Run Amok Mead

In 2017, (for reasons probably best discussed over a glass of mead!) Christy Hemenway and Geoff Keller moved from Maine to North Carolina. When they got there, they found that what they missed most wasn’t blueberries, or lobster, (or winter!) — but the fact that they had left behind a dozen mead-making friends and their freely-shared mead.

Exploring their new locale in the mountains of WNC, Hemenway signed up for a beginning mead-making class at a bee shop in Weaverville, NC.  And soon… Uh oh!  Hemenway immediately felt drawn to the mead-making process, and soon found batches of mead in glass carboys taking up all the available horizontal space in the kitchen.

After only a few months of homebrew mead making, she was fully immersed in learning the craft, experimenting with the fermentation process and finding new ways to combine different honeys, yeasts, and other ingredients. Then, in March of 2020, the pandemic hit, and North Carolina, like most of the rest of the country, essentially “closed."  But, what is a pandemic if not an excuse for an avid mead maker to make more mead? And so, she made more mead. (A lot more mead!) Mead so delicious that out of the 20 competitions she entered, 17 ribbons were won, including 2 Best-in-Shows.

Then, call it fate, or call it a long strange trip, in November of 2020 Hemenway and Keller got the opportunity to return to Maine, (and they took it in a New York minute!).  Purchasing real estate in 2021 was a roller coaster ride, but at last they found what they were looking for — in an 1858 farmhouse and barn along with 8 acres on High Street in West Gardiner.  By early 2022, they had obtained the permits to open a commercial meadery, began the needed renovations, and upgraded from glass carboys to 40-gallon stainless steel fermenters, scaling up for commercial production and retail sales.

Here, their iconic mead-making methodology was finally implemented - Making Mead on the Moons in Maine!  They start with honey, add other delicious and delightful ingredients, and turn it all into an amazing taste experience.  And they do it on the moons!  New moon, full moon, blue moon, super moon — features of the moon, the turning of the seasons, and the vagaries of life here on planet Earth - all these make their way into each bottle at Run Amok Mead, and every name and label tells a story all its own.  The meads continue to be entered in competitions and the awards continue to come in.

Since their grand opening in September of 2022, Run Amok Mead has been dedicated to ensuring that the experience of tasting their offerings is just as great as the mead itself. FairWeather, the Tasting bar(n), operates as their tasting room in, (you guessed it!) fair weather but even during the winter months, tastings continue by private reservation in their cozy meadery. You never have to go without the magic of Run Amok Mead! Their hand-crafted mead is available for guided tastings, flights, and by the glass or bottle at FairWeather, as well as at local retail stores and markets here in Maine.  Find them at https://runamokmead.com/our-meads/#local-purchase.  Run Amok Mead is also available for shipping out of state through VinoShipper at https://shopmeads.com/run_amok_mead and Corkers! (the bottle club) can be found there too, with a 10% discount on releases that come out for each solstice and equinox.

Be sure to follow Run Amok Mead on Facebook (Run Amok Mead) and Instagram (@runamokmead) for more updates and upcoming events! Come and Run Amok with us!