1-19-21 Tonight at 9PM EST we're getting together with Margot Phelps and the Maidmakers at Ancient Fire Cider and Mead in Manchester, NH.

The Maidmakers series began in Early 2020  and was the idea of the AF team which, with the exception of Jason, is made up entirely of strong, passionate and smart women. The idea was to get their team more involved in the process of making the products that they were serving in the taproom. The AF women came to work, and stayed to learn meadmaking and got involved in the process at the meadery.

The first release was "SHE-nanigans"  a key lime pie inspired draft mead which debuted on Valentine's weekend. The release weekend turned into one of the busiest weekends in AF history and the women of AF were thrilled to be serving their product to happy customers SHE-nanigans has been produced a second time since its release and remains a customer favorite. In 2020 there were two additional MaidMakers releases: "Colada Love" a pineapple and toasted coconut draft mead and "Gingy's Juice" a gingerbread inspired draft mead with cinnamon, allspice, ginger and avocado and buckwheat honey.  The next release will be in Q1 of 2021 "Am I Right" will be an amaretto inspired draft mead featuring hints of cherry and vanilla.
Ancient Fire Mead & Cider was founded in 2018 by Margot and Jason Phelps.The Phelps opened Ancient Fire after homebrewing Mead, Wine and beer for over 15 years. Ancient Fire produces Draft Style mead, Honey Wines and Ciders. Their products are available in the taproom, by the glass, pint and flight. Draft product is available to go in growers or bottles. Standard honey wines are available by the bottle. Ancient Fire is dedicated to creating an inclusive and welcoming environment in their taproom and we do significant work in their community to give back. Working with their team and AF family we have donated to The American Cancer Society, The NH Food Bank and other organizations. They are proud that during the challenging times of 2020 their charitable giving increased due to the generosity of their AF community.

Join us with the ladies this evening to chat about making mead, and their journeys as they learned about it.


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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.



Upcoming Shows

Feb 2 - Tom Repas - Beyond Secondary - Stabilization, acid balancing and backsweetening

Show links and notes

Top, Middle and Base Notes: A Comprehensive List
The Herbal Medicine Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual - James Green and Ajana
Food Pairing website
The Flavor Bible
The Flavor Matrix - the Art and Science of Pairing Common Ingredients to Create Extrordinary Dishes
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Unlock'd - Historical mead recipes
Wellcome Mead by Laura Angotti
Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff
The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff
Take part in Kevin Meintsma's Hydromel Study - email hydromel@wtibiz.com and he'll send you questions

Upcoming Events

Jan 20 - Viking Alchemist Meadery, Smyrna, GA - Yoga and Mead
Jan 22 - Honnibrook Meadery, Castle Rock, CO - Live Music with Scott Brown
Jan 22 - Viking Alchemist Meadery, Smyrna, GA - Team Trivia