When Brett and Megan Hines relocated to Colorado for graduate school in 2011, they fully embraced the emerging New Age subcultures in the state. The duo, originally from Eastern Shore Maryland, took up mountain biking, joined a CSA, volunteered at an organic farm, raised chickens, enjoyed craft beer, and even joined a home-brewing club called Liquid Poets to learn how to make their own beer. Brett eventually turned his hobby into a brewing job for local labels.
However, as the Hineses delved deeper into the world of ales and lagers, they realized that the industry did not align with their growing environmentalist beliefs.
"We wanted to align with our values and source as many local products as possible," says Megan Hines. "We aimed to create a truly local beverage. However, a significant amount of grain is grown far away on a large commercial scale. Importing grain from across the country is not sustainable in the long run."
During their time with the Liquid Poets, the Hineses discovered an alternative fermentable ingredient that did not involve grain. Mead, made primarily from honey and water, flavored with fruits and spices from perennial plants, proved to be just as delicious and versatile as beer.
In 2014, the Hineses returned to Maryland to establish their own organic vegetable farm. They acquired sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, and bees, and also planted an apple orchard. Instead of brewing beer, they focused on making mead. Six years later, they opened the Buzz Meadery in Berlin, MD.
Mead has ancient origins, predating human agriculture and dating back to at least the New Stone Age. Over the past decade, mead has gained popularity within the craft beverage movement. A recent report by Technavio research group projected that the global mead market would reach $2.26 billion by 2026. While Europe, with its rich mead-making tradition, still dominates the market, the United States is catching up. According to the American Mead Makers Association, the number of domestic meaderies has grown from 60 in 2003 to 450 in 2020, with an additional 200 in the planning stages before the pandemic.
"Perhaps mead has the potential to become the beverage with the lowest carbon footprint if it is made and consumed in its own environment," says Ken Schramm, owner of Michigan-based Schramm's Mead, a renowned mead producer with 35 years of experience. Schramm authored "The Compleat Meadmaker" in 2003, which is still considered the authoritative manual for the craft. "If you drink mead locally, the entire process becomes very carbon-positive."
Several factors have contributed to mead's modern resurgence, including its appeal to gluten-free consumers, its association with mainstream fantasy fiction like "Game of Thrones," and its novelty factor. Established industry leaders like B. Nektar in Michigan (founded in 2006) and Redstone Meadery in Colorado (founded in 2001) have successfully transformed their niche followings into nationally recognized brands. Regardless of the reasons for its current popularity, mead's future may lie in its environmental benefits compared to beer.
"Perhaps mead has the potential to become the beverage with the lowest carbon footprint if it is made and consumed in its own environment," says Ken Schramm. "Proximity is a crucial factor that sets mead apart from beer in terms of carbon footprint. The primary ingredients in beer, barley, and hops, are mainly concentrated in the western and northwestern regions of the United States."
According to the Hop Growers of America, Washington state produces more than double the quantity of hops compared to the rest of the country; and the USDA states that most domestic barley production — three-fourths of which is used for malting — is in Idaho, Montana, and North Dakota.
Meanwhile, honey can be produced virtually anywhere, with North Dakota apiaries producing approximately 31 million pounds, followed by various regions including California (11.5 million pounds), Texas (8.32 million), Montana (7.5 million), Florida (7.35 million), South Dakota (7.2 million), and Minnesota (5.2 million). As Schramm points out, many leading meadmakers still import exotic types of honey from all over the world, but usually in smaller quantities compared to grains used for brewing beer on a commercial scale.
Saving on shipping might give mead a slight advantage over beer (considering honey is much heavier than grain). However, mead's true advantage could lie beneath the surface. Barley, along with other adjuncts used in beer such as corn, rice, and wheat, is an annual crop. This means that every year, farmers plow and plant, releasing CO2 and carbon into the atmosphere. These commercial crops often require the use of potentially harmful herbicides and pesticides. Additionally, during times of drought, these fields require irrigation.
On the other hand, the fruits typically used in making mead grow from perennial trees and vines. And what about honey?
"You don't have to irrigate plants that rely on bees," says Ayla Guild, beekeeper and co-owner of the Hive Taproom meadery in East Troy, Wis. "During drought, bees are resourceful. They figure it out. Certain plants thrive in drought, and the bees know how to find them."
Speaking of bees, meadmaking also has a positive impact on promoting the planet's most prolific pollinators, which help keep carbon-eating forests and carbon-sequestering prairies healthy. Furthermore, there is no strain on the insects' supply. "Bees make surplus honey," says Amina Harris, founding director of the Honey and Pollination Center at the University of California at Davis and "Queen Bee" of her family business, Z Specialty Food. "They're going to make it whether they need it or not."
In terms of actual production, mead requires much less water compared to beer. While beer wort — the liquid from the mashing process — is boiled, most mead is not. A brewery could require eight gallons of water to brew one gallon of beer when considering water lost in the boil, water used for cooling the wort, and water used for cleaning equipment. This does not even include the water-intensive steeping process of malting the grain. Breweries also have larger physical and energy footprints, usually requiring more space and power compared to meaderies.
Of course, part of mead's overall environmental advantage is that it remains a boutique business and a small segment of the larger alcohol industry (the current U.S. market for craft beer is nearly $30 billion). Perhaps there is a future where mead remains primarily hyperlocal or at least regional, with Marylanders supporting the Buzz, Pacific Northwesterners purchasing equally sustainability-minded Sky River, and drinkers across the country finding a meadery nearby.
However, if the mead industry is to continue growing, what's to prevent it from adopting some of the unsustainable traits of beer? Schramm believes that the key lies in meadmakers like the Hineses capitalizing on the inherent advantages of the craft and following a different business model from that of craft beer — one similar to its close relative, wine.
"Beer is the ocean liner; we are the rowboat," says Schramm. "We do have the potential. There's an idea of having meaderies emulate the great wineries, with beehives, berry farms, and orchards all in one place. This way, we can have something that is biodiverse and environmentally conscious. Alcohol has made significant contributions to our culture. Now it's time for it to make contributions to the environment."
At Buzz, which will soon release its firstcans of carbonated session mead, the team is dedicated to upholding these principles.