CORVALLIS, Ore. (KMTR) – Hoping to make a big addition to Oregon’s brewing dominance, a new Corvallis brewing company is opening its doors and taking on a growing piece of the fermentation industry, not brewing beer… but brewing honey.
Two brothers, Phil and Nick Lorenz have just opened up their “mead” brewing business called “Nectar Creek Honeywine.”
Mead is a lesser known alcohol-based drink in the brewing scene. The drink is made from fermented honey, typically called “honey wine.”
Corvallis natives, The Lorenz brothers have been home brewing for years but decided more recently to take their talents to the market, seeing that they know a thing or two about honey.
Phil was most recently a beekeeper. He helped raise the bees and honey that he is now using in the mead that Nectar Creek Honeywine is brewing.
Nectar Creek says there's a growing interest in other fermented drinks, alongside beer.
"The brewing industry is still growing but its kind of hit a plateau and I think that there's room for more interesting drinks,” says Phil Lorenz, co-owner of Nectar Creek Honeywine.
“You know, the beer industry has maxed out the “hoppiest” beers you can make and now it's time for the mead makers to start doing more interesting and introduce new drinks to diversify the market,” says Lorenz.
In the next month, Nectar Creek Honeywine will begin bottling their product and selling it in Corvallis and Eugene. It is also hoping to put some of it on tap throughout the region.
Some of the honey wine that Nectar Creek is making will be around 6% alcohol. The Lorenz brothers say with that level of alcohol, the drink will taste different like wine, but can still be sipped like a pint of beer.
Nectar Creek Honeywine is also growing out of the space that another Corvallis brewer, "2 Towns Ciderhouse,” just moved out of.
