A rustic and eccentric hole in the wall, providing a welcoming atmosphere and community is a quality whose appeal will never die. And that is exactly what you find on the east side of Ypsilanti at Maniacal Mead.
“There are not as many meaderies in Michigan as there once were, and this is a very high-quality mead house. To me it’s worth the trip,” Amy Olsen said. She drove all the way from Sterling Heights to get ahold of Maniacal Mead because “they don’t skimp on quality ingredients, and lots of fruit. It’s a very expensive product to make and a lot of other meaderies have cheaped out a bit, and have gone with meads that don’t take as long to make. These guys will take all the time that they need, even when its more expensive to do so, and you can taste that.”
The main tasting room is limited to 15 people at a time, though its intimacy is part of the charm, as is its dark, moody atmosphere.
It is perfect for Vikings. Which is fitting since they hold a Thorsday every month.
Mead is often called honeywine because of its root taste, but you can make mead taste like almost anything you want. It is also one of the oldest alcohols we have – at least older than wine. It might be considered highly niche, now – but it is a nearly universal drink, produced from cultures ranging as far from Africa, to China, to the British Isles…