Casey and Kelsey's Mead Business Startup Fund

My name is Casey Bridgham and I'm starting a business with my spouse and best friend, Kelsey, called Wilderness Brew Co.

We started this production from our home in Nevada, Iowa, and we have had a lot of successes with our first few batches! Our beverage of choice is mead due to its great taste, near infinite flavor possibilities and the joy I get from brewing it. Our goal is to raise enough money to continue with the immense process of ordering the correct equipment, materials, production items (bottles, labels, etc.), and of course, acquiring raw and unfiltered honey!

What is mead?

Mead is essentially honey wine. Where a typical wine is produced with grapes, mead is produced with honey. This gives it the drink a unique, flowery, rich flavor that complements well with fruits, spices, herbs, etc. Despite the sweetness implication of honey, mead can vary drastically in sweetness to dryness. Mead is a patient product; it requires a lot of time to make a complete batch. Mead has a wide alcohol-by-volume(ABV) rating--anywhere from 6% to 18% would be the typical range.

Our current goals:

Honey and ingredients for brewing our flagship product and several recipes

Sufficient tanks for fermentation/racking

Production of labels

Power siphon

Misc. materials (filter sheets, large stock pot, sanitization, etc.)

Enough product to begin attending farmers markets and renaissance fairs

Your support of this project is immensely valuable! With myself being a gallery director for a non-profit art center and part-time farmhand, and with Kelsey as a self-employed fine artist, our finances are extremely tight. Out-of-pocket purchases always need to be very targeted and we need to be shrewd with our decisions as we move forward. Every penny counts as we aim to create an extremely high-quality product that can be shared and enjoyed.

Our BIG goals:

Distribution to local stores

A selection of winning flavors with room and resources for constant evolution and inspired experimentation

A taproom (Wow. That's the big one!)