Wehrloom Honey & Meadery

Over the past nine years, Wehrloom has grown from our walkout basement into a manufacturing facility and retail store where we harvest and package honey, produce a full line of skin care products, beeswax candles, and are a “winery” focusing on mead.

Why our mead sales are heading off the charts

We realized that most customers come in with an assumption that mead is thick, sweet, and super high in alcohol content, but our meads are different. Dry, lightly carbonated and full of unique flavor combinations, we are able to offer a refreshing retreat. Upon hitting the shelves in spring of 2017, we found ourselves in a constant race to keep up with demand. With projected growth of almost 40% this year, we feel it’s the product to focus on and bring to market in downtown Asheville.

How we turn honey into money...

Honey is an expensive commodity. Brewers love to use it, but hate the cost. That's where being a beekeeper has a great value. We have access to honey that most don't. But what if you could add some of the purest mountain water to your honey and sell it for even more. At Wehrloom we're able to add 440% to the value of our most expensive raw material, honey, with a little fermentation magic and end up with a wonderful gluten-free adult beverage. 

Our Next Steps...

Wehrloom Honey and Meadery is bringing the first taproom dedicated to serving mead to downtown Asheville in 2020. With it’s thriving community, vibrant downtown, and easy access to the wonderful Southern Appalachians, we feel like it’s already home. 

Use of Funds

Most of the Funds will be used to scale production of our products. This will involve purchase of equipment, raw materials, and packaging to get us ready for increased sales. We'll also need to upfit our existing space and hire new employees.

Market Growth and Opportunities

Because our products appeal to both craft beer and cider drinkers we feel we can win market share from both of these growing categories. We feel our customers are aware of what they put in their bodies and are looking for a premium gluten-free beverage.

But wait, what's Mead?

Well, we’re glad you asked. While it’s one of the world's oldest fermented beverages, we’re not planning on serving anything dated. Our take on Mead is something new, something refreshing. We’ve pushed the boundaries and created a group of beverages that blurs the lines between beer and wine. Our mead is closest in character to cider and shares its gluten-free qualities, but not as sweet, and with a wider range of flavors. Instead of fermenting apples, we're fermenting honey. Our meads tend to present as light on the palate with a distinctive nose and like the rest of our product line are made using the most wholesome, natural ingredients possible. We are able to offer a product that’s unique, yet approachable. One that has the ability to appeal to a wide range of customers, both beer lovers and wine connoisseurs. And most importantly, one that has patrons coming back for more.

Non-Negotiables...

These are the values that are important to us, that we’re not willing to budge on.

1. We want to retain control of the company and continue to push it in the direction we envisioned. It’s not that we don’t want ideas or feedback, we absolutely do. We’re passionate about Wehrloom and want to see it “bee” it’s best.

2. We need to pay our employees a living wage and treat them well. Everyone deserves an opportunity to thrive not just survive.

3. We will not use any artificial flavors or colorings. We take pride in offering a high quality products. From our experience it takes high quality ingredients to make high quality finished products. Even if it costs a little more and makes our margins a little smaller, it’s part of what our brand represents.

4. We feel it’s necessary to continue to support local beekeepers and ensure that our main ingredient, honey, comes from this region.

5. We will continue to support rural communities, like Robbinsville, and keep production of our products in these areas, providing jobs where they’re most needed.

6. We love nature and the environment. We have children and want them to have this beauty around them when they grow up. As such, we’re dedicated to keeping a check on waste production, recycling, reusing, and using clean energy whenever possible.

Wehrloom - AVL

Imagine walking into our Asheville location. As you come in you realize the walls are lined with images of the forest. Colorful bee boxes support the bar tops and make up displays and shelving, giving a similar feel to our flagship Robbinsville location. We want you to have a small escape from the city and be able to sit back and enjoy a nice glass of mead in the woods with us.

What if our customers could participate?

We believe the best marketing is the kind that doesn’t feel like marketing, but makes you feel included. As such, part of our marketing strategy is to get customers excited about the creation of new and exciting flavors. We plan to invite all mug club members to sign up for a once a month mead making event at our Asheville location. We’ll bring some carboys and explore new flavor combination, and be there more as facilitators. We want the participants to have the final say. Who knows, maybe our next production mead will be born out of one of these events. Either way, most are going to come back and bring their friends to try the beverages they helped create.