HI Craft Mead Co

Humble Beginnings

Melchemy Craft Mead originates from a hobby and passion born of beekeeping, herbalism, permaculture, and community. Mazer (maker of mead) Jeffree worked in the beekeeping industry and was a hobbyist beekeeper in Portland, Cascadia for several years. During this time he was also learning about medicinal and healing uses of herbs, deepening his understanding of permaculture principles, and building community with his housemates and neighbors. All of this created a context within which he expanded a general interest in brewing and fermentation to a full-on basement operation of mead and herb experiments. Inspired by the medicinal herb infused meads of centuries and millennia ago Europe and Africa, Jeffree sought to transfer some of those approaches to the use of local and native herbs and berries of the Cascadia Bioregion. Living at the urban homestead of Tabor Tilth, he was able to participate in the cultivation and harvest of many experimental ingredients. For better or worse, Jeffree’s growing community became the taste testers and recipients of many of those early experiments. After enough positive feedback, Jeffree enrolled in a small business development course through Mercy Corps Northwest which helped provide a foundation that he drew from to start the business in late 2015.