Golden Coast Mead (based in Oceanside) was born in 2010 out of the passion of Southern California native, Frank Golbeck. Frank was first exposed to the magic of mead as a young kid on his grandfather’s apple orchard. He watched a room full of adults transform into a laughing, gregarious bunch, and he knew there was something special about this potion made from honey. Luckily, he made a career of it, and now shares his knowledge and passion for mead with the world.

Mead is the oldest form of alcohol, simply brewed by fermenting honey. Mead is sunshine and flowers in drinkable form and the only fermented beverage that doesn't need monoculture to be produced at scale. The result is a delicious, naturally gluten-free beverage with over 200,000 pollinations in every glass. With good mead, we can change the way bees are kept in America.

Mead is actually the oldest alcoholic drink on the planet, and is just now beginning to make a strong comeback. Golden Coast Mead crafts a distinctive style of mead: San Diego Style Mead. It is brewed with top quality California honey, and Palomar Mountain spring water, making it a truly local product. Because it is naturally effervescent, it is served cold and has a light, refreshing, and balanced flavor profile. There is no pasteurization, force carbonation, added sulfites, or filtration; this mead is a modern interpretation of ancient practices. The result is a delicious, gluten-free beverage with over 200,000 pollinations in every glass.

As an invested member of the community, Golden Coast Mead donates at least one percent of its gross revenue to Dr. Nieh’s Entomology Lab at UCSD, researching the health and preservation of the honeybees, as part of One Percent for the Planet, an organization and movement that encourages corporate philanthropy for the preservation and restoration of the natural environment.

For more information on Golden Coast Mead, please visit goldencoastmead.com or the company’s social media sites: Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/GoldenCoastMead), Instagram (http://www.instagram.com/goldencoastmead), and Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/goldencoastmead).

The Golden Coast Mead tasting room is located at 4089 Oceanside Blvd, Ste H, Oceanside, CA 92056, and is open Wednesday-Friday 2pm-8'ish, Saturday 1pm-8'ish, and Sunday 12pm-5'ish.