6-12-18 Raphael Lyon – Enlightenment Wines – Making Natural (Wild) Meads

Photo by Matt Furman

6-12-18 Tonight we're hanging out with Raphael Lyon, owner of Enlightenment Wines in Brooklyn, NY.

Enlightenment Wines started out as a small part time farm winery in 2009 by Raphael Lyon. In 2015 Lyon reached out to Anthony Rock and Arley Marks with the intent to join forces and grow Enlightenment Wines into a full scale production meadery with a tasting room and cocktail bar in Brooklyn New York.

Enlightenment is a little different from many meaderies, in that they are heavily focused on 'natural' or 'wild' meadmaking. They work with wild yeasts, unfiltered honey, and local herbs to create unique meads that Arley also mixes into signature cocktails that he has developed and serves at Enlightenment's bar, 'Honeys'. Their honey is diluted with well water and combined with various botanicals, fruit or fruit juices that are available locally and seasonally, and then fermented in wood barrels until there are no sugars remaining. In some cases they ferment in stainless steel or glass. They primarily use wild yeast that already exists on the fruits and in their honey.

The wild, or 'natural' wine/mead making movement has been gaining popularity lately, and you can read more about it in this article.

Contact them at [email protected]

If you want us to tackle your mead making questions, you can send us a question and we'll tackle it online!
9PM EDT/6PM PDT
Join us on live chat during the show
Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow.

This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.

Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes!

Show links and notes

Danny Acevedo - Modern Mead Making Videos
BJCP
The Flavor Bible
Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff
The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff

Upcoming Events

June 16 - Groennfell Meadery - Asian Influence - A Traditional Renaissance Feast
June 18 - Superstition Mead vs Bottle Logic Pairing (a Mikkeller event at Mikkeller bar NTDA)
June 24 - Rabbits Foot Meadery - Guided Mead and Cheese Pairing
August 4-5 - B.NektarPalooza - International Beer, Cider and Mead Festival

Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at [email protected] and tell us about it!