KAPA‘A — Bees buzzing in a lehua tree in the forests of Koke‘e served as inspiration for a product that came together on the heels of Mead Day, Saturday. “I was up in Koke‘e and heard the bees buzzing in
KAPA‘A — Bees buzzing in a lehua tree in the forests of Koke‘e served as inspiration for a product that came together on the heels of Mead Day, Saturday.
“I was up in Koke‘e and heard the bees buzzing in a lehua tree,” said Stephanie Krieger of Nani Moon Mead, a new business that now has product for people to sample.
Krieger said she signed the lease for her Kapa‘a shop almost a year ago, but only now, everything is coming together and she is able to offer her first of four planned mead to customers.
“We bottled our flagship batch of Pineapple Guava Sunset on July 20, and now, I am ready to promote Nani Moon Mead to Kaua‘i residents and visitors,” Krieger said.
With the initial bottling, Nani Moon Mead becomes the only meadery in the state of Hawai‘i, states the firm’s Web site.
Mead is closely related to honey wine and is directly involved with the legend of the “honeymoon,” Krieger said. Legend states that newlyweds would consume mead for one moon cycle following their wedding to promote well being and fertility.
Mead Day is an event organized by the American Homebrewers Association and is a national event designed to help increase camaraderie among homebrewers and meadmakers as well as introduce the meadmaking hobby, states the beertown Web site.
Krieger said mead is a fermented beverage made from honey that is sometimes referred to as honey wine. She said there is a difference in the product she offers because the true mead is simply honey, water and spices.
Nani Moon Mead offers the addition of other fermentables such as locally-grown fruit enhanced with spices, Krieger said.
Pineapple Guava Sunset, the first of four planned mead items, features pineapple from Maui, guava from the Big Island and Kaua‘i-produced honey from local beekeepers. The other varieties include a planned Limahuli Mead utilizing mountain apple, Winter Sun utilizing lilikoi and starfruit, and a Ginger Spice that will utilize starfruit, ginger and Winter spices.
“Since my first batches, produced in five-gallon batches, I’ve already made arrangements for pineapples from Koke‘e, although the guava still needs to come from the Big Island,” the Kapa‘a shopkeeper said.
A customer, stopping to pick up some omiyage from Kaua‘i, was pleased to find out the guava comes from the Big Island because his purchases were intended to people from there and he speculated that they would never suspect the use of guava in the mead.
Drawing from her major of marine biology with a minor in chemistry from the University of Miami, Krieger said she was inspired onto the mead road when she heard the bees in the lehua back in 1997.
She said her study in marine biology gave her insight into resource management and plays heavily into her mead offering, her purchases taking her into the arena of the county’s Sunshine Market where she makes contact with people that can possibly supply her with product for her fruit juices.
“The only thing that is flying in from off-island are the bottles and the cork sealing material,” Krieger said. “Even the labels are produced locally.”
She said she met up with Shastin Snyder who created the labels for the locally-produced mead through an art contest coordinated by the Kaua‘i Society of Artists.
Snyder — also an employee of The Garden Island — won the contest and since then, has become good friends with the meadmaker.
“Shastin was the only entrant that actually created a new design rather than use parts of other art,” Krieger said. “That impressed me, and since then, I feel so good about meeting her.”
Nani Moon Mead’s second offering, Limahuli Mead, is inspired by Krieger’s experiences volunteering at the Ha‘ena botanical garden where she saw the fields of mountain apple growing in the area.
“The season for mountain apple is late, this year, but I was able to get some from some local farmers, and should have enough to start a 200-gallon batch,” Krieger said. “The first batch should be out just about Thanksgiving.”
Krieger considers mead a Value Added product, her shop directly supporting and purchasing from local beekeepers and farmers.
“There are no sulfites, commonly used in the fermenting process,” Krieger told a customer. “Instead of using tannic acid, I found this black tea on O‘ahu that is made using an assortment of spices and flowers.”
Nani Moon Mead is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays behind the Kapa‘a location of Kaua‘i Pasta.
For more information, visit the firm’s Web site at www.nanimoonmead.com, or call 823-0486.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
