Frequently Asked

Mead is an alcoholic drink made by fermenting honey with water, usually with yeast, and sometimes with fruit, spices, or grain added.

It's one of the oldest fermented drinks in the world — older than beer or wine as we know them. It fell out of fashion for a few centuries and has been quietly coming back.

Neither, though it's closer to wine. Wine ferments grapes, beer ferments grain, mead ferments honey.

If you're standing in a store trying to place it: think of it as sitting in the wine aisle, not the beer cooler. Most states regulate it as a wine, which is why it's usually shelved there.

Not necessarily. Honey is the sugar source, but how much of it ferments determines the sweetness. Mead runs anywhere from bone dry to dessert sweet, depending on how it's made.

The assumption that all mead is syrupy is the single most common thing we hear, and it usually comes from someone who tried one very sweet example years ago.

Mead generally lands in wine territory rather than beer territory, though it varies widely by producer and style.

Exact alcohol content for each of our meads: [ABV PER PRODUCT — FILL IN]

Lightly chilled works for most meads. Some — particularly barrel-aged and spiced styles — open up closer to room temperature.

A wine glass is fine. A tasting glass is better. A drinking horn is optional and, honestly, awkward to set down.

Traditional mead — honey, water, yeast — contains no gluten ingredients. But that depends entirely on what else goes in, and on how it's produced.

[CONFIRM PER PRODUCT BEFORE PUBLISHING — do not claim gluten free without verifying ingredients, equipment, and any shared-facility risk]

If you have celiac disease or a serious allergy, email us before ordering and we'll tell you exactly what's in a given batch.

No. Mead is made from honey, which is an animal product. There's no way around that one — it's the entire drink.

Ren — pure and traditional. Nothing added, nothing hiding.

Festlig — mulled spices. Cinnamon, orange peel, allspice, nutmeg.

Søthet — habanero and orange. The heat, with a sweet citrus finish.

Eik — our oak reserve. Rested in new oak until it turns deep and mellow.

Mørk — coffee. Still in development.

Fair question — they're Nordic names, and we'd rather you say them out loud than avoid ordering.

[ADD PHONETIC PRONUNCIATIONS — Kjelärd, Ren, Festlig, Søthet, Eik, Mørk]

Nobody here will correct you.

If you've never had mead, start with Ren. It's the baseline — it tells you what mead actually tastes like before anything else is layered on.

If you already know you like heat, Søthet. If it's cold out and you like mulled anything, Festlig. If you drink whiskey or barrel-aged beer, go to Eik.

Yes. Small batches, made by hand. It started as a father and son making mead together as a hobby, and the way we make it hasn't fundamentally changed — there's just more of it now.

Ingredients vary by product — honey and water in all of them, plus spices, peppers, citrus, oak, or coffee depending on which one.

If you have an allergy or sensitivity, contact us before ordering and we'll give you the full ingredient list for that specific batch.

Unopened, store it like wine — cool, dark, out of direct sun. Once opened, refrigerate it and drink it within a few days to a week, same as you'd treat an open bottle of wine.

[CONFIRM SHELF LIFE GUIDANCE PER PRODUCT]

No. Kjelärd Mead LLC is not yet licensed to sell alcoholic beverages. We can't sell it, ship it, or take reservations for it — not to anyone, in any state.

That's the whole reason for the license fund. We're working on it.

We're not going to give you a date we can't guarantee. Licensing depends on government approvals and a qualifying space, and neither is fully in our control.

Eventually, in a lot of states — but not all, and not all at once.

Once we're licensed, shipping alcohol directly to customers requires a separate permit in each state, and many states add volume caps, label registration, and tax reporting on top. A few don't allow it at all. Mead also isn't classified the same way everywhere — some states treat it as wine, others as beer, and the rules differ significantly.

We'll add states as we're permitted in them, and we'll be clear about where we can and can't ship. More detail on our shipping page.

Not yet. There's no public location to visit right now, and our mailing address isn't a retail space — please don't drop by.

We'd like that, but we can't sell to anyone — including retailers — until we're licensed. If you're interested, get in touch and choose "Wholesale, retail, or partnership." We'll keep your details and reach out when we can actually do business.

Coasters and stickers, with glassware coming. All non-alcoholic, all shippable anywhere in the US.

Orders ship within 1–2 business days, and we ship to all 50 states plus APO/FPO/DPO military addresses at standard rates. Full rates and timelines are on the shipping page.

Merch sales are final — but if something shows up damaged, defective, or it's not what you ordered, email support@kjelardmead.co within 14 days with photos and we'll make it right. Details on the shipping and returns page.

Check your tracking email first (including spam). If it's been more than 3 business days with no tracking, or tracking has stalled, email support@kjelardmead.co with your order number and we'll chase it down.

Our mead is made and the recipes are dialed in. What's left is securing a licensed space and completing the state licensing process. Contributions go toward that.

Neither. We're a for-profit LLC, not a charity, so contributions aren't tax-deductible. And a contribution isn't an investment — no equity, no ownership, no repayment, no return of any kind.

It's also not a pre-order for mead. Full terms on the contribution terms page.

Money already spent on fees, rent, and compliance will have been spent, and won't be refunded. That's the honest risk of contributing, and you should decide with it in mind. We spell this out in full on the contribution terms page.

Yes, and they matter more than people think. Join the mailing list, tell someone who'd be into it, and follow along. A small business getting off the ground runs on word of mouth.

It comes from Kjeldgaard — a family name, not a word we picked because it sounded Nordic. The brand is named after the family that started it.

Ravens run deep in Norse tradition as symbols of memory and thought. Ours sits on a shield because the whole thing started as a family project, and a crest felt right for that.

We deliberately kept it clean rather than going full horns-and-longships. The mead's meant to be taken seriously; the costume isn't.

Yes. We're based in Colorado Springs, one of the most military-concentrated cities in the country, and that community is part of who we are — not a marketing line we bolted on.

Regular people. You don't need to know anything about mead, own a tasting journal, or care about the history of fermentation to enjoy a glass.

If you like trying something you haven't had before, that's enough.