There’s a new face on West Reading’s Penn Avenue scene. Rebel Hive Meadery, owned by Ryan and Meghan Ludwig of Lower Heidelberg Township, recently opened a bottle shop and tasting room at 530 Penn Avenue for patrons to try mead, an ancient drink on the rise.
Once called the “nectar of the gods” by ancient Greeks, mead was thought to be dew sent down from the heavens and gathered by bees. Food of the gods or not, there’s no doubt that mead is making a comeback.
“Mead has been seeing a huge increase in sales nationwide the past few years,” Ryan says. “Commercially, it is still in its infancy but has been seeing a huge growth in popularity. What was once an obscure drink just a few years ago is now becoming commonplace in the alcohol market.”
But what exactly is mead?
Ryan explains that mead is a fermented beverage that uses honey as the main fermentable sugar.
“Think grain for beer, grapes for wine, honey for mead,” he says.
The oldest alcoholic drink in human history, Ryan says mead can range in alcohol anywhere from a low-ABV, or alcohol by volume, of around 5 percent on up to a high ABV of 24 percent. It also can range in sugar content from a dry to a sweet and in carbonation from still (non-carbonated) to a highly-carbonated finished product.
“Most of the meads Rebel Hive currently produces are still semi-sweet and 12 percent ABV,” he adds.
And how is mead made?
A self-proclaimed “science nerd,” Ryan, who holds a doctorate in chemistry from Lehigh University and teaches online chemistry at Albright College, says they make their meads using new-age techniques.
“To put it simply, we mix honey, water and yeast and allow it to ferment,” he says. “Along the way, we also monitor factors such as water chemistry, temperature, yeast nutrients, oxygen levels, acid content and pH, just to name a few.”
If no other flavors other than honey are used to make a mead, it's known as a traditional mead, which can vary immensely and take on the flavors and nuances of the honey that is used.
“Depending on the nectar source that the bees are using for honey, flavors can range from light, floral and citrus notes to dark, molasses, chocolaty notes, all of which can come through in the final product,” he says.
Meads can also be fermented and flavored with fruits, nuts, spices, hops, flowers, coffees, teas, etc.
“We find that the honey backbone of the mead can really capture and enhance the flavors used in a way that gets lost in most beers, wines and liquors,” he says.
Rebel Hive had its first sales in 2019, but it was a long time in the making. “I started making mead at home about 10 years ago,” Ryan says.
Now, Ryan says their meadery, which has won awards for some of their first at-home meads, is happy to have a spot in West Reading for customers..
“We currently have a stand at the Fairgrounds Farmers Market, as well as the Green Dragon Farmers Market,” he says, adding that they also recently started selling online. “We also plan to do meads aged in various barrels...bourbon, rye, rum, etc.”
To learn more, visit rebelhivemeadery.com or follow them on Facebook or Instagram.
Medicinal use. Certain kinds of meads, called metheglin, were made with herbs or spices and used medicinally in early England to improve digestion and to help with depression.
Featured in classic literature. The best part of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is when the mead starts flowing in The Miller's Tale. Beowulf features a boisterous mead hall that is attacked by the monster Grendel and causes Beowulf to go to battle.
