Just starting to read about Bee Well Meadery?
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With their recipes ready, the building shaping up, federal Tax and state approval, Jeremy and Chris were ready to bring more Michigan mead to the masses. That was, until the licensing process revealed that the current well on the property was insufficient for their needs. With funds running out, and knowing that fighting City Hall would be a losing battle, they turned to Kickstarter to fund a new well and make the final push to be production ready.
We put a lot of work into marketing the campaign. We put an ad in the local paper, hit internet forums and Facebook, printed business cards with the Kickstarter info to give to family and friends. Once word started to spread, several local papers picked up the story, and after the first couple weeks, it really took on a life of its own. The response really exceeded our expectations. – Chris VanSice
The campaign was extremely successful. The brothers took in over $5,000 more than the $9,000 they were asking – receiving funding from people around the world, a lot of whom they never met. “It was great to hear from people who heard about it from a friend of a friend of a friend via email.”
The name and tagline for the meadery “Bee Well – Dug Deep in Northern Michigan” says so much about the brothers’ passion for their own personal origins as well as the history carried throughout their business and products. Bee Well Meadery is situated in a picturesque region of Michigan, between Clam Lake, Lake Bellaire, and Torch Lake, where their family has lived for six generations. The area is filled with local orchards and farms that the Bee Well bees visit, creating wonderfully unique honey that represents the Northern Michigan landscape. The VanSice brothers also source the fruit they use as close to the meadery as possible, working with the local farmers whose crops their bees help pollinate.
“We are surrounded by great orchards and farmers,” Chris explains. “Cherries and apples are everywhere, so you’ll definitely see a cherry mead and cyser among the first commercial releases.” With their Kickstarter funds already being put to use and the gifts out to funders, Jeremy and Chris VanSice are focused on getting those first releases out to the world. The Bee Well Mead is expected to start distribution this fall, so do what you can to get your hands on some, it’s going to be worth the effort!
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