Crafted’s story starts in North Carolina where Kent Waldeck lived for nearly a decade prior to returning to his home state of Ohio. During his time in North Carolina Kent had started homebrewing and just like every other young homebrewer he was absolutely convinced that one day he’d open a brewery. It was during this time that he came across mead in Charlie Papazian’s Joy of Home Brewing and made his first batch with honey purchased from a beekeeper selling at a roadside shop near Blowing Rock, North Carolina. It was a rough (but super enjoyable) experience. What started as a random experiment turned into more and more meads being produced with greatly improved results. In late 2008 Kent and his wife returned to Ohio to be closer to family and to start their own family to boot. Although relocating for a job in Cleveland he was itching to start his own venture. That venture, though, was to start a meadery instead of brewery. It was a niche that he recognized as an opportunity. Between 2009 and 2012 Kent would plan, implement and self-fund Crafted Artisan Meadery with Crafted ultimately opening it’s doors to the public in June of 2012. Crafted was and still is a home-based business (possibly the largest home-based business of it’s kind in the nation). Six months after opening for business their meads were being sold and distributed in four states. Adding session meads to the mix in 2013 allowed Crafted to expand the range of meads they offered and this breadth of category became a cornerstone of their vision and mission…making a range of styles, pushing the boundaries of the category. Kent continued working full-time until 2015 when he was laid off and forced to jump headfirst into Crafted full-time. With time, Crafted’s focus shifted to their popular session meads where they consistently innovate with fresh styles and themes. Kent believes in humility and not taking himself too seriously but taking the quality of his meads seriously…lessons he hopes to teach his three sons. A team of dedicated employees with a shared vision has helped propel Crafted on their journey along the way. Crafted is tucked away in rural Ohio making some of the best mead in the world off the side of a home for over six years and counting. It’s been a wild ride but we can’t wait for what the future holds because we believe it’s going to be even wilder.