Steve “Magpie” Merr turned a 1990 Renaissance-festival discovery into Magpie Farms Winery, a small-batch meadmaker on 87 acres in Coventry, New York. After researching historic recipes and refining his methods through competitions and winemaking classes, he built a farm operation that produces honey and grows some of the fruit used in its mead. Magpie also brings the business’s theatrical spirit to Renaissance fairs in full period costume.
Enlightenment Wines MeaderySince 2009, Enlightenment Wines Meadery has made small-batch, dry honey wines through wild fermentation, using foraged herbs and locally sourced fruit. Its meads are barrel fermented and released seasonally from two production locations: a family farmstead in the Hudson Valley and a Bushwick Brooklyn site. The company draws on pre-industrial techniques while working directly with farmers and foragers to explore the character of this ancient craft.BROOKLYN, NY
Dutch Creek Winery & TaphouseA husband-and-wife team runs Dutch Creek Winery & Taphouse in the Athens countryside, making small-batch meads, fruit wines, Baron’s Reserve hard ciders and honey sodas on the same farm where they keep bees and grow an apple-peach-pear orchard. The winery’s honey wines use honey from its own hives, while the Baron’s Reserve name honors Swiss settler Baron Johann Rudolf de Steiguer, whose historic land includes the winery site. Its tasting room pairs the house-made drinks with food and a distinctly rural Ohio setting.ATHENS, OH
Space Time Mead & Cider WorksBorn from a home winemaker’s post-corporate reset, Space Time Mead & Cider Works opened its Dunmore urban winery in 2018 to make honey wine, cider, maple wine and other wines from Pennsylvania-harvested ingredients. Founder Dan Schreffler began making mead and cider as a hobby in 2008, and the small winery has since earned national and international competition recognition. In 2025, up-and-coming mead-makers Melody and Kyle Stout began taking over the business while Schreffler continues to guide its craft.QUAKERTOWN, PA
Martin Family Wineries & DistilleriesWhat began in 1999 as a Martin family honey farm and garage meadery has grown into a Finger Lakes-based group making wines and small-batch spirits across upstate New York. The family’s unusual start with commercial beekeeping still shapes its work, from honey wines to spirits made with local grains, while third-generation Martin Zach leads the distilling operation. The company also provides contract bottling for wineries and spirits businesses.LODI, NY