BY ANN WLAZELEK “ALL ABUZZ FOR MEAD”
Now brewing in Allentown is a honey of a new business called The Colony Meadery.
Mead, for the uninitiated, is an ancient alcoholic drink similar to wine but made from fermented honey instead of grapes. A meadery is where mead is made.
The Colony Meadery opened in January 2014 at the Bridgeworks Enterprise Center, 905 Harrison Street, where Mack Trucks used to build engines and the Allentown Economic Development Corp. now builds businesses.
Meadery owners Michael Manning of South Whitehall Township and Greg Heller-LaBelle of Bethlehem believe it is the fi rst meadery in the Le- high Valley and one of only three in Pennsylvania (others being in Birdsboro and Pittsburgh). They named it Colony in reference and reverence to the colonies of bees that make the honey.
As the story goes, Manning, a long-time home brewer and IT specialist, met Heller-LaBelle at a beer-tasting event a few years ago. Manning ran out of homemade beer for the next event and decided to try mead. He knew it took only an hour to make mead instead of 6-7 hours to make beer. Heller-LaBelle, a marketing specialist, loved the result, which went on to win awards. At his suggestion, the two started their own meadery.
“Welcome,” Manning said one Saturday afternoon, when my husband Bruce and I and two friends entered the storefront for a half-hour tour and tasting. Man- ning stood behind a counter with a dozen bottles of fl avored meads, ready for tasting.
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“Most are made from orange blossom hon- ey, fl avored with natural syrups, fruits and spices,” he told us. “All are my recipes.”
Small tables and chairs off ered a place to sit, but none of us did. We each grabbed a glass, small pencil and copy of the tasting sheet, which lists the varieties of mead by name, fl avor and alcohol content. This al- lows visitors to rate the mead by aroma and taste. It also proves handy for remember- ing which bottles to purchase at the end.
Mead, for the uninitiated, is an ancient alcoholic drink similar to wine but made from fermented honey instead of grapes.
The fi rst mead Manning poured was “Tupe- lo Concession Stand Brawl,” which he said is made from honey produced from Tupelo tree blossoms. We agreed our fi rst sip of mead tasted lighter than wine, with the same viscosity, and smelled a bit like honey- suckle. Its alcohol content was 9.5 percent.
The next, named “Straight, No Chaser,” was a lot stronger and sweeter, packing a bigger punch with 13 percent alcohol.
Manning and Heller-LaBelle had fun nam- ing their meads, we discovered, as we continued sampling brews such as “Woof- iedog,” that contains a pale ale hops; “Pik- want Field,” infused with strawberry and kiwi; and “Fred and Ginger,” tasted last be- cause of its strong ginger fl avor.
“Mo-Me-Doh” is named after the popular mixed drink Mohito. Both are fl avored with mint and lime. In the works is a “Mar-puh- me-duh,” akin to the Mexican margarita, made from lime and tequila.
Between tastings, we asked lots of ques- tions. “Where are the bees?” our friends
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