Born from a family’s home-brewing experiments in 2010, Zen Bee Meadery makes modern lower-ABV session meads and honey ciders in Columbus, Ohio. The company turns varietal honey, fruit and spices into approachable drinks, while still exploring unusual flavor combinations. Its craft has earned Best of Show and five medals at the 2020 National Honey Board Mead Competition, along with additional medals in subsequent years.
National Honey Board Mead Competition Best of Show
National Honey Board Mead Competition medals
Colony MeaderyFounded by Mike Manning and Greg Heller-LaBelle, Colony Meadery began selling its hand-crafted mead in late 2013 after bringing together medal-winning meadmaking and craft-beverage writing in Bethlehem. Working from a former Mack Truck factory, the Easton-area producer makes naturally gluten-free beverages with a focus on clean finishes and bold flavor profiles, including its signature meads and Pennsylvania-apple ciders. Its meads have earned medals in national mead-only competitions, and the company also operates a South Bethlehem taproom with rotating drinks and community events.BETHLEHEM, PA
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
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
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