The Hive Winery [September 2022]

So, you would think that by now I would know not to be so easily taken in by the word “winery” in the name of a winery. [Haha!!] By this, I mean that when I find out about a new winery, I get all excited about going for a wine tasting... but then sometimes when I get there, I find out that they do not actually serve wine like the wine I am used to tasting. I’m usually not too disappointed, though, because it is still a new experience and I always have fun; there simply is no other outcome that I will allow!!

By definition, wine is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting crushed grapes. Also, a winery is defined as a place where grapes are crushed, fermented, aged, and bottled. Did you see the use of the word grapes?? Well, as it turns out, there is a substance called honey wine, an ancient alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey with water and yeast. I did not know at the time that it is also known as mead. If you remember, my friend Katie Gordy and I had stopped at a meadery in Flagstaff many blogs ago.

Neither one of us really cared too much for the taste of mead. Here's a news flash… I still don’t!! LOL!! Since you had to sign up for a reservation and they offered a pairing of food with the “wine” they were serving, I was going to give them the benefit of the doubt. They also made the wine tasting kind of like a class, to tell you all about their “wine” and how they made it. It was actually a good time, as you can see from the photo below, and it also tasted pretty good too. [For what it was... haha]

I did not purchase any honey wine, but I did go home with some of their other spirits. Let's talk about the owners, Jay and Lori Yahne. They were both civil engineers during the severe economic recession in 2008. They already had a love for winemaking and blending fruits, so one day, with the offhanded comment that maybe their mutual passionate hobby could become their full-time profession!! They came up with The Hive Winery name to honor their crafting of meads, which are made mostly from honey, and due to Utah’s moniker as the Beehive State.

Together they built The Hive into a one-of-a-kind winery and distillery, the first brandy distillery in Utah with the smallest commercial still. [an apparatus used to distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor]

In 2010, Jay and Lori opened The Hive Winery and Spirits Company. We’ve already discussed the definition of honey wine, [or mead] but they specialize in “non-grape” fruit wines, known as melomels. A type of mead, fermented honey wine that is made with the addition of other fruits.

The Yahne's make their wine using fruit and honey from local farmers as much as possible. They work closely with their fruit farmers to get the fruits at the peak of ripeness. This could be why I didn’t mind drinking them, or it could have been the food pairings, who knows!? Who even cares!? LOL!! The point is I had a great time, and I enjoyed the entire tasting and the educational experience. In addition, they create hard apple ciders, brandies, and other specialty spirits. Those other spirits are some of which I ended up purchasing to take home.

If you can believe this, next week Wine with Wixy will be back in Arizona and visiting yet another meadery. Despite all my previous experiences with mead, I had to go support this new local place near us in Cave Creek. We have never had any places around us where you could go for a tasting before!! The big difference here too is that I KNOW this place serves mead and not actual wine. I don't know why, but that makes a difference.

Cheers to you my wine loving friends, and TTFN!!