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Our Story

crafted Values

INNOVATION

We will constantly challenge the norms of the mead category by utilizing flavors and ingredients that deliver fresh, new experiences.  All of these things will be grounded by an intense focus on quality.

EDUCATION

We will empower our customers with knowledge of the world’s oldest fermented beverage.  Facilitating an understanding of the breadth of the category we will challenge preconceived notions of mead.

community

We seek to build community through the relationships we build with our customers and through our involvement in the broader communities in which we do business.

Anti-ego ethos

We will not take ourselves too seriously because being too serious about yourself is pretty lame. We believe you can make a quality product while also having a healthy dose of humility and a propensity to laugh at yourself and/or crack bad jokes..it’s good for the soul.

MISSION

Crafted Artisan Meadery is dedicated to producing highly drinkable, modern mead that is made for everyone.  We believe in creativity over tradition.  We believe that the quality of the liquid behind our labels is the most important thing to our customers.  We believe that making a quality product does not mean taking yourself too serious.  And we believe you shouldn’t have to donate plasma to afford a great bottle of mead.  We exist to make mead as accessible as possible to as many people as possible and we’re having a blast doing it.

KENT WALDECK

Owner, Crated Artisan Meadery

CRAFTED'S STORY

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.

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