Boneflower Mead, located in northwest Indiana, has a rating of 4.7 out of a possible 5 on Untappd, a social networking app for beer aficionados that allows them to rate what they’re drinking. The rating is impressive for a fledgling meadery—but so is the fact that Boneflower, which has yet to sell a single bottle of mead, has more than 150 reviews.
Schavey himself cut his teeth on craft beer well before he knew anything about mead. “I think we all owe a lot to Three Floyds,” he says. Now 32, he grew up in northwest Indiana and recalls throwing parties as a 21-year-old with kegs of locally brewed Three Floyds Gumballhead. “If you traveled anywhere outside of here, 21-year-olds were drinking Keystone Light kegs,” he says. “As I was discovering beer, it was craft beer.”
“I had no idea we were going to just absolutely blow the goal out of the water,” Schavey says. “Giving away as much mead as I could in the early stages is really what got people’s interest. We gave away thousands and thousands of dollars of mead just to get feedback.” In the process, as it turns out, he also built a loyal following.
