5 minute read
Mead in Seguin
A Modern Approach to the Ancient Craft of Mead Brewing
Story Joe Martin Photos by Joe Martin & Felicia Frazar
An image of Vikings sitting in a dimly lit hall sloshing down a mysterious frothy liquid cheering to their victories comes to mind when mead is brought up.
However, Texas Mead Works and Blue Lotus Winery owner Michael Poole said mead is much more than a medieval drink served up at renaissance fairs; it’s a nearly three-decade-long passion and business.
Michael was firstintroduced to the art of mead brewing 28 years ago by a colleague while serving in the Navy. Having experience brewing beer at home before, Michael decided mead was the next challenge to take on.
Several years later, Michael and his wife Melissa Poole accidentally stumbled upon a meadery while taking a road trip – one that would inspire Michael to go on to establish the highest distributed mead in the state from Seguin.
Melissa discovered what she thought was a winery; however, Michael said it was a meadery. And it began a discussion between the couple.
“My wife said, ‘well, what’s mead?’ I said, ‘well, it’s wine or beer depending upon who how you want to look at it made from honey,”’ he said. ‘“It’s the oldest, hands down — before we were even rolling wheels — alcoholic drink.’”
After her first sip, Melissa was hooked. The couple decided to venture into the mead and wine business with Michael’s know-how. The Poole’s jumped headfirst into the barrel of mead-brewing without much of a second thought. “I have a knack for looking at risk and doing something about it,” he said. “So I wasn’t scared when I did this winery. I bought the property as a matter of it being a retirement. But then met my wife and she gave me the push and said ‘hey, why don’t we do that now?’ I wasn’t scared or anything like that. We just did it.”
Michael attributes his success to his spontaneous nature. It was the same drive that landed the couple a second location in Fredericksburg.
“My wife I were driving around, and I saw a piece of property for sale and said ‘let’s call that number,’” Michael said. “I called it, made the guy an offer, he took it, and now we have a second location. That was rather spontaneous because we’re looking at investing in another winery out there to be partnered with.”
Brewing mead is a deceptively simple procedure consisting of combining honey, water, yeast, and allowing it to ferment while adding in various spices and sugars to the mix for additional flavors. This process can be as short as one month or as long as a year or more.
“It’s not a difficult process,” he said.”And that’s why I think there are a lot of meaderies starting to open.”
When it comes to brewing up tasty mead, honey from the Lone Star State, along with variety is king.
“Our nine standard [meads] that we do have a standard wildflower profile that I shoot for,” Michael said. “However, honey changes one batch to the next, depending on what the bees were in.”
Creating what the ancient Greeks referred to as ‘the nectar of the gods’ is more than simply sitting idly by while honey ferments in a barrel. There is a science to the madness that requires a keen palette and a sharp eye for the perfect batch of the popular golden sweetener.
“Honey plays an important role as to the final product that you get, but there are many decisions to make when you’re creating a mead,” he said. “It’s how much honey do you want to use? What type of honey do you want to use? Which yeast do you want to use? What temperature do you want to ferment at?”
The Poole’s mead production facility is quaintly tucked away past myriad grapevines, used to produce wines for their other business venture located on the same property Blue Lotus Winery at 5151 FM 20 just outside of Seguin. This facility is relatively smaller than larger commercial meaderies outside of Texas, but Michael nonetheless uses the space to make his renowned brews.
The facility hosts all the necessary tools to make a delicious mead with machines like fermenting tanks, a water filtration system, a water heater, and various aging barrels.
Texas Mead Works’ bottling line — which is uncommon among most meaderies — allows Michael to bottle about 3,000 bottles an hour.
“Most wineries in the state that are substantially larger than me do not have a bottling line,” Poole said. “With us making mead throughout the year, we have to bottle a couple of times a month. So having this is an invaluable tool to be able to do what we have to do.”
Mead was no joke to the Vikings of old who are estimated to have had thousands of variations of the beverage from village to village. The Poole’s continue this ancient tradition in their own way by offering a diverse and ever-evolving lineup to their own brews at Texas Meadworks.
The meadery offers up about nine standard meads year-round, including peach, jalapeño, strawberry, blueberry, and Texas Mead Works’ number one seller Blackberry Mead, Poole said.
In addition to the nine standard meads, several other limited barrel concoctions are created throughout the year, adding even more variety to the lineup. These flavors change frequently, but currently, the Poole’s are serving up “Tigers Blood,” a take on the popular snow cone flavor, “Texas Heat,” a spicy habanero fueled mead and “Doodle Monster,” the couple’s take on a snickerdoodle cookie flavor.
