frequently asked questions

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We currently are not a licensed meadery/winery, so we are unable to offer our bottles for sale.  Sign up for our emails to stay in the loop on our progress!

While our main focus will be as a mead producer, we also wanted to be able to offer our own in-house produced wines, ciders, mead-apertifs, & non-alcoholic beverages; such as honey seltzers, lemonades, hop teas/waters, & mineral water.  As a company, we'll also be focusing on more than just alcohol production -- supporting local charities while giving back to our community is one of our main goals for Klausing's Mead & More and we want to be known as an organization that cares. 

The wonderful of people at Guide & Anchor are responsible for all our branding.  They are local to Indy and it's likely you've seen their work before.  They did an amazing job at partnering with us and delivering exactly what we wanted and more!  Check them out on Instagram:  Guide & Anchor

After moving to Bates-Hendricks, we were quickly visited by a cat, Coco Vera.  She decided our house was hers and hasn’t left since.  We soon found out the neighborhood was full of community cats and we try our best to keep as many fed and warm.  We currently have 4 neighborhood cats that call our home theirs and will focus our charity work on helping cats in our city.  We even started an Instagram page (Cats-Hendricks) to honor all the cats in our area!  

Most of our mead names & labels are inspired by our favorite quotes, movies, shows, or songs.  Often they are named after Jeremy’s love for electronic music and are song names he’s enjoying while making new batches.  As we move to a commercial meadery, the names will continue but the designs will pivot slightly to allow for commercial use.

Mead (aka honey wine) is the world's oldest alcoholic beverage where its main fermentable sugar is honey.  A traditional mead is made from just honey, water, and yeast.  Ingredients such as fruits, herbs, spices, and flowers are often included as well.  For our meads, we like to experiment with a large variety of different ingredients & sweetness levels.

Thanks to honey, mead is gluten-free and does not contain any grains such as barley, wheat, or rye, which are the primary sources of gluten in many other alcoholic beverages like beer & whiskey. 

Mead is made primarily from honey, water, and sometimes additional flavorings like fruits, spices, or herbs. The cost of honey, in particular, can vary significantly depending on its quality and source. High-quality honey, especially if it's sourced locally or from rare honeybee species, can be expensive. The amount and type of honey used in a batch of mead will have a direct impact on its cost. Mead's cost is influenced by factors like the quality of ingredients, the time and labor involved, craftsmanship, production scale, packaging, and regional differences. While mead can be expensive, the price often reflects the quality and care put into its production.

Not all honeys taste the same. Similar to wine grapes, honey has terroir!  The flavor and aroma of honey can vary significantly depending on several factors, including the nectar source that bees use to make the honey, the region in which it's produced, and the processing methods used. There is a wide variety of honey flavors available, and it's a reflection of the diverse plant life and environmental conditions where bees collect nectar. To truly appreciate the different flavors of honey, you may want to explore honey produced in different regions and from various nectar sources.  

Some of our favorites that we love to use when making mead:

• White Clover - notes of cinnamon & spice
• Meadowfoam Blossom - flavors of toasted marshmallow & vanilla
• Macadamia Blossom - floral & slightly nutty notes
• Lehua Blossom - floral & pineapple notes 

Mead can be quite versatile, and there are various types of mead, such as a melomel. The main distinction between these types of mead is the addition of different ingredients to the basic honey and water mixture. Here are some common types of mead:

1. Traditional: Traditional mead, often simply referred to as "mead," is the most basic and straightforward type of mead. It is made using a relatively simple recipe, consisting of just three primary ingredients: honey, water, and yeast. Traditional mead is also known as "show mead" in some circles because it showcases the pure flavors and characteristics of the honey used, without any additional flavorings or adjuncts.
2. Melomel: Melomel is mead that includes the addition of fruits, such as berries, apples, peaches, or any other type of fruit. The fruit can be used in various forms, including fresh, dried, or as fruit juice. The addition of fruit can impart different flavors and colors to the mead, and the resulting mead can be sweet or dry, depending on the fermentation process.
3. Pyment: Pyment is a type of mead that incorporates grapes or grape juice in its production. It's essentially a blend of mead and wine, and the characteristics of the final product can vary depending on the grape variety used.
4. Cyser: Cyser is a mead made with apples or apple juice, often blended with honey. It's a combination of mead and cider, resulting in a drink with both apple and honey flavors.
5. Metheglin: Metheglin is mead that is spiced or flavored with various herbs and spices. The choice of spices can vary widely, and the blend can result in a mead with a wide range of aromatic and flavor profiles.
6. Acerglyn: Acerglyn is mead made with maple syrup, which imparts a distinct maple flavor to the final product. It's a sweet and rich type of mead.
7. Bochet: Bochet mead is made by caramelizing the honey before fermentation, giving it a toasted or caramel-like flavor and a dark color.
8. Capsicumel: Capsicumel is mead that includes chili peppers, adding a spicy and sometimes smoky character to the drink.

These are just a few examples of the many types of mead that can be made. Mead-making is a creative and customizable process, so the possibilities are vast, and mead enthusiasts often experiment with different combinations to create unique flavors and styles.

No, not all mead is sweet. Mead can vary widely in terms of sweetness, and it can be made in a range of styles from very sweet to bone-dry. The sweetness of mead is determined by the amount of residual sugars left in the final product, which, in turn, is influenced by the amount of honey used, fermentation process, and stabilization. Here are some categories of mead in terms of sweetness:

1. Sweet Mead: Sweet mead has a significant amount of residual sugars, resulting in a sweet and honey-forward taste. It can be made by using a relatively high amount of honey where residual sweetness is retained after the yeast has been fully exhausted during fermentation.  This can also be achieved by fermenting a mead dry, stabilizing, then adding more honey to add additional sweetness.
2. Semi-Sweet Mead: Semi-sweet mead has moderate residual sweetness, falling between sweet and dry. Some of the honey's sweetness remains, but it's not as cloying as a fully sweet mead. 
3. Dry Mead: Dry mead has very little residual sweetness, and it can be quite similar in taste and mouthfeel to a dry white wine. Most of the honey's sugars are fermented out, leaving a crisp and less sweet result.
4. Hydromel/Session: Hydromel or Session is another style of mead, made to be low in alcohol, typically 3-7% abv.  These can be any sweetness desired and sometimes are made to be smoothie-style!
5. Sparkling and Carbonated Mead: Meads can also be carbonated, and in this case, they can be sweet, semi-sweet, semi-dry, or dry, depending on the maker's preference.

The level of sweetness in mead is a matter of personal preference, and different mead styles can appeal to various tastes. Mead-makers can adjust the sweetness by controlling the honey-to-water ratio, the fermentation process, and finishing steps (such as stabilization). So, whether you prefer sweet or dry, there is likely a mead style that suits your taste.