new associated food truck] had its busiest day so far. We love participating in these events. Everyone comes out a winner."

Customer Kristina Burgoon came in for the tasting and said that while the mead was a little stronger than what she expected, she liked it.

"I guess I expected it to be more like a beer, but I'm sensing the sharpness of a wine," she said. "I like it because of its nice, fruity flavor and its carbonation is unique, pleasant."

Mead fans were able to break away from the tasting for a late afternoon discussion that was part of a larger group of discussions at the festival. Held at Left Hand Grange Hall, it featured Mark Beran, a long-time Niwot resident, beekeeper, and founder of Medovina Meadery. Beran had helped the Wheel House set up its tasting and that afternoon spoke to more than 20 attendees who wanted to learn more about the beverage. .

Beran said mead is an ancient fermented beverage and that first evidence of it was found in a 38,000 year old petroglyph in Valencia, Spain. Though it can be brewed formally, it can also be found in nature in baobab trees, where local African tribes source it even to this day.

Though it declined in popularity over time, it is currently experiencing a resurgence, with a growing base of drinkers who appreciate an alternative to wine, beer and hard alcohol. It's currently known as a high alcohol drink, but earlier forms were less intoxicating, about the same percentage as an average pint of wheat beer.

Over time, mead brewers experimented with herbs and other flavorings, some of which were quite unusual. In a bit of trivia, Beran said that the strangest adjunct he's heard of are those who brewed mead with a lamb shank in it.

Beran also shared his love of bees and stories about his time as a beekeeper. His talk made for an engaging afternoon and a wonderful last talk at the festival.