B. Nektar Meadery

Specialties

B. Nektar makes meads (honey wines) that extend beyond the traditional honey wine. With so many varieties of honey, how could we not? We let our imaginations guide us.

B. Nektar Meadery was founded in 2006 by Brad and Kerri Dahlhofer, with the help of their good friend Paul Zimmerman. In the summer of 2006, Kerri was laid-​off from her job. While sipping a glass of vanilla cinnamon mead made by Brad, she thought, «why not try to sell this?» It was then that the three decided to take their mead making to the next level. In the spring of 2008, Brad too fell victim to layoffs, and the three worked night and day to prepare for their opening. After nearly two years since its inception, B. Nektar finally opened it’s doors on August 2, 2008 (National Mead Day).

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History

Established in 2006.

B. Nektar Meadery was founded in 2006 by Brad and Kerri Dahlhofer, with the help of their good friend Paul Zimmerman. Brad has been an avid homebrewer since 1998, making beers, meads, ciders and wine for his own enjoyment. When Brad and Kerri got married in 2005, he made a mead to toast with at their wedding and received great reviews from the guests. Jokingly, he said that he’d someday open a meadery. Paul, a long-​time friend and fellow homebrewer, soon began making meads along with Brad in the Dahlhofers’ basement. Their meads quickly began winning awards at homebrewing competitions.

Meet the Business Owner

Brad D.

Business Owner

I started homebrewing in 1998 after developing a taste for craft beer. I couldn’t afford to drink the beer I liked all the time, so I learned how to brew it myself. In the back of the brewing book The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, there was an appendix section on mead. I was fascinated and eventually tried to make a batch. It was horrible! I knew that it was I that had made some kind of mistake because the author spoke of mead as if it was the most magical of beverages. I became a little obsessed with making it better, and better.

In 2005, Kerri and I got married. We decided to make a mead that we’d toast during our wedding celebration instead of Champagne. The mead went over very well, and many people congratulated my handiwork. I had even, jokingly, told some that I though I might open a meadery some day. Little did I know, the obsession would continue, and B. Nektar would be in my future only 1 year later.