Alberta's First Meadery

EDMONTON - Jun 2/08 - PR -- Chinook Arch Meadery held a ribbon cutting ceremony in celebration of their Grand Opening on May 23, 2008. Alberta's Agriculture and Rural Development Minister George Groeneveld, Assistant Deputy Minister of Tourism Bob Scott and MD of Foothills Reeve Roy McLean were in attendance to recognize the joint benefits of this new enterprise. Also present were the many fans of this unique beverage who have been waiting patiently for its release in Alberta.

Mead is the oldest alcoholic beverage in the world, dating back to 7000 BC in China. A seemingly simple combination of honey, water and yeast, it is actually not an easy fermentation process to master. Since honey contains wild yeasts of its own and proteins as well, fermentation must be monitored carefully to ensure a quality product. Mead also has many styles. Traditional mead is straightforward honey, water and yeast. A melomel is mead combined with fruit and a metheglin marries mead with various spices and herbs.

Mead has been the favoured drink of many civilizations. In ancient Babylon, mead was the drink of love, given as a gift to newlyweds (hence ‘honeymoon'). For the Greeks and Romans, it was the Nectar of the Gods, befitting only deities and royalty. For vikings and medieval knights, it readied them for battle and was also the drink of celebration. Today, mead is a unique wine to share with friends.

Chinook Arch Meadery has been a project of Chinook Honey Company owners Art and Cherie Andrews for the past seven years. Beginning by experimenting with dozens of mead recipes, there were still major hurdles to overcome in taking their idea from a hobby to a commercial enterprise. Foremost were the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (AGLC) regulations which did not have provisions for small scale wineries. This began to change in 2005 when the new Class E Cottage Winery Licence was created after presentations by the Alberta Fruit Growers, but the new licence was specific to fruit wineries.

In 2006, Cherie Andrews, as chair of the Alberta Beekeepers Mead Committee, presented a proposal to have mead included in the Class E Licence to the AGLC and it was approved in June 2006. From that point, it has been a matter of acquiring the equipment, infrastructure and expertise to move from 20 litres production to 2,000 litres. Chinook Arch Meadery released three meads at the grand opening event. King Arthur's Dry Mead and Bodacious Black Currant Melomel are available at the farm store; however, the limited edition Buckaroo Buchwheat Mead has already been sold out. New releases are expected in the fall. The wines are not available in liquor stores yet, but may be in 2009.

The Alberta cottage wine industry is relatively new compared to other provinces. Considering mead alone, British Columbia has three meaderies, Ontario two and Quebec at least twelve. In addition to Chinook Arch Meadery, Alberta has two fruit wineries, Fieldstone and En Santé. The cottage winery industry is seen as a way to improve the sustainability of smaller farms and also to enhance local economic development.

The Chinook Arch Meadery grand opening was the culmination of years of work and a celebration of moving forward with what is sure to be a unique culinary tourism and ag-tourism venue.