Update from Chile

Making a batch of session mead with avocado honey and cinnamon at Cat’s Beer

Olmué, Chile

If you’re ever thinking of starting a business, I don’t know that there’s a better place in the world to gather inspiration than Chile. Almost everyone I’ve met here seems to have an entrepreneurial spirit. Chileans are doing some truly amazing things—constructing beautiful vacation cabins in the most serene (and remote) locations, starting the southernmost winery in the world, and doing groundbreaking work in fermentation using wild yeast—just to name a few of the projects we’ve encountered while living here. I have about a month left in Chile for this season, and I plan on enjoying every last minute of it and learning as much as I can before heading back to Sonoma County to build Tineo.

On the Tineo front, I’ve completed the LLC, DBA, EIN, and all the other acronyms required to start a business in California. When I return, I’m excited to move into a small production facility, with the plan of having Tineo Mead for sale before the end of this year. Between now and then, I’ll be deep in recipe development, fermentation control, and figuring out how to scale the process without messing it up.

As far as recipe development goes, I’m getting increasingly excited about the flavor profiles that emerge from something as simple as honey, water, and yeast. I still plan to work with fruits and herbs, but the complexity you can achieve through different honeys, yeast strains, and fermentation variables—temperature, duration, and technique—is incredible. I love a good red ale, IPA, or porter, and a spicy zinfandel will always be perfect with a burger, but there’s something genuinely special about session mead, and I can’t wait for more people to be able to enjoy it as much as I do.

One of the best parts of recipe development is having friends and family taste these experiments. I’ve really enjoyed having folks over to our little cabaña in Cochrane to drink some Tineo mead. Seeing their reactions, hearing the feedback, and imagining what could be years from now - session mead as a go-to drink that’s as natural on the table as beer or wine - gives me all the motivation I need to keep moving this dream forward.

More to come. Before I leave Chile I’ll be heading back north to try more of the local mead, meet back up with some friends I’ve made there, and continue learning from the incredible fermentation community here. Stay tuned.