UC Davis Mead Course: From Honey to Bottle in One Day

Rome wasn't built in a day.

But learning how to make mead?

You can learn the process from "honey to the bottle all in one day" on Thursday, Jan. 23 at the University of California, Davis.

Mead, the world's oldest alcoholic beverage, is a fermented blend of pure honey and water. Meadmakers often add fruits and spices to produce a dry, semi-sweet, sweet or even a sparkling mead, according to Amina Harris, director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center.

Harris just announced that the popular Mead Making Bootcamp course on Jan. 23 will take place from 8 to 4:30 p.m. in the LEED Platinum Teaching and Research Winery, located near the Honey and Pollination Center on Old Davis Road.

Under the direction of Chik Brenneman, former winemaker for the UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology along with meadmakers Lily Weichberger of the Oran Mor Meadery, and Dan Slort  of Strad Meadery), students will learn how to make mead: "from honey to the bottle all in one day."

The hands-on course, limited to 40, will follow a basic mead recipe. The participants will be divided into small learning groups of 5 to 6 people, each with its own UC Davis leader. Finally, students will bottle the mead made in previous workshops.

As Harris earlier told us: "More and more people are becoming familiar with mead right now. Meaderies are opening at the rate of one every three days here in the United States. And there are quite a few new ones right here in California!"

Reservations for the bootcamp course are underway at https://registration.ucdavis.edu/Item/Details/591. The fee is $225 per person. Continental breakfast and lunch are included.

While you're at it--registering for the bootcamp course--you can also enroll in two courses that follow:

For more information contact Harris at aharris@ucdavis.edu or events manager Liz Luu at luu@caes.ucdavis.edu