To bee or not to bee, there is no question.
This is especially true in the case of Heidrun Meadery at Point Reyes Station, where one can always expect to find plenty of bees, meads and all-around apiary expertise.
“Anyone passing through Point Reyes can stop and smell the impressive California wildflower array on display at Heidrun Meadery, which has been planted out with a blend of 23 native varieties of pollinator-friendly flowers (for the bees, of course),” said Gordon Hull, founder and owner. “The effect is as bucolic as it is beneficial, not only for the meadery and its bees, but for the surrounding ecosystem as well.
“There’s an abundance of wildflowers growing, and it’s a beautiful place to visit and so colorful,” continued Hull. “It’s great to have a glass of mead in your hand and see bees actively collecting nectar to make into honey to make into the mead that’s in your glass, which is a cool thing for our customers.”
Hull founded Heidrun Meadery in 1997 and moved the operation to its Point Reyes location over a decade ago in 2012. His passion for making mead actually began after he left his career as a geologist and while he was learning to brew beer. What began as an urge to experiment with sparkling wine led him to an entire career based on learning to make perfectly effervescent honey mead.
“We right now have over a dozen varietals available, and each one is made from a different kind of honey,” explained Hull. “So, bees collecting nectar from sage flowers get a certain flavor of honey, or orange blossoms in an orange orchard…Our meads can range anywhere from a champagne experience to a more Belgian beer experience.”
“Herbal or earthy, fruity or floral, just the experience of going through a tasting flight here can be a mind-blowing experience of these perfumes coming off these meads and our aromatics we may associate with something in our past that can be hard to define,” said Hull.
Those interested in visiting the meadery are welcome to stop by to simply sip a flute (or flight) of mead or to peruse through products in the meadery’s shop. Or, for the real honey lovers out there, the meadery offers a comprehensive “flower to flute” experience, allowing guests to don beekeeping suits and take to the hives for a mead-making lesson that starts in the meadows and ends with a belly full of mead.
“You first get a tour of our farm and learn about our pollinator forage farmscape,” explained Heidrun’s general manager, Michael Zilber. “You learn about the flowers themselves, then suit up and go into the hives with our two beekeepers, Bonnie and Gary Morse…They teach you all about the bees and their behaviors—you might even get to pet the bees!”
Alongside learning about bees, guests will also have a chance to harvest honey straight from the hives and bring it to the production barn. There, the lesson continues as guests learn to open the frames, access the honey and turn it into mead.
“You get to go home with a jar of honey you helped to extract, then you learn how to take that honey to produce our sparkling mead,” said Zilber. “You then get a full tour while tasting through a flight of our varietals, and you literally trace the whole process, from the flowers to the bees to the extraction to taking that honey and turning it into mead, all while enjoying the mead.”
Heidrun Meadery is open every day of the week from 11am to 5pm and is located at 11925 on State Route 1 in Point Reyes Station. For more information, to reserve a table or to inquire about the full flower to flight experience, call 415-663-9122 or visit the Heidrun website at heidrunmeadery.com.
