Honeygirl Meadery & Tasting Room — Attraction in Durham

I don't know what was up, but my wife and I had the worst tasting ever at the annual Mead Festival the other day. As I've had Starrlight a few times recently, I decided to go with Honeygirl. And I suppose I should add that I love mead, make my own at home quite often, and have been immensely curious about it since before I could legally drink.

Even though there were fewer people on the Honeygirl side of the tent, the person at the entrance told us to just wait. So we stood near the entrance, waiting. People walked past us. The guy who told us to wait took off elsewhere. We didn't know what we were waiting for exactly, and as we we were the only ones waiting, there was neither cue nor queue to follow. Eventually, after we cautiously wandered a little closer to Honeygirl's tables, a couple people in front of us moved out, and a younger dude asked if we wanted to do a tasting.

Plastic cups? OK, it's a busy-ish festival, I suppose. Don't change or rinse them between meads? Hmm, I can live with it. Automatic, tiny pour? Well, they have to be economical, I guess. Guy splashes some of that tiny pour out of the glass. That's not very cool, but I guess there is still technically enough to taste. But then he says nothing or next to nothing about the meads (Literally, "This is [x] mead." Yeah, I can read the bottle, man) and is just gone before we even finish the last one.

Another server filled the guy's spot and asks if we've been helped. I honestly had no clue how to answer that question. Technically? It wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't see other people standing around, talking to their servers, laughing, etc., albeit mostly on the other side of the tent. As it was, I left the tent with a mostly frustrated impression of...

I don’t think I’d had but a small sip of mead previously, and Honeygirl made for a fine introduction. The tasting room is small but bright and clean. Combined with a friendly and knowledgeable staff, it makes for an inviting space.

Honeygirl offers more than a dozen meads from basic to barrel aged and semi-sweet to dry. The ingredients are sourced locally (and, in one case, foraged by the manager) and incorporate a variety of apples and herbs. Hard-pressed (pun semi-intended) to make a decision, my wife and I settled on a flight consisting of spiced apple cyser, farmhouse wildflower, hibiscus lemonthyme, and tri-berry. The wildflower was all that I expected mead to be: a smooth honey wine. The cyser boasted some nice spice notes, but it also made me realize that I strongly prefer cider to its wine-based cousin. The tri-berry, on the other hand, was outstanding. A seasonal offering, it brings together mulberries, blackberries, blueberries, and black currant juice. The resulting concoction offered complex flavors and was not too sweet. We liked it so much that we ended up getting a bottle to take home.

Honeygirl isn’t cheap – a flight of four is $15 and most glasses are in the $8-$12 range – but it’s a great way to try...

A small mead bar and meadery with a friendly staff and owner. When I visited on a Saturday, early afternoon, they were doing mead tastings and presentations of the varieties of mead they make and offer at the bar. After the tasting, I waited at one of the two tables setup across from the bar and colored some of the adult coloring print outs they provided while waiting for the tour by the owner to begin. That day, the theme was Golden Girls which was a humorous surprise!

The owner was nice and very passionate about mead and went over her story of how she got into the business of mead making.

Definitely give Honeygirl Meadery a visit even if you're not familiar with mead. If you like wine or beer, you should familiarize yourself with mead! It's a cool place with a friendly staff. They had around a dozen mead varieties when I visited. There's also some tables set...