Helderberg Meadworks is the first meadery in the Capital Region & surrounding area. It is located overlooking the Helderberg Mountains where fresh water and local honey are used to create the finest mead. We are one of a precious few “meaderies” in the state who produce mead. Owner and meadmaker Peter Voelker has been making a variety of meads for many years. In 2010 he decided to open the meadery
with his wife Kirsten to share what many consider the best mead in the country. In December 2018 they opened the doors to their Meadhall in Esperance and in May 2022 they opened their Troy Meadhall. While many of you have no doubt seen and tasted the commonly available meads, very few have tasted mead as good as ours. Heritage Mead is a traditional mead made only from the fermentation of local NY raw honey and oak aged as you would have expected the Old Norse to have done. The result is a stronger mead that has a certain rawness to it while having just enough honey sweetness to smooth and balance the flavor. As well with the oak, beverages many centuries ago were stored in oak vessels, so I have created in a modern way that oak vessel storage flavor. Our mead philosophy is to create a mead that is as close as possible to mead that may very well have been made hundreds and even thousands of years ago while using modern equipment and methods. We use minimal sulfites and minimal production handling. This means that each batch is unique. Every harvest of local honey is different, so every batch made will taste a little different. November 2012 commenced the sales of our first and signature mead, Heritage. Since then we've grown to having our mead available in over 200 stores. The customer feedback has been overwhelming. It seems the time is right for something new and refreshing in the Mead market as well as the local wine industry.
