Local Mead for the People
1634 Meadery, located in Ipswich, has been our go-to meadery ever since we opened in 2015. Not only is 1634 Mead local and unique, but Dan and Deb Clapp, and their team, are wonderful people to work with. This past week, we interviewed 1634 Meadery owner and mead maker, Dan Clapp, to check in and ask him how 1634 is faring through Covid, and to learn a bit more how 1634 started. We just brought in Dan’s newest fall mead flavors including Devil’s Footprint, Wicked Wench, Viking Victory, Strawberry Fields, Jason’s Blunder, and Lightkeeper. Shop mead here and learn more about each of the available flavors! Enjoy this interview with the North Shore’s main mead expert, Dan Clapp!
Hi Dan! Can you tell us a bit about yourself, your team, and how you started 1634 Meadery?
Deb and Dan Clapp (Photo credit: Wicked Local)
After discovering mead on a genealogy trip to Denmark, I got a passion for making this wonderful beverage - it was new to me, exciting and different (and fermentable). After homebrewing mead for 10 years, my wife and I decided to open the meadery, changing gears from a 25-year career as an Ocean Engineer. We closed our eyes, and jumped off the proverbial cliff, into a new life as owners of a microbrew meadery! Who would ever show up in the historic town of Ipswich, looking for mead?! Well, it turns out, a lot of people! We named the meadery ‘1634,’ as a historical reference to the start of the town, where I can trace many of my ancestors who settled in the area after migration from mostly England.
Now, after 5 years of operation, we are a successful business, and have two long term employees, Bethany and Max, who are fantastic. My wife Deb, while continuing teaching, helps both physically and mentally! We have had several part time employees through the years, helping out with production, farmers markets and tasting room sales. What a great team we have!
Photo credit: Anna Bettencourt
We’ve read that mead is not “honey wine,” but actually its own thing. Can you describe this a bit more in detail?
Well, mead really is "honey-wine.” Most of the origins of the word "mead" can be traced to northern Europe, with "honey" and "water" being the base of the word. To make mead at the most basic level, you just add water to raw honey. This will allow the honey to become fermentable, and the wild yeast, normally present in the honey, will start the process. Add a little time, and voilà! You have mead! We like to think that we do it a bit more sophisticated, but Mr. and Mrs. Caveman would have made it that way.
What’s one (or more!) cool thing(s) about the history of mead that you’d like to share with the world?
The oldest record I have seen about mead production comes from an archaeology dig in China, where 8,000-year-old clay pots were determined to have contained mead.
The word "Ambrosia" and the phrase "Nectar of the Gods" both trace their origins to mead.
The term "honey-moon" can be traced back to cultures of northern Europe, where as a dowry, the newlywed couples were given one month (one lunar cycle, or "moon") supply of mead (honey) to help increase fertility. (I think it worked.)
How has it been during the time of Covid? How have you pivoted your business?
Like everyone, we have had to shift and adjust. We were able to continue to make mead throughout, and have been selling bottles of mead in our little store. We shifted to online sales only, for mailing and pickup, during the first two months of the Covid crisis. The good news is that people have been very supportive and because alcohol is ‘essential,’ we were able to make it through these critical months.
What’s the current status with 1634’s tasting room?
We opened a patio outside in our parking lot for mead tastings outdoors to sample our mead. We actually are thinking we might continue this even after Covid! People enjoy sitting and having a glass of mead and enjoying the fall weather! Bethany and Deb made the space very cozy and warm. A couple of local businesses loaned us some barrels to use as decorations and tables - thanks to Privateer Rum and Far From the Tree Cider!
Can you bring us through a day in the life of Dan Clapp?
Oh let’s, see, shall I do some finances or pay taxes? Maybe we should make some more mead, and possibly fit in a bottling run this week. Or should we make some rounds to our wholesale customers and get some mead out to the area towns? Or, shall we have fun today, and try and make some mead from honey and grapes I have growing in the backyard? That sounds like what we should do today! Unless, we want to get out in the boat...
What music are you listening to right now while you drink mead?
1960's Rock. Keep it simple!
Do you have any suggestions of new Netflix or TV shows that we should watch while we drink mead?
Hey, I'm a small business owner, I don't have time to watch TV! (Although Vikings, Game of Thrones, and Ragnarok are fan faves.)
When should one drink mead and at what temperature?
We like to say at the meadery that we do not have any rules! You can drink mead before, during or after dinner, depending on the style. I like my mead at room temperature, my wife likes some meads chilled, on ice, or even as part of a cocktail. Try the mead and see where and how it fits in. We also have an extensive mead cocktail list we have compiled. Always feel free to ask us!
What are some of your favorite 1634 flavors right now?
Always Viking Victory, especially this time of year. It’s a spiced mead to drink while you sit by the fire pit and plan your pillaging. We just re-released Lightkeeper, a blueberry lemon mead that is a favorite of Deb's. And our latest creation, by Bethany, is a called Liberty, a very mellow night-capper with clover honey, chamomile and lavender.
What’s coming up for 1634 this fall? What are you looking forward to?
Fall is always a popular time for mead and my personal favorite time of year. Crisp fall nights lend themselves to sipping mead by the fire or as a nightcap. In this regard we have been working for over a year on a "port" style mead. This new stout beverage will be a fortified blueberry mead, aged for well over a year. We think this one will be quite special. We can't wait for it!
