Manic Meadery in Crown Point did not invent the beverage — mead has been around for thousands of years — but they may have organized the first mead-only national mead festival, and it has remained one of the largest (though Gnosis Brewing of Merrillville snuck some beer into this one). The Sugarbelt Mead Festival, which took place this past Saturday at Crown Point’s Bulldog Park, featured several dozen vendors from around the country, and an incredible array of mead with varieties ranging from fruits to brownies to garlic habanero (more on that below). “Meadmaking is the underground of the craft beverage world,” said Vanessa Qualls, event organizer and wife of Tony Qualls, who co-owns Manic Meadery.
“It feels more grassroots. People are constantly coming into the taproom who’ve never had mead before.” As beer culture has waned slightly and people search for the next frontier of alcoholic adventures, meaderies are vying to fill a new niche for social gathering and merrymaking.
Their pitch is for an experience that lands between the raucous crowd at a biergarten on gameday and the quiet, dainty sipping at a winery. Mead is made primarily by fermenting honey and water with yeast. Flavors can be added during the initial process or post-fermentation, and like ciders, can come in dry or sweet variations.
The meadmakers I spoke to at the festival seemed very proud of the legacy, and history, they were partaking in, though ancient cultures may be confused by the conce.