Some of the most world renowned mead is made locally in Prescott! Teresa got a tour of the plant, and even a tase of the precious product. Learn more at https://https://superstitionmeadery.com/
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Speaking of Northern Arizona,
00:01 there are a bunch of great breweries
00:03 and wineries to check out there.
00:05 But what about mead?
00:06 See what Teresa found up in the high country.
00:09 Oh, I like me.
00:10 We've been here tasting room in Prescott.
00:12 You've got a beautiful restaurant in Phoenix,
00:14 but you've invited us here for this tour
00:17 and we're so excited to see how mead is actually made.
00:20 You did inform me ahead of time that it's bad luck
00:23 to tour without a drink.
00:24 That's right.
00:25 Well, cheers to our tour.
00:26 So this is where we make mead.
00:28 This is where the magic happens.
00:30 This is where the science happens.
00:31 So you guys can see we've got bright tanks
00:33 where we're going to carbonate our products,
00:35 where we're going to ferment our products.
00:37 We can do everything from five-gallon test batches
00:40 to 3,000 gallons of mead or cider at a time here.
00:43 That's a lot.
00:44 That is a lot.
00:45 We've got wine pumps.
00:46 We've got honey pumps.
00:48 We even have -- Here's an example
00:50 of a really cool small test batch
00:52 that our staff's making for a special event
00:54 that we're doing in March at our Phoenix restaurant.
00:57 A label.
00:58 No label.
00:59 We still need a name for this.
01:01 It's got pears and apples and spices and nice.
01:03 It's beautiful.
01:04 This is where we package everything.
01:06 So this is our amazing bottling line.
01:09 It's a GAI from Italy.
01:11 We can do 500s, 375s, 750s.
01:13 We can cork and cap.
01:14 And I call it our Lamborghini because it's made in Italy.
01:17 It's really expensive, and it breaks all the time.
01:20 Okay, yes, I get that.
01:21 My dad's a mechanic.
01:22 Now, for those who don't know
01:23 and who didn't see our original segment,
01:25 what is mead because it's its own category?
01:28 That's right.
01:29 So mead is defined by honey being the primary
01:31 fermentable ingredient in our product.
01:33 But we can use any legal fruit, herb, or spice.
01:36 So you've got an orange mead, right?
01:38 It's orange juice and honey.
01:40 I've got a mango mead here.
01:41 And what we're gonna do is walk into our barrel room,
01:44 and I think we should try something really special
01:46 that no one's ever had before.
01:48 What do you think?
01:49 You mean right out of the barrel?
01:50 Right out of the barrel.
01:51 I would love that.
01:52 So what we do at Superstition is we put a stainless steel nail
01:56 into the head of the barrel.
01:58 And just to make sure everything stays clean and sanitized,
02:01 we hit it with some isopropyl alcohol
02:03 before we pull a sample.
02:05 And I'm gonna need some assistance from Teresa
02:09 to hold the ambassador.
02:11 We're gonna pull this nail out,
02:12 and we're gonna take a sample here.
02:15 So this is California Barbera grapes.
02:17 This is like milking a cow.
02:18 It doesn't get any fresher.
02:19 No, this is it.
02:20 And by the way, no one's ever tried this before.
02:22 You're taking a sample of a piment,
02:24 which is wine grapes and honey fermented together
02:27 through an inch of oak from a port barrel
02:29 that did age one of our meads
02:31 that had raspberries and Belgian dark candy sugar in it.
02:35 So...
02:36 So the taste of raspberry and candied sugar
02:39 is in the barrel.
02:41 Yes.
02:42 Caramel and raspberry.
02:44 And then think like a late-harvest wine.
02:47 All right, let's see how this Barbera piment is tasting.
02:50 It smells delicious.
02:52 Oh.
02:53 Wow.
02:56 That is so rich.
02:59 It's sweet, but it's not too sweet.
03:01 It's tangy.
03:02 Yeah.
03:03 Yeah, it's balanced, right?
03:04 You get that acid balance to the sweetness.
03:06 You can taste the grapes and the honey.
03:07 Now, check this out.
03:09 This is another version of this exact same mead
03:14 that's aging on amaranth wood from Brazil,
03:17 and this is going to provide cinnamon bun flavors, as well.
03:20 And this is what we're going to do.
03:22 We're going to blend the barrel version
03:23 and the version aging on wood for a very special gild mead.
03:27 You have me at cinnamon bun.
03:28 And by the way, when I think of an ancient beverage,
03:31 I think Schlitz, Pabst Blue Ribbon.
03:34 How ancient is mead?
03:35 So 9,000 years old.
03:37 Proven by science,
03:38 the oldest fermented beverage in the world,
03:40 but we make it with very modern techniques.
03:42 So this is really a blending of old and new.
03:46 Ancient and modern in a glass, and it's just --
03:49 I mean, I've never tasted anything like that.
03:51 It's so good, it's difficult for me to describe.
03:54 Do you get cinnamon notes?
03:55 I do get heavy cinnamon.
03:57 And that's coming from the wood that this is aging on
03:59 that we got from Brazil.
04:01 And I love the way it looks out here.
04:03 Yeah, well, speaking of looks,
04:04 let's go check out our barrel terrace outside.
04:06 Okay, we should tell people we're in Prescott,
04:09 but we're kind of near the airport here.
04:11 That's right. Allow me.
04:14 This is gorgeous.
04:16 Welcome to the Superstition Barrel Terrace.
04:19 So, you know, for years, we've been making products here,
04:23 and I always wanted to be able to open this up.
04:25 And until we had some warehouse space across the street,
04:27 we just -- it was impossible.
04:28 And now on Saturday and Sunday from noon to 6,
04:31 people get to come out here.
04:32 You can bring your dog, you can have some food.
04:34 You get to have mead and cider right where it's made
04:36 and enjoy this amazing view behind us.
04:37 I don't know what's better.
04:39 I don't know. I can't come up with anything.
04:41 Come here and mead and mead a new friend.
04:45 Cheers.
04:46 ♪♪
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