There’s a new meadery in town, and it’s opening soon in east Columbus.
Uprising Meadworks, owned by local mead makers Jennifer Ganoe and Nate Rhone, will bring a production facility and taproom to 687 N. James Rd, across from Actual Brewing. The doors open to the public on Friday, August 3.
Rhone has been brewing beer for a decade, but for much of that time it was a casual hobby, every once in a while producing a batch or two. About three years ago, he branched out into mead, one of humankind’s oldest alcoholic beverages made from honey.
“We went from making a batch every couple of months to six or seven batches at once, really getting into more of a production and testing mindset to figure out what we needed to do and the flavor combinations that we wanted,” Rhone says. “We kicked it into high gear, going through a couple gallons of honey every few weeks, having 14 batches in some stage of production at the house.”
They attached the name, Uprising Meadworks, to their products, a moniker that Rhone says “came from the idea of pushing against the normal.”
“All our meads are named after people or things in history that pushed the norm or changed how people thought,” he continues.
Their Spruce Goose, a semi-sweet tart mead with cherry and lemon, is named after the seaplane of Howard Hughes, which was six times larger than any airplane of its time. Casimir, a lightly sweet mead with beet and raspberry flavors, is named for Casimir Funk, who discovered vitamins (originally dubbed vital amines) back in 1912.
They also offer Omega, made with Ohio wildflower honey and Belgian Saison ale yeast, and Our First Rebellion, a semi-dry apply mead that’s aged for two months in bourbon casks.
Uprising Meadworks has since developed nine different mead recipes. Their original four will be available on draft at their taproom, in addition to a selection of bottled meads. Rhone said their meads will rotate regularly as they experiment with one-off recipes, including sours, in their new production space.
The production space and taproom are all part of the same 1,700 square foot room, “so everyone gets to sit down and enjoy their drinks while looking at a lot of shiny tanks,” Rhone says.
Uprising Meadworks will open to the public on Friday, August 3, after which they’ll operate on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday starting at 4 p.m., and Saturday starting at 2 p.m.
For more information, visit uprisingmeadworks.com.