Jason and Jennifer Russ moved here just over a year ago with one goal: to start a meadery.
The couple, that is to say, planned to make and sell mead, an alcoholic beverage whose primary ingredient is fermented honey.
They bought a house on 8 acres, built the two-room Fox Hill Meadery next door and started producing what some claim is the world’s oldest fermented drink.
“The fermenting process is more like making wine than beer, but people who like mead tend to be people who like beer,” Jason Russ, 38, said.
The meadery’s annual capacity is 3,000 gallons. Mead needs to age from 8 to 18 months, depending on its ingredients. Though the Russes started making meads a year ago, they didn’t start selling it until September.
So far, sales have been better than expected, Russ said, noting that area restaurants and specialty shops have embraced Fox Hill meads.
“My biggest surprise has been that I didn’t expect to sell so much mead locally,” Jason said.
He also notes that mead attracts, “hip, Asheville-type people who are ready to try new things.”
The beverage is a hit at The Laughing Seed Café. “The fact that it’s hand-crafted locally gets our customers’ attention,” bar manager Kristin Welch said. “We attract people who want to eat locally and who care about sustainable agriculture. So when they see a mead from Marshall, they drink it up.”
Fox Hill sells mead through its Web site as well, although online sales have been slow so far. The business can ship to several states now and is pursuing licenses for other states.
Jason is the mead-maker, while Jennifer takes care of much of the sales and marketing. The whole family, including the couple’s 4-year-old daughter, helps with bottling and labeling.
Jason, who formerly owned a home-brewing supply store in Virginia, discovered mead 6 years ago and was hooked.
“I originally wanted to start a brewery, but I felt like with the mead, I could do something unique,” he said.
Jason said Fox Hill is the only meadery in WNC, and possibly in the state, although Shady Grove Meadery recently opened in East Tennessee.
He made more than 200 test batches of mead before getting his recipes right. He said he wants to include local honeys in his next round of meads, noting that darker, stronger varieties, such as tulip poplar, work best.
Because of the honey content, mead can be sweet, although Fox Hill offers varieties of the drink that are less sweet than most commercial meads.
Currently, the meadery offers four flavors: traditional, blackberry, ginger-apricot and spiced. A Special Reserve made with buckwheat honey will be available this spring.
Fox Hill Mead sells for $16 a bottle in stores and online, and local restaurants price it from $6.50 per glass to $23 or more per bottle. The alcohol content ranges from 11.7 percent for blackberry to 13 percent for ginger-apricot to 16 percent for Special Reserve.
Fox Hill Meads are sold in local beer and wine stores and some local restaurants, including Early Girl Eatery, Asheville Pizza and Brewing, the French Broad Chocolate Lounge and Barley’s Taproom.
“We’ve sold lots of Fox Hill Mead,” said Julie Atallah, co-owner of Bruisin’ Ales. “The ginger went really well for the holidays. People are excited about it.”
Source: Asheville Citizen Times
