Humblebee Meadery

Typically referenced in Norse mythology, medieval stories or olde English literature, mead is the original libation.  In basic terms, mead is a gluten-free alcohol made from fermented honey.

Humblebee has re-crafted this ancient drink and aims to bring it back to the table with a flavour profile developed for a 21st century palate. Through the infusion of more aromatic flavours, carbonating and an alcoholic volume of 5.5% we believe we've accomplished just that.

We're Jeff Gillham and Pierre Vacheresse, two Vancouver boys chasing a dream of establishing our own meadery in affordable Vancouver, BC. We're dedicated to re-crafting an ancient drink and bringing it back to the table.

The humble twosome met in 2009 while working in the restaurant industry.   A few years later Jeff started experimenting with old mead recipes trying to make them more in line with the craft beers and ciders he loved.  Then one day Pierre owed Jeff a golf game and to Pierre's disappointment, Jeff brought some of his homebrewed mead.  After trying some Pierre knew there was potential for this to be more than a fun hobby.  After months of creating a business plan and studiously trying many batches of mead they were ready to make it a real business.  With a bit of luck, some hard work and a lot of support from family and friends they found a small space in East Vancouver to brew the mead and an apiary that was willing to send large amounts of honey to a small bootstrapping startup.

We're inspired by quality ingredients and unique flavours, with all our meads we hope to ride the line of familiar and new, something to make your palette need a few more sips to make up its mind.  We purchase our honey from a Canadian apiary and take care to source all the elements of our mead from suppliers that practice sustainability.

We hope you enjoy our meads as much as we've enjoyed making them, and hopefully one day when you offer a friend a mead it won't be followed by the question "What is Mead?"