8-13-19 Tonight at 9PM EST we're talking with Kevin Martin, Head of Fermentation, Labs and IT at Goodroads Cider and Mead in Charlotte, NC.
Kevin is a long time home brewer, since 1994. His first kit was a 'Slobber Porter', and his second beer was an Imperial stout/Dopple Bock/Barley wine hybrid (he was new). He read about mead in Charlie Papazian's 'New Complete Joy of Home Brewing', went out and bought a commercial example, and decided he wanted to try it out. His first batch was, in his words, 'ugh'.
Then it became a challenge.
He ended up making mead for his wedding, and started competing in 2001. He went on to be North Carolina Mead Maker of the Year on the Top Three plaque 13 times, with 4 first places between 2001 and 2015. He has hundreds of medals and ribbons in competition for mead. He has gotten his BJCP National Judge and MJCP judge credentials.
In 2017, he went pro as head of fermentation at Good Roads. Kevin is married and has a daughter and a cat, and a member of the Carolina Brew Masters brew club, which was the winner of the first AHA Radagast Award (Kevin was president that year).
Good Roads opened on St. Patrick's Day, 2017, and is both a cidery and meadery. The name comes from a play on majority owner Brian Beauchemin's last name, which means "wonderful path" in French. They are currently serving in their tasting room, and selling to individuals in growlers, but plan to have a bottling line up soon.

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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.

Show links and notes

Evoak - Oak Solutions
Black Swan Barrels (exotic woods)
Ethiopian Spice Market (for gesho)
Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff
The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff




Upcoming Guests:

Aug 20 - Kent Waldeck - Crafted Artisan Meadery
Aug 27 - Sam Slaughter - Food and Drink Editor at The Manual
Sept 3 - Mateusz Blaszczyk and Krzysztof Jarek - EMMA/Mead Madness Cup
Sept 10 - Meadcon East and Cornell Mead Intensive (off)

Upcoming Events

Aug 16 - Honnibrook Meadery - Steve Selinsky LIVE
Aug 18 - Bos Meadery - Open Mic Night
Aug 21 - New Day Craft Mead - Mead Education
Au 25 - Heidrun Meadery - Bee Experienced, from flower to flute
Aug 27 - Redstone Meadery - Yogis and Mead Drinkers
Aug 31 - New Day Craft Mead - Meadful Things and Outciders Festival
Sept 7 - Folklore Brewing and Meadery - Pints for Pets Flower Girl Class
Sept 21 - Royal Manor - Mead Festival
Sept 22 - Starrlight Mead - Mead Day Celebration and Fall Festival
Sept 28 - Orpheus Meadfest - Tasting and Award Ceremony for Orpheus Cup Mead Competition
Oct 5-5 and 12-13 - Stonekeep Meadery - Artisan Wine and Cheese pairing weekends
Oct 19 - Texas Mead Fest

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