Turn back now if you think this is about Nuggy. It's not. It's about me. Be forewarned.
Bottles. Labels. Carboys. Tastings. Corks. See how I walk before I crawl. The first jug of mead hasn’t even finished its primary fermentation and I already have dreams of a brand of mead that I can take to tastings and competitions and even sell. Oh and then I’ll start a meadery…see how I get. I’m already designing a label and thinking of names and slogans. It’s all laid out in my head. Why? I’ve wanted to own my own company for a long long time. I think I’m just predestined to be a small business owner. My first grand plan was to open a gourmet dog cookie shop. I know, you don’t have to say anything. Next was to own a small yarn shop. Then I did have a small business. “1,000 Petals” is my yarn/fiber dying company. This has fallen to the wayside since becoming pregnant and having a baby. Although I did love the creative process of color combos it was so time consuming to produce such a small inventory. I’ve also had numerous ideas along the way, too many to name or even remember.
Now…Mead. Out of all the different forms of wine I’ve tried mead is my favorite. Well, this and Ice Wine. Side note: Mead is a wine made primarily from honey, water, and yeast. From my initial research I believe that the upstart $$ for this hobby is fairly inexpensive. As a matter of fact what should be the first 4 bottles cost under $20 to produce. Can’t beat that. I’ve already found a local raw honey producer. Now, a bit of practicality, this will probably never be anything more than a hobby which is perfectly satisfying to me. I think some bottles of mead made by hand will make nice gifts. But does it really hurt to dream and plan for something that might happen. And to be honest, if I really want this to happen I will make it happen. So here are some of my big business ideas.
I want this to be fun. Thus the name: Bad Ass Hive Mead. Slogan: “My honey can kick your honey’s ass”. I’m hoping a friend of mine can come up with some art for this idea. He does some really cool robot type stuff and I think it would be interesting to see what he could do with this idea.
Aside from the fun design and conceptual stuff, I have some experimenting to do. Mead, like wine, can be dry or sweet depending on several variances. One of these variances is the type of yeast. First experiment will be with 4 different yeast. I’m also going to experiment with fruits, making the mead a “Melomel”. Melomel is defined as mead fermented with fruit added to the honey during primary fermentation.
Now, most people know that I’m pretty impatient. You didn’t really think I could wait a year before having the first glass of mead. Thank god for short or quick meads. These can be ready in a matter of a few weeks. They are not going to be anything special or spectacular, I know this. But they will be homemead. Get it…homemead instead of homemade?
