10-12-21 James Boicourt – Charm City Meadworks – Session Meads – on the Dry Side

GotMead Live Radio Show

10-12-21 We're headed to Baltimore, where we'll catch up with James Boicourt, founder and owner of Charm City Meadworks. James began making mead back in college (NC State) around 2004, after taking a great class on introductory beekeeping. He was already trying out homebrewing, and got so interested in beekeeping and entomology that he ended up taking a graduate level bee class. What else was a college kid going to do with a bunch of surplus honey anyhow? Of course he fermented it. It seemed like a great idea for a business someday, as there was very little available anywhere at that time, and when you could find or order it, choices were usually very limited. The knowledge base for making mead at that time was also very limited, particularly with regards to yeast strains, care and feeding of the yeast, etc. he remembers looking up some of the early example recipes on GotMead.com. He took what he was able to find and did several large controlled experiments over the years, doing a few batches of a control recipe, and working out which variables had the largest impact on taste. Needless to say 25 5 gallon batches running in parallel was not always the most easy of things to find a person willing to host early on. In early 2014, James and a good friend were looking to invest their time in something in the craft beverage industry. After some hard looking, Andrew and James circled back to mead because we felt like it was a relatively untapped opportunity that they could bootstrap. From early on their focus was on lighter, lower abv products, and predominantly canned ones, primarily because they enjoyed drinking them on a daily basis, and friends highly encouraged those as a very drinkable option. Covid has certainly been a big hit, but going from 1200 sq ft a few years ago to 10,000 in just a few years has been an interesting ride. The Charm City Meadworks taproom is at 400 E Biddle St, Baltimore, MD 21202. [break] This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! Sponsor: Honnibrook Craft Meadery. Rated the very best winery in Colorado! Visit our state-of-the-art meadery and tasting room south of downtown Castle Rock, Colorado, in a converted man cave. Mention the Got Mead Podcast this month for a free draft taster! Google H-O-N-N-I Brook for hours and directions. They love visitors! www.honnibrook.com If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Upcoming Shows October 26 - Yancy Bodenstein - Clear Skies Mead November 9 - Wendy Rohan - Rohan Mead November 23 - Steve at Experimeads Show links and notes Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events Oct 14 - Capital Hive Meadery, Leesburg, VA - October Mead Up Oct 14 - Wildflyer Mead Co, Navasota, TX - Adult Coloring Night Oct 14 - Victory or Valhalla, Dixon, CA - Ax throwing venue is hosting a mead making class Oct 16 - Starrlight Meadery, Pittsboro, NC - NC Wine Festival at Koka Booth Amphitheater in Cary, NC Oct 16 - Cape Town Mead Company, Maitland, Cape Town, South Africa - Mead Tasting Oct 1-31 - Humblebee Meadery, BC, Canada - Huck it in the Bucket: A month-long special promoting HumbleBee Meadery and Axewood Axe Throwing at the Whistler Racket Club’s Courtside Cafe, Patio, and Bar Oct 16 - Michigan Mead Cup - Awards Ceremony - 5PM ET