Antelope Ridge Celebrates Two Years
This upcoming weekend is Antelope Ridge Mead’s second birthday, and they have some pretty sweet things planned to celebrate.
With four different releases planned spanning Friday and Saturday, and free cake on Sunday, plus multiple glass giveaways — along with the standard 20 taps of mead, wine and cider — Antelope Ridge is really pulling out all the stops.
Being that Mead is oft-considered in the traditional sense of “just” fermented honey, Antelope Ridge is really pushing the boundaries and thinking outside the box in terms of the flavors they offer. We like to think of them as the “WeldWerks of Mead” right now, as they’ve leaned into processes and flavor combinations that our friends up in Greeley do so well. We talked with owner Dan Kesterson over email to ask him a few questions about his approach.
Mead is often thought of as a historical-style beverage, but Antelope Ridge’s mead doesn’t always stick to tradition. How has the reception been for your out-of-the box styles and flavors?
Great question!
We approach Mead with a creativity born from our love of the craft beer industry. We think that unique flavors set us apart from the competion and invite craft beer drinkers to cross over and try something new. At the same time, we never use gimmicks to hide a defect in our products. Also, we do produce traditional meads to satisfy those looking for a more historical Mead experience, and our sucess at competitions indicates that we place a high priority on producing the highest quality products for our guests to enjoy!
How has the past two years been for Antelope Ridge, and what do you have planned for the future?
Over the first 2 years, we've really strived to bring higher levels of quality and creativity to the mead scene in Colorado. Moving forward, we will continue to innovate processes and ingredient selection while expanding our barrel-aging program and increasing the diversity of our offerings. We plan to slowly expand our retail presence and festival participation moving forward without sacrificing quality or innovation at any step of the way.
Here’s what to expect from their anniversary:
Friday
Tumbler Glass Giveaway(while supplies last)
Mead Releases:
Moondancer | 13% ABV | $26.
“The resulting mead is bursting with blueberry flavor, with a inky blue color. This is a sweet mead, but the vanilla and barrel-aging provide balance and complexity.”
The base mead was made with local wildflower honey and organic blueberries from Oregon. After fermentation ended in June 2022, the mead was racked into Antelope Ridge’s award-winning Time & Space barrel which also contained toasted French oak. After 9 months in the barrel, they added Madagascar Bourbon and Tahitian vanilla beans to condition for 2 more months.
Tupelo Reserve | 12% ABV | $22
“Expect flavors of key lime, a hint of vanilla, a touch of cinnamon, and a subtle creaminess. This is a sweet traditional mead, and is best savored slowly. ”
Tupelo Reserve is Antelope Ridge’s traditional Mead made with Georgia Tupelo blossom honey and French white wine yeast, fermented low and slow to preserve the unique flavors, then aged on toasted French oak.
Saturday
Porkbutt BBQ 4-8pm
Mead Releases
Undercurrants | 13% ABV
A black currant and Mexican orange blossom honey mead aged in a rare Distillery 291 malt whiskey barrel for 4 months, conditioned on Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Beans
CC Crush | 14% ABV
Antelope Ridge Mead’s award-winning Cotton Candy grape mead is back with clover blossom, orange blossom, and sunflower honey.
