Mead in Seattle Southside

Sweet Like Honey: Mead in Seattle Southside

What's the buzz? It's honey wine, and it's made from scratch right here in Seattle Southside.

When most people think about mead, they might picture people at a renaissance fair drinking out of silver tankards, or vikings sipping out of drinking horns. This ancient drink might not be familiar to you yet, but honey wine is all the rage in Seattle Southside, which is home to the local favorite Oppegaard Meadery.

A Brief History of Mead

Mead, also known as "honey wine," has a fascinating history that goes way back. It's believed to be one of the oldest alcoholic beverages known to humanity. The ancient civilizations, from the Egyptians to the Greeks and Vikings, all had their versions of mead. It was considered a drink of the gods and was often associated with myths and legends. Making mead was a natural process, where honey, water, and sometimes fruits or spices were fermented together. With time, it became a symbol of celebration and tradition in various cultures, used in ceremonies, weddings, and feasts. Over the centuries, the popularity of mead fluctuated, but in recent years, there's been a resurgence of interest in this ancient drink, with modern craft meaderies experimenting with different flavors and styles, bringing the magic of mead back to life for a whole new generation of enthusiasts. While mead is often assumed to be sweet, it can range anywhere from the cloyingly sweet, like a dessert wine, to dry, tart, or even sour, depending on the yeast used.

There are many different styles of mead, but here are a few of the basic varieties that you may hear discussed, all of which sound like they've come directly from an alchemist's lab:

  • Traditional Mead: Made with honey, water, and yeast. That's it!
  • Braggot: A mead made with grains and hops in addition to honey, like a combination of beer and mead. Some bars will create a sort of braggot by mixing an already brewed beer with an already brewed mead, but a proper braggot is brewed together.
  • Melomel: These meads use fermented fruit in addition to honey to add notes of fruit to the sweetness of honey.
  • Cyser: A type of melomel in which the mead is brewed with apple juice or cider instead of water.
  • Pyment: Add in grapes to your traditional mead, and you have pyment. This is also technically a type of melomel.
  • Metheglin: Mead brewed with spices. Did you know? The word metheglin comes from the same linguistic root as "medicine" because these spiced meads were thought to have medicinal properties.
  • Session Mead: Mead that has a lower percentage of alcohol by volume (ABV) than most other meads, no more than 6.5% alcohol.

Modern-day Mead at Oppegaard Meadery

Oppegaard Meadery in Tukwila is the premier place to sample top-notch, hand-crafted mead. Owner Jon Oppegaard turned his hobby into a thriving business when he opened the meadery in 2016. Since then, his focus has been on Pacific Northwest ingredients and rich, historical flavors. His effort has paid off: the brand is famous in the growing craft mead industry. In addition to using locally produced honey, many of Oppegaard's meads are melomels that feature local Pacific Northwest fruits, like local berries and apples, so that you can get a real taste for our region.

Oppegaard pays homage to his Norwegian heritage with the art and design of the tasting room, which evokes a mead hall from a fantasy novel. The ceramic tasting goblets will make you feel like you've traveled back in time while you sip mead with whimsical names like Dragon's Blood. For the full experience, order a tasting flight to sample a variety of flavors with varying levels of sweetness. And bring the whole family -- the tasting room is both kid and dog friendly.

Bottles of Oppegaard mead can also be purchased online. Enthusiasts can also join the Viking Club to get access to exclusive brews and discounts, though it's so popular that there is a waitlist.

Brewed Locally, Enjoyed at Home

BeeHaven Beverages is a mead company that is brewed locally here in Tukwila, and while they do not have a tasting room open to the public, you can find their mead available for sale at local chain grocery co-op PCC Markets, which has a location in Burien here in Seattle Southside. These session meads are light and carbonated, making them an excellent mixer for cocktails or perfectly refreshing to enjoy on their own.

Wherever you go to get your mead, whether visiting a tasting room or a local market, it's plain to see that the buzz is all over Seattle Southside. Want to keep up to date with the latest happenings around town? Sign up for our newsletter!

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