Algomah Acres adds mead to U.P. shelves

Man, we sure love honey here at the U.P. Second Wave offices. And why not? It’s sweet. It’s natural. And, well, bees are cool.

But we also like things made with honey. Namely mead. And, until just recently, our mead had to come from sources outside of the Upper Peninsula. Thanks to Algomah Acres Honey Farm, we don’t have to worry about that anymore.

Algomah recently released its first batch of mead, which was bottled June 28, in both raspberry and traditional flavors. The honey comes right from Upper Peninsula bees (busy little guys, hey?) and the raspberries are hand-picked from local canes.

“We have found a great market for our own honey, and believe customers desire the quality and authenticity or our local honey,” says Melissa Hronkin, who owns Algomah Acres, along with husband John Hersman. “Last year’s honey crop was quite low yielding, so we acquired honey from another UP beekeeper to sustain our mead production. It is all locally produced, however, from the well water, berries, and the honey. Eventually we would like to expand in hives so that we can use all of our own honey.”

The mead–which is made with just honey, water and yeast–is available at Everyday Wines in Marquette, the Keweenaw Co-op in Hancock and the AmericInn in Silver City.

The products line will expand in spring 2013 when Algomah adds cyser (an apple cider/honey wine), strawberry mead, more raspberry, blueberry, chokecherry and potentially others.

Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Melissa Hronkin, Algomah Acres