Hive Mind has taken a second significant step for “classic drinks rethought” with the highly anticipated launch of its Sparkling Meads in Marks & Spencer.
This comes right after the company’s recent four-strong Honeyade launch, which aimed to put its weight behind the all-natural soft drinks debate while putting best-in-class British honey back on the map.
Already well known for its authentic style and award-winning meads, Hive Mind spied an opportunity to take its acclaimed artisanal meads that use only British honey to a younger, more discerning audience by creating some canned sparkling meads with reduced ABV meads (3.4%) that proactively target traditional fruited cider audiences, appealing specifically to younger audiences eager to reduce their alcoholic intake whilst rediscovering something truly innovative, made using local ingredients, and 100% natural.
Mead, also known as honey wine, is a time-honoured brew whose popularity harks back to medieval times and beyond, a yesteryear indulgence that’s once again enjoying a real renaissance in markets as diverse as North America, The Far East and Europe.
Hive Mind with its strong Michelin star restaurant presence and steely, small batch determination to only make mead the authentic way (water honey and yeast) as opposed to resorting to a cheap wine base in tandem with spirit alcohol, sugars and only the most meagre traces of honey, is proactively throwing its considerable expertise behind a new drinks category that supports the rural economy, the nation’s beekeepers and vital pollinator populations.
According to Hive Mind co-founder, Kit Newell, a committed collective of ‘planet positive’ beekeepers and mead makers from South Wales have blended a deep love for the natural world with a long-standing interest in brewing.
In a bid to reinvigorate the fortunes of real authentic honey using drinks made from honey as the platform, Hive Mind said it is bringing the world’s oldest drink to a new contemporary audience.
“With British honey’s fortunes in the doldrums after a marketplace flooded with cheap, inferior imported honeys padded out with ‘filler sugars,’ we were determined to reclaim the high ground for British honey by championing an array of value added, honey themed propositions,” Newell explained. “Naturally, nothing shouts Britishness more than M&S so this is a dream alliance when it comes to advancing mead, and UK honey producers’ goals.”
The three-strong M&S offers includes a Pure Honey, Rhubarb, and an Elderflower sparkling mead, which are carbon neutrally packaged into 330ml Cans.
