WILK Friday BeerBuzz – Moonlight Meadery w/Michael Fairbrother

Anyone who has tuned into the WILK Friday BeerBuzz for more than a few shows will know I love pushing boundaries.  Whether it’s beer styles or non-traditional brews I think it’s a good thing to check out new and excising brews and constantly push your tasting boundaries.  With that in mind I thought I’d feature something new on the show…and while this beverage may be renowned as one of the oldest fermented beverages on the record books, it’s also a brew most people have never heard of.

Today on the show we decided to feature for the very first time a Mead on the show.  Now I know the traditional craft beer lover may question my choice, but since many mead makers have their roots in home brewing, and with the American Homebrewers Conference coming to Philadelphia on June 27th, I thought this was perfect choice.  We also reached out to someone I consider one of the foremost authorities and creators of Meads and one of the most unique Meaderys in the U.S…

Today our guest was Michael Fairbrother from Moonlight Meadery in Londonderry, NH.  Michael is someone I consider a god when it comes to Meads and he is perhaps responsible for some of the more unique ciders to hit distribution.  Moonlight Meadery comes to us from Londonderry, NH and after sampling some of Michael’s work, I’m really excited to see the Mead market growing outside NH.

It was a real learning experience talking to Michel about not only the process of creating a Mead, but also the various types of Meads from Melomel’s to Metheglin and even Cysers.  Michael also creates some really unique barrel-aged meads so as you can see there is much exploring and sampling to do in he world of Meads.

I think Michael is a testament to commitment in his passion for Meads and I really liked how he was influenced by Omar from Surly Brewing who told him you can’t brew or do anything you love that much if you only do it part-time….and clearly Michael has jumped in to Moonlight Meadery full-time.

It was a blast sampling Meads with Michael today and as you can see there is not only a wide variety of styles, but also a wide range of ABVs, including some big ones.  We really enjoyed the fruit mead but the barrel-aged versions are an amazing twist on the traditional mead.  Be sure to try Moonlight Meadery meads for yourself and you’ll see what I mean.  Moonlight Meads are bottled and distributed to 24 states, including PA so they are easy to find.

Thank you to Michael Fairbrother from Moonlight Meadery, Nancy, John & Joe for yet another fun Friday.  The Friday BeerBuzz…bringing good beers and good people together. As always you can check out the video on-line at the WILK Friday BeerBuzz page by clicking HERE.
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