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WADMALAW ISLAND — Hopped passion fruit. Oaked maple. Wildflower and orange blossom aged in bourbon barrels .
These are just a few of the approximately 700 varieties of mead Mitchell Simpson has whipped up since Bears Bluff Meadery launched in 2020. With the business, Simpson, along with Deep Water Vineyard owner Jesse and Andrea Freiwald, hope to showcase the range of an alcoholic beverage believed to have been spawned about 9,000 years ago in Northern China. “It’s just been really successful for us,” Jesse Freiwald said.
“We’re seeing just a lot of excitement for it.” Bears Bluff is a spinoff of Deep Water Vineyard, a 48-acre winery that produces four grape varietals. Where wine is made by fermenting grapes, mead is produced from honey, water and yeast.
Simpson, who worked at wineries and breweries before moving to South Carolina, makes many of Bears Bluff’s meads using honey from the Wadmalaw Island property. The alcoholic beverage is then infused with ingredients like hops and fruits from nearby farms, including blackberry, pineapple, pomegranate and lime. “We’re constantly experimenting,” Simpson said.
Those efforts have resulted in an award-winning mead made in collaboration with Firefly Distillery. It’s also created a new revenue stream for Deep Water Vineyard, which will house a new mead production area that Simpson and the Freiwalds hope will help the beverage reach a wider population. Deep Water Vineyard is located on Wadmalaw Island.
For now, the winery sells a range of meads for on-premise consumption. Draft meads have a lower ABV and can be likened to a seltzer, while still meads drink like wines. Both types are gluten-free.
Bears Bluff’s bottled meads are available at Savannah Bee Company in downtown Charleston, but Simpson and Freiwald envision a future in which it’s sold to breweries and other businesses looking for a non-beer option. One challenge to sustainable growth will be the cost of producing meads with locally-sourced ingredients. “It’s really true to the fruit,” Simpson said.
“Even though it’s the more difficult way to go, I think it’s the right way to go.” Deep Water Vineyard, 6775 Bears Bluff Road, is open from 10 a.m.
-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
For more information, visit deepwatervineyard.com ..
