It was also challenging to find historically appropriate yeast for the fermentation. Most modern mead makers use commercial wine yeast, per Tarlach, but the 1393 recipe called for beer or bread yeast.

The meadery now has about 90 mead recipes, the most popular being the peach habanero mead. After perfecting their methods, Fagan and Kurtz opened Honnibrook in a 1,000-square-foot warehouse unit ...

For the uninitiated, mead is a drink made by fermenting honey. Hailed as humanity’s first foray into making alcoholic beverages, mead predates both beer and wine.