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8A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, July 3,2019
Photos by Jessica Taylor Dawson County News
Derek Piper established BeeCraft Mead Company in Dawsonville in September 2017.
Derek Piper has won many awards for his meads since 2010.
FROM 1A
Mead
In popular culture, the beverage
is featured in The Canterbury
Tales, Beowulf, Harry Potter, Lord
of the Rings, Game of Thrones and
the Bud Light “Dilly Dilly” com
mercials.
“We kind of hit it just right
(around) Game of Thrones. It’s
kind of fun people relate to that,”
Piper said. “The ‘Dilly Dilly’ com
mercials were a huge help because
people started wondering ‘what’s
mead?”’
Piper began home brewing beers
and meads in his Colorado home
in 1998. His passion continued
after he moved to north Georgia 13
years ago.
As he became more serious
about his craft, Piper began offer
ing samples of his craft creations to
his friends who were quick to
encourage him.
But it wasn’t until 2010 when
Piper began entering his mead in
state and national competitions,
searching for constructive criticism
and feedback from judges so he
could make his product better.
“I made one mead back in 2010.
My first one I ever put in (to com
petitions) was all my garden’s stuff
in there and I thought it was won
derful, and my friends were telling
me it was great. I realized two les
sons learned: everybody likes their
own stuff, your friends like free
alcohol,” Piper said. “A judge
ripped it. They were going ‘Oh this
tastes like salad dressing’ and I got
a 17 out of 50 ... that’s when I
started realizing you’ve really got
to get things in competitions other
wise you’re going to be doing
nothing but making people home
brew.”
Piper continued to hone his reci
pes and entered numerous compe
titions including the National
Homebrew Competition, the
Georgia Trustees Wine Challenge,
the Domra’s Cup, Meadlennium
International, the Peach State
Brew, and the U.S. Open where his
Dark Pearls — a blueberry and
black currant mead wine — took
home Best in Show in 2015.
After finding success in the
competition circuit, gaining credi
bility and using judges’ feedback
to improve his mead, Piper opened
up The BeeCraft Mead Company
in Dawsonville in 2017. It will cel
ebrate its second anniversary in
September.
“I think we were a year or two
early and now we’re just starting to
hit the stride,” Piper said.
Interest in mead has swelled
across the nation in the last few
years. In 2013 there were only 40
meaderies in the U.S. Now there
are more than 400.
At Piper’s meadery, he offers
a traditional mead, a ginger
spiced mead, a blueberry and
black currant mead wine as
well as meads made from wild-
flower blooms and a mead
infused with citrus and habane-
ro.
“I try to choose products that
have two ingredients that are com
peting,” Piper said. “Probably the
two things about our meadery that
set us apart a little bit is that we
make sure that the honey is for
ward. You always taste honey in
our mead. Even our spice mead,
the ginger mead, you can tell is a
honey mead. And usually most of
the time we try to get a little bit of
complexity where there’s two
ingredients balancing each other
some way, so like blueberries and
black currant.”
Piper is currently working on
some special flavors to release later
this year for the fall and winter sea
sons.
A lot of work goes in to creating
mead for a mead maker, but even
more work for the honey makers.
In one honeybee’s lifetime, it
will produce about l/12th of a tea
spoon of honey. According to
Piper, in one bottle of mead you’ll
find on average the life’s work of
more than 1,300 honeybees that
have traveled thousands of miles to
up to a million bloom visits. That’s
why BeeCraft Mead Co.’s slogan
is “a million blooms in every bot
tle.”
“Literally the bee in somebody’s
backyard could be making their
mead,” Piper said.
Of course working with honey
can be nerve wracking, Piper said,
because it’s not something you
want to mess up.
Honey is expensive, and
depending on the type of honey
and if it was a fruitful or unfruitful
year, the price of honey can climb.
For instance, next month BeeCraft
Mead is preparing to launch its
Tupelo honey based mead - one of
the most expensive honeys
because of the flower’s short
bloom season.
“That’s going to be our next
‘wow’ mead,” Piper said. “That’s
going to be our award winner. We
can tell that already.”
Dawson County was an easy
choice for Piper to set up his mead
ery and tasting room. The empha
sis on agritourism businesses, the
availability of local beehives and
access to the Etowah River were
all factors that made Piper choose
Dawson.
“As we grow we definitely
would like to have more hives
here,” Piper said. “There’s a lot of
land that can’t be used for anything
else. It’s too hilly for houses. It’s
too hilly for residential areas, but
bees will be perfect.”
The BeeCraft Mead Company is
at 30 Industrial Park Road in
Dawsonville and is open from 5:30
to 7:30 p.m. Fridays, 1 to 6 p.m.
Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays.
® A million blooms in every bottle ...
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Arrest Reports
June 24
Brittany Lynn Johnson, 30,
Jacksonville: Driving while license sus
pended/revoked.
Jennifer Watson Knight, 43,
Cumming: Theft by shoplifting, five
counts manufacture/sale/distribution of
false ID document.
Ashley Victoria Switzer, 25,
Dawsonville: Possession of marijuana
less than one ounce, drug related
objects, reckless conduct.
Clayton Eugene Joshua Thompson, 22,
Dawsonville: Battery/family violence, cru
elty to children in the third degree, posses
sion of marijuana less than one ounce,
drug related objects, reckless conduct.
Alexis Renae Thome, 37, Lawrenceville:
Exploitation and intimidation of disabled
adult/elder person or resident, neglect to
disabled adult/elder person or resident,
unauthorized distributions and dispensa
tion, distribution of a controlled substance.
June 25
Ricky Andrew Abernathy, 27,
Alpharetta: Probation violation/felony.
Michelle Lynn Cantrell, 50,
Dahlonega: Burglary in the second
degree, theft by taking.
Pascual Rosales Castillo, 57,
Gainesville: Holding/supporting wire
less telecommunication device.
Andrew Justin Harris, 28, Commerce:
Criminal trespass, theft by shoplifting.
Kenton Chase Padgett, 29, Maggie Valley,
N.C.: Probation violation/misdemeanor.
Jacy Joanna Shepard, 21, Cumming:
Possession of a controlled substance.
Ethan Cosmo Simmons, 21, Cumming:
Possession of a controlled substance.
June 26
Jody Lee Chadwick, 45, Dawsonville:
Failure to register as a sex offender, pro
bation violation/felony.
Christopher Kyle Harris, 47,
Dawsonville: Parole violation.
Joseph Michael King, 35, Gainesville:
Bench warrant/failure to appear in court.
Douglas Charles Martin, 46,
Dawsonville: Bench warrant/failure to
appear in court.
June 27
Dustin Maurice Holland, 43,
Dawsonville: Serving county sentence.
Amy Louise Hull, 68, Dahlonega:
Serving county sentence.
Dylan Welles Morse, 35, Dawsonville:
Serving county sentence.
Emily Faith Oliver, 35, Dawsonville:
Serving county sentence.
Danielle Jessica Ray, 29, Dawsonville:
Failure to comply/pre-trial.
June 28
Joyce Yvonne Brackett, 58,
Dawsonville: DUl/alcohol. failure to
maintain lane.
Wenda Quarles Davenport, 54,
Dawsonville: Theft by shoplifting, theft
by deception.
Shane Robert Allen Goodmon, 36,
Dawsonville: Aggravated assault/family
violence, simple battery/family vio
lence, two counts cruelty to children in
the third degree.
Rory Karsten Huebner, 31,
Gainesville: Probation violation/felony.
Clyde Ray Huskins, 51, Dawsonville:
Failure to register as a sex offender.
Jessica Anne Remillard, 38,
Dahlonega: Driving while license sus
pended/revoked, no proof of insurance,
suspended vehicle registration.
June 29
David Keith Adamietz, 51,
Dawsonville: Possession of marijuana
less than one ounce, four counts posses
sion of a controlled substance, no tag
light, no brake lights or working turn
signals.
Catherine Ann Chumbley, 27,
Dawsonville: DUl/cndangcring child
under 14, DUl/alcohol.
Samuel Bobby Scroggins, 49,
Dawsonville: Charges pending.
June 30
Samuel Marin Bruce, 19, Cumming:
Charges pending.
Joey Aaron Gee, 41, Gainesville:
Acquiring license plate for purpose of
concealing identity of vehicle, suspend
ed vehicle registration, DUI/drugs less
safe, failure to wear seat belt.
Michael Eugene Morgan, 47,
Dahlonega: Hold for other agency.
Hector Alberto Rodriguez De La
Cerda, 44, Houston, Texas: Driving
without license.
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