PLANT CITY, Fla. — In downtown Plant City, Three Hands Mead Company is introducing people to an ancient drink that’s making a modern comeback.
Three Hands Mead Company opened in 2021 and specializes in making mead. The process is similar to making wine or cider, but the difference is that honey is used as the fermentable sugar. Different flavors, fruits, and spices are then added to create flavor profiles and sweetness levels.
“We know people, when they hear honey, they think sweet. And we do have those sweeter flavors, but we do have stuff that's more light in flavor,” said Cody Lenz, the co-owner of Three Hands Mead Company.
WATCH: Three Hands Mead Company brings ancient honey wine to downtown Plant City
Right now, Three Hands Mead Company has 13 different meads on tap, including seasonal flavors like pumpkin-spiced coffee mead and a caramel apple slushie.
Lenz told Tampa Bay 28 the business started by accident when his wife fell in love with mead at a local restaurant, but they couldn’t find it anywhere else. So, they decided to make their own at home.
"We got the mead recipe printed out, the ingredients for the local grocery store, bought everything we needed, and just made a little one-gallon batch in our kitchen, and it came out good,” said Lenz.
Lenz said some people, when they first come in, are nervous to try mead, but they offer flights so customers can sample different varieties to find their perfect match.
"I was 100% sure it was them."
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