Sustainability
Mead is the most environmentally sustainable - dare we say, regenerative - alcoholic beverage.
Ethically and sustainably produced honey is the result of ecological systems of abundance. The harvest of honey by honeybees results in pollination of foods and proliferation of habitats.
Bees turn flowers into honey; we turn honey into mead. When we choose mead produced from ethically and sustainably produced honey, we are literally drinking the flowers of the crops we eat and the natural beauty all around us, leaving the world better than we found it as we enjoy beverages that sustain systemic health.
Local Terroir
Unfiltered mead maintains all of the characteristics of the raw, unfiltered Oregon honeys that we use in our meads.
Did you know that the vast majority of the “honeys” on the market are counterfeit (more than 70%), containing added flavors, dyes, fillers, and sugars? Not only does this mean that most “honeys” don’t contain local nectars and pollens; many of them don’t contain any nectars or pollens at all.
The honeys we use in our ranch wines can be traced to a time and place, tellings distinctly local Oregon stories of terrain, soil, climate, and tradition in artisanally-crafted ranch wines. We are fortunate to farm and produce in Oregon, which is one of the most prolific and diverse honey producing states in the country.
History
(Re)Discover the oldest alcoholic beverage ever consumed, pre-dating beer and grape wine by thousands of years! Just as grape wine is made when yeast ferment the sugars found in grapes, honey wine is made when yeast ferment the sugars found in flowers (honey).
Unlock a whole new world of beverages as elegant as grape wine, as creative/diverse as craft beer, and as approachable (and gluten-free!) as cider. It can be dry, sweet, simple, complex, made with grapes, fruits, hops, herbs, spices, barrel aged, and more.
So raise a glass of mead with your friends, loved ones, and the first humans to ever enjoy an alcoholic beverage!
Farm to Table
With such diverse, unique, and delicious flavor profiles, mead provides the perfect pairing partner to any local, farm fresh foods. Does it get more farm-to-table than a beverage produced from the flowers of the foods on your plate? Or should we say, blossom-to-bottle?
Support and eat local. Know your farmers.
At the Lazy Z Ranch, we utilize regenerative practices to foster systemic health by focusing on building healthy soil. We specialize in biodiverse Regenerative Bee Pastures (grazable pollinator habitat), ultra high density cattle grazing, and honey bees. The honey and our subsequent Estate honey wine is simply the excess harvested from the abundance of the regenerative system at the Lazy Z Ranch.