The mead industry is growing rapidly as more people are discovering the diverse taste offerings of mead.
Michelle Scandalis and Jeremy Kyncl. owners of Hierophant Meadery, purchased property in Freeland, Washington in 2019. In 2020, they spent a large part of the pandemic building a new production facility and tasting room with the vision of re-homing their domestic winery with a phased expansion to create a Pollinator Sanctuary and Herb Farm. Now they are finding they need more production space to meet demand.
Hierophant’s production facility, tasting room, and growing herb farm are in their third year of business on the island, and celebrated their tenth year of business in July 2022. “We greatly enjoy serving the Whidbey Island community and its visitors, and look forward to continuing to grow the space.” In 2022, they realized just how much islanders love mead. “Between the tasting room volumes, and growing distribution channels, we’re finding we need to create more space for production and visitors.” Hierophant Meadery attends Seattle and Spokane area farmers markets, and operates their Green Bluff tasting room at their original Mead, WA location.
Hierophant bottled 6,000 cases, and 375 kegs in 2022, and the need for mead keeps climbing. Michelle notes: “We’re finding that people are awakening to the discovery that the mead industry is so diverse in its offerings. We hear so often from customers that they didn’t know mead could taste like this, referring to our meads as being drier, more like a white wine or an off-dry cider, having complex botanical additions, or something they can’t compare to anything else.”
After participating in the Seattle Wine Awards and Seattle International Cider awards, Hierophant came home with 11 medals including 6 Golds, and 2 double golds for Song of the Elders Retsina Mead, Ginger Pear Session Mead, Cacao Damiana Champagne style mead, and some of their traditional meads like Chrysopoeia off-dry, Hopped Mead, and Gilead Poplar Vanilla Mead. The Meadery was named one of the Fabulous Four Wineries of the year by Advanced Sommelier Christopher Chan’s Seattle Wine & Cider Awards, and as a result they were invited to participate in the 2022 Great Northwest Wine Platinum Awards. Jeremy says: “Being recognized by the wine and cider industries is a great honor, and has been hugely instrumental in expanding our audience to more wine and craft beverage enthusiasts.”
Botanically infused meads have not always been so recognized. Metheglyn is the name for botanical meads in historic mead making, and has been a mead making tradition for thousands of years. However, there are very few meaderies that make metheglin style meads exclusively. Hierophant sees using plants and honey together in value added products as a way to reconnect people with plants, and sustain an appreciation for sustainable agriculture when it comes to honey. Jeremy and Michelle have a practice of sourcing herbs for many of their meads on and off their properties, as well as contracting with small farmers to grow botanicals for them. Michelle adds, “We also purchase herbs from the world market, as Cash Crop Herbalism is a very small and growing market in the United States, and there are some things that don’t grow here.” Jeremy and Michelle have a vision to create economies for cash crop herbalism, as well as to take the next step to farm more of their own herbs.
Hierophant Meadery has a strong commitment to contribute to agricultural development in Washington. Michelle notes, “We were contacted and hosted the Senate Agriculture Committee with members of the WSDA to discuss how our sourcing positively affects agriculture in Washington.”
Visiting Hierophant Meadery at the corner of State Highway 525 and Double Bluff Road in Freeland is a special experience. Visitors are invited to sit and sip mead among the native landscaping plants and the meadow. The farm is serving as a “pollinator refuge” where native pollinator insects, birds, and bats are major contributors.
Visitors are also invited to take herb walks around the farm. Hierophant will also continue to offer educational Herbal Maker’s Workshops on the grounds of the meadery.
Find an interactive map of local retailers who carry their products, at hierophantmeadery.com/findmead.
For open hours and more information about Hierophant Meadery, visit their website: https://www.hierophantmeadery.com
Mead makes a wonderful host gift, white elephant and a unique holiday gift.
