New Corvallis Meadery Nectar Creek is the Bee's Knees

| November 21, 2012 | mead, Oregon beer | 3 Comments
Nectar Creek Honeywine - Drink Great Mead!
Phil Lorenz of Nectar Creek HoneywineOver the past half decade Corvallis, Oregon has seen its craft brewing culture continue to grow. Breweries like Oregon Trail, Block 15, and Flat Tail and Corvallis Brewing Supply are now staples in the Willamette Valley college town. Corvallis even has an annual beer week to showcase its robust and thriving brew culture. Well, another brewing force now has a stake in the city. Nectar Creek is not a beer brewery, cidery, sakery or a winery, it is a meadery dedicated to the age old craft of fermenting with honey.
Founded by brothers Nick and Phil Lorenz, Nectar Creek began production in late September of 2012 on three 8.5-barrel fermenters and two 7-barrel conditioning tanks. “We are sourcing all of our honey from Queen Bee Honey Co., a local bee farm here in Corvallis, also my previous employers,” says Phil Lorenz.
Before becoming a mead maker, Phil was a homebrewer for about a decade and also worked as a commercial beekeeper where he tells us “I was the foreman managing 5,000 beehives.  I then went on to have a 200 hives of my own which I then sold and used the money to start a mead business.  My senior year of college, I did my thesis project on mead which concluded with a tasting panel evaluating the 10 different meads that I made.”
Bottles of Corvallis, Oregon's Nectar Creek Honeywine
Bees working hard at Queen Bee Honey Company
Nick Lorenz of Nectar Creek HoneywinePhil’s brother Nick has also been a homebrewer for several years.  “Our goal is to teach people that mead shouldn’t be a weird viking drink, but an awesome modern libation like craft beer and cider.” Phil states. “We are focusing on making dry, clean and delicious session meads that are slightly effervescent and just over 6% ABV.  We will start a barrel program and start doing one-offs and Belgian-inspired meads as soon as we can afford to.  We would like to grow big enough within five years to own a production facility on a farm where we can grow ingredients to put into our mead and maybe even start managing some of our own bees again.”

Prototype tap handle at Nectar Creek HoneywineNectar Creek Honeywine was created with a contagious energy to redefine the world’s oldest fermented beverage as a new and artful libation. All of our mead is handcrafted in small batches using the best ingredients the Pacific Northwest has to offer, highlighting specific blends of Willamette Valley honey, water and yeast to produce a sensational pint.

Nectar Creek is located just 200 feet down the road from Two Towns Ciders, in Corvallis at 33848 SE Eastgate Circle.

 

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About The Author

Angelo

Angelo grew up in Maine and is proud to call New England his original home. Cascadia is now his home. He fell in love with great beer in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California. He has been a correspondent for the Portland Tribune's Guest on Tap column, LivePDX.com, and has been featured in publications such as Beer Northwest and PDX Magazine. Angelo also has a great interest in independent music, and has been a booker and organizer for shows around the Portland under the name Pop Tomorrow! Angelo garnered much knowledge regarding beer from his experiences homebrewing, working at Belmont Station, Pyramid Brewing, Upright Brewing, By the Bottle, Beer Revolution, Olde Depot Public House, Falling Sky Brewing, Cascade Brewing, and from many many knowledgeable, passionate, and loving people along the way. It is Angelo's mission to bring "infotainment" and "edumation" to the readers of this website. If you have any questions or comments, or would like to contribute, please contact me at angelo@brewpublic.com

3 Comments
  1. Teka Lynn

    Just had some of the wildflower mead today. Excellent!

  2. Tara

    Hi, I was wondering if your meads contain gluten as I have discovered that some do while others do not. I am no longer able to drink beer but this has led me to the wonderful discovery of mead. I would like to try yours but could not find this information.