Spring Mead Fest draws record crowds

Nearly 1,700 people gathered at B. Nektar Meadery in Ferndale on Saturday,to celebrate what ancient civilizations once considered to be the nectar of the gods.

With its highest-ever attendance, the Spring Mead Fest proves that one of the oldest alcoholic beverages in recorded history has staying power — and B. Nektar has been instrumental in its local resurgence.

“Every day we convert somebody else, and then they convert somebody,” said  B. Nektar Co-Founder and CEO Brad Dahlhofer.

Dahlhofer, along with his wife, Kerri, and friend Paul Zimmerman, founded B. Nektar in 2006 and officially opened for business two years later. Dahlhofer said that their grand opening event, held on National Mead Day, paved the way for festivals to come.

“We weren’t a brewery, so we couldn’t participate in any of the Michigan Brewers Guild festivals,” Dahlhofer explained.

Instead, B. Nektar started holding an annual Summer Mead Fest, and then added an annual Spring Mead Fest in 2013.

This year’s Spring Mead

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