One of these days I’m going to reload all of my columns from the past 25 years on this site.

Till then, check out my other website: Philly Beer World.

The city’s first commercial meadery in more than 100 years opened this month, launched by a pair of millennials in a 19th-century North Philly warehouse.

In a little-noticed milestone, Philadelphia Mead Well began public sale of the ancient alcoholic beverage, also known as honey wine. Though the region in recent years has seen an explosion of breweries, distilleries, wineries and even a few cidermakers, this is the city’s first fulltime meadery since the 1800s.

It’s the brainchild of Daniel Popil, originally from Ukraine, where mead and a fermented honey drink known as medovuha, are popular drinks. The Fishtown resident has partnered with a friend, Carter Krafft, to launch a small mead house that can produce about 150 gallons a month.

Corked bottles of fruit- and hops-flavored mead should be making their way into stores shortly, with draft varieties headed to local bars as well. Additionally, later this summer the pair will open a tasting room at their facility, inside a converted industrial site at 3525 I Street in the Harrowgate section of the city.

Inside, the space looks like a typical small brewery, with a couple of stainless tanks, sacks of ingredients and lots of kegs. It’s a modest operation, but already the two are producing some exceptional flavors.

Drilling Fig (11% abv) is light and delicate, with a lasting fig flavor in the finish. Drill Bit Hoperator, made with orange blossom honey, smells like a west coast IPA, but with a satisfying honey character.

Neither are not particularly sweet – thanks to a high-attenuation process in which nutrients and carbon dioxide are added during fermentation, to reduce residual sugar in the finished product, according to Krafft, who has a chemical science background.

Though mead has a long, long history that evokes images of Beowulf and medieval warriors, it is still a largely unknown drink in America. Despite a recent spate of growth, there are still fewer than 500 meaderies nationwide – compared to more than 7,000 breweries and 8,000 wineries.

Around Philadelphia, there are just two: Colony Meadery in Allentown and Haymaker Meadery in Montgomeryville. At least one local cider maker, Original XIII in Kensington, has dabbled with mead as well.

The local dearth is due largely to Pennsylvania’s typically inane liquor regs, under which mead is generally classified as wine. Until recently, that meant it could be sold only in state liquor stores, where statewide fewer than 20 brands – most of them imported – have made it onto the LCB’s notoriously unimaginative inventory list.

A recent regulatory change that allows beer stores to sell some wine to-go has paved the way for small mead-makers to reach a wider audience. Mead Well hopes to take advantage of that new opportunity.

“People have a concept of beer; they have a concept of wine. But mead is undefined for most people,” said Krafft. “That means we can do things outside the norm. We can bring a whole new experience to people. I don’t know what that will look like. But right now, we’re not bound by anything.”

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Historical note: I had thought that Philadelphia Mead Well could be the city’s first-ever commercial mead house. But a bit of research, with the help of Philadelphia brewery historian Rich Wagner, reveals evidence of some 19th-century operations.

Based on online sales of antique stoneware bottles it appears a Philadelphia bottler named George S. Twitchell made mead in the 1880s. An advertisement in the Ephemera Collection at the Library Company of Philadelphia mentions something called “Phila. Cream Mead” made by S. Twitchell & Bro. at 225 Vine Street. (“Our motto: Full Weight, Measure, Count and Quality.”)

And Wagner pointed me to U.S. Census reports from the same era that mention a handful of companies that made “meade and mineral water.” Among them: McKinney & Co. at 614 S. 6th St.

I found no evidence of any post-Prohibition Philadelphia mead houses. If you know of any others, comment below.

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The 10 most ridiculous brewery rules issued today by the N.J. ABC.

1. It is illegal to make or sell coffee at a brewery.*
2. But soda is OK.
3. Happy hours are prohibited.
4. Quizzo cannot be promoted on social media without a permit.
5. No sales of art or handmade craft work on the premises.
6. No amplified music without a special one-day permit, approved by the local police chief.
7. To-go beer sold during off-premises events (e.g. festivals) must be warm.
8. No beer can be tapped at a brewery’s outdoor beer garden.
9. And waitstaff can’t serve you outdoors, either.
10. It’s OK to sell hard pretzels in a bag, but not soft pretzels.

*Rules apply to so-called limited breweries, the majority of breweries in New Jersey. They don’t apply to wineries.

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A big, new player is moving into Philly Beer World: Night Shift Brewing, a fast-growing brewer out of Massachusetts. The company is planning to develop the former Penn Beer distribution warehouse on Domino Lane in the Roxborough section of the city as a brewery with a tasting room.

Though no details have been released, site plans show it has the potential to be huge, by craft beer standards. The entire facility is about 140,000 square feet – or the size of Yards’ brewery on Spring Garden Street and the massive Workhorse facility in King of Prussia, combined.

Theoretically, that’s at least enough space to produce a half-million barrels annually. As little as seven years ago, Night Shift was brewing on a 3.5-barrel system and bottling its beer by hand. Currently, it makes about 50,000 barrels a year out of two locations around Boston, plus a contracting arrangement with Smuttynose Brewing.

While Night Shift is known for a wide assortment of new releases, it focuses on a handful of brands for wider distribution, including Santilli IPA, The 87 double IPA and Whirlpool pale ale.

A representative of the property’s owner told a community meeting this week that the project would include a 10,000-square foot tasting room that’s about the size of the Yards’ 280-seat restaurant on Spring Garden Street. Asked how long before the brewery was up and running, he said, “Certainly not this year.”

So, why come to Philly? Turns out Night Shift has a local connection: Two of the company’s founders grew up in the city and one of them attended Philadelphia University.

Yuengling Steam?

You might know that Anchor Brewing long ago claimed trademark rights to “Steam Beer,” though the old-time hybrid method of brewing is a widely recognized as generic beer style. The trademark eventually led competitors and others to rename the style as “California Common.”

What you may not know is that D.G. Yuengling & Sons, America’s oldest brewery, operated the James River Steam Brewery in Richmond, Va., until 1879. It was a big deal, and today its tunnels are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Yuengling held onto the steam brewery’s trademark until 2008, according to the Libation Law Blog. Last year, it filed to revive the trademark which – not surprisingly – prompted lawyers for Anchor Brewing to file an objection.

Stay tuned (and h/t to Inspector Bob Benash for the heads up).

Beer Radar

Speaking of Yuengling, America’s oldest beer maker plans to build a hotel – yes, a hotel – near its Tampa brewery. The 200-room beer-themed facility will include a small brewhouse, beer garden, tasting room and restaurant. Sounds like it’ll be an instant attraction for Phillies fans who flock to the region each year for spring training baseball…

The planned Larimer Brewery in Chester is teaming up with Evil Genius Brewing for bus rides to Philadelphia Union soccer games. Grab the bus in Fishtown for a ride to Larimer (located next to Talen Energy Stadium. Bus tix ($25) include 10 percent off your Evil Genius bill, with a $15 tailgate option. Next game game is June 8… The Adventure Aquarium now has a beer garden where you can drown your boredom while the kids enjoy the fish ‘n critters. Make sure you grab a glass of Flying Fish Watermelon Splash, brewed in honor of the aquarium’s Genny and Button, the friendly resident hippos…

Hollow Earth (Chesco) says it will close its pub in Oxford and sell it as a turnkey operation soon, though it will continue brewing (presumably as a contract operation)… Artifact Brewing (Hatboro, Montco), which hopes to open this summer, has launched Friends of Artifact, to raise funds for its build-out. Support levels, from $10 to $1,000, get you shwag, bottle reserves and more.

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