Today we’d like to introduce you to Mandy Grimsby.
Hi Mandy, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Our first taste of mead was during a 2013 trip to Ireland, where we tried Irish mead in a Medieval castle. Upon returning home, we began seeking out mead and meaderies to continue trying different varieties. We found we gravitated toward still meads featuring bold flavors with a big honey profile, which seemed to be more prevalent in European-style meads. This inspired us to being home brewing our own in 2014.
After collecting feedback from friends, family, fellow mead makers, and entering some competitions, we decided that we really wanted to try to turn our passion into a business. We began brewing commercially in 2017 and began self-distribution operations to local retailers later that year while retaining our day jobs. We opened our fantasy-themed Middleville tasting room in July of 2019.
We have since made over 150 different mead flavors, utilizing many different honey varietals and sourcing local ingredients whenever possible.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Despite an overwhelmingly enthusiastic reception from the public – enough so that we quit our day jobs to fully focus on the meadery – the Covid pandemic hit 8 months after we opened our brick and mortar location, shutting us down off and on for over a year. Since we had not been open very long, we didn’t qualify for the SBA grants and loans that more well-established businesses did. This resulted in struggling to pay bills, purchase mead making supplies, and halted any planned growth and expansion for a time.
We took out personal loans and utilized credit cards to stay afloat and increase production to keep up with retailer demand, but continue to work toward paying off Covid-era debt. Fast-forward to today and we’re faced with some very difficult decisions about our future. Folks are going out less to save money and our mead is a more premium beverage due to the cost of ingredients and lengthy aging process. Meanwhile, the cost of production and general operations continues to increase at an alarming rate.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Grimsby Hollow Meadery?
Never having been fans of the “subtle”, David and Mandy Grimsby set out to create meads that are bold, daring and imaginative. All of our meads are made in small batches of 6 gallons each using premium honey. In the summer we go out and handpick fruit from local farms ourselves for a variety of different melomels (fruit-based meads) that we produce. Each batch of mead ages for 7-12 months, depending on the flavor. We’ve even aged batches for up to 3 years to achieve a specific flavor. Our two bestselling meads are our oak-aged traditional, The Beekeeper, and our black and red currant mead, Raven Heart. Some of our more fun, unique flavors are The Legend of Grimsby Hollow, which is our smoked pumpkin mead released each fall, Goth Club, which is aged on Lapsang Souchong tea, clove, and oak, and Not My Cirus, our bourbon barrel-aged banana maple mead.
Mandy is our head meadmaker and she comes up with the vast majority of our recipes, coordinates all of the events, designs some of our labels, and covers most of our off-location tasting events. David is responsible for most administrative tasks, licensing, taxes, retailer deliveries, and is our kitchen manager. The only other staff member is Mandy’s brother, Dustin, who assists with just about anything that is needed from bar tending and serving, to picking fruit, to assisting with mead making. We are literally family and work together to do whatever is needed to keep things running smoothly.
We love to support local! Some examples:
– We’ve purchased barrels from local breweries, such as Trail Point Brewing and New Holland for mead aging.
– All of our meadery glassware has been etched by a local artist
– Our flagship bottle labels were designed by a local artist
– We collaborate with talented locals on an event series we call “Drink Mead, Learn Things”, where they present on topics on which they have an expertise. Examples are: History/weaponry, tin-type photography, crafting, folklore, ornamental gardening, canine behavior and tea magic
– We also employ local performers for a variety of special events each year, including murder mystery parties, a Yuletide Fantasy Feast, and have even hosted drag paint and sips
We love the community we have fostered at what our customers lovingly refer to as “The Hollow”. We worked hard to create an atmosphere that feels warm and welcoming to those who may not feel like they fit in at most places. We set the tone for what to expect with the following emblazoned across one of our front windows:
Come ye wayward souls,
The misfits,
The creators,
The daring dreamers
With hearts afire…
Enter The Hollow
For us, this encapsulates the heart of who we are and what we stand for. We consistently have customers mentioning how inviting and welcoming our space is and that they feel at home. Our whimsical fantasy vibe attracts a lot of fellow creatives and nerds, which we love! We have Dungeons & Dragons campaigns running every Friday night and the unique aforementioned events take place about twice a month on Saturdays. We are a go-to spot for friends gathering around a board game, first dates, and even folks who just want to cozy up with a book in our lounge area with overstuffed chairs. Being located in Middleville, which is on the outskirts of the greater Grand Rapids area, it can be a little bit of a drive for some so we try to host things that make folks want to come out and stay for a while. On the bright side, we have loads of free parking, lots of other unique businesses to visit, and you don’t have to deal with downtown traffic!
Last, but certainly not least, we have a variety of food and snacks to enjoy and if mead isn’t your thing, we also offer an extensive loose leaf tea menu and all-natural craft sodas from local maker Kittywampus. In short, you don’t have to be an alcohol drinker to enjoy The Hollow!
What does success mean to you?
Having the privilege of earning your livelihood through fostering a community that finds immense joy in the things that you create.
We are incredibly creative individuals, even beyond mead making and event planning. David is a self-published tabletop game designer and author, with his games and books being offered for sale at The Hollows, as well as various retailers. Mandy is a candle maker and sigil artist and her offerings through Fire & Grimstone have become a huge hit with our regular customers.
Pricing:
- Mead Bottles – $23-$40
- Mead Pours – $5-$22
- Food – $7.50-$12 per entree
- Tea and Soda – $3-$3.50
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.grimsbyhollowmeadery.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GrimsbyHollowMeadery
- Other: https://www.grimsbygames.com
