Zen Bee Meadery owner hopes to generate some buzz with relocation to Worthington

Zen Bee Meadery soon will have a new home in Worthington.

Dan DeMura, who owns and operates the small meadery at 7472 Reliance St. in north Columbus with his son, Yuuki, said he is moving his business to 480 E. Wilson Bridge Road, Suite F, in pursuit of more space.

The new location, which is being remodeled and will add approximately 1,200 square feet of space to the business, is expected to be renovated by February and should be open that month, DeMura said.

“Partly, it was the right property at the right time; it’s close to where I’m currently at,” DeMura said. “And Worthington, so far, my interactions with the city have been great. And I’m excited about being part of the community there.

"I've outgrown the space I'm in. I've been outgrown for the past year."

Worthington City Council President David Robinson said he is enthusiastic about Zen Bee moving to Worthington, adding that businesses in the restaurant, bar and alcohol-production industries are welcome additions to the community.

“I think any business that would meet a consumer demand like that in Worthington – restaurants, tasting rooms – would be most welcome,” Robinson said. “(Zaftig Brewing Co. & Taproom) over on Huntley (Road) was a real positive addition, and anything like that I personally would favor coming to our city.”

DeMura said his current location is about 800 square feet. The new location will be about 2,000, he said, which will provide him greater space to produce mead and allow him to set up a full taproom and retail space in which everything the meadery produces will be available on tap.

Zen Bee had a small taproom when it opened in 2018, but that eventually was abandoned because of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and because DeMura said he had to use the entire space for production.

“We can actually have people come in and have flights and things of that nature (at the new location),” DeMura said. “Our space currently is just too small, and where we’re located is just not really conducive for traffic.”

The current location on Reliance Street is off Worthington Woods Boulevard northeast of Worthington.

DeMura said he plans to expand Zen Bee's product offerings at the new location with grape wine and hard cider production, both of which are permitted through his liquor license.

He said he also plans to expand business hours at the new spot due to the added space and retail capabilities. The Reliance Street location is open only 2 to 6 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays for picking up online orders.

DeMura received a conditional-use permit from the Worthington Architectural Review Board and Municipal Planning Commission in November and only needs an additional building permit from the city to finish renovations, according to Lee Brown, the city's planning and building director.

The remaining construction includes some plumbing and building out the bar and taps in the front room, DeMura said.

DeMura said the transfer of his federal liquor license to his new location is complete, and as of Jan. 10, he was waiting for the transfer of his liquor license from the state to be processed.

He said he doesn’t have any employees yet and works with only his son, but he said that is likely to change with the new location.

“Having a full taproom is going to require me to bring some more people on board,” he said.

DeMura said he produced about 700 gallons of mead in 2021 and expects to double that production in 2022.

Mead, sometimes referred to as honey wine, is an alcoholic beverage ranging from approximately 5% to 20% ABV that is produced by fermenting honey.

DeMura said his session meads, which make up the bulk of his products, are 6.5%, whereas his full-strength meads are 12% to 14%.

Mead is one of the most ancient alcoholic beverages on Earth but is a very niche product, DeMura said. The state has a few meaderies, with Brothers Drake Meadery at 26 E. Fifth Ave. in Columbus being another one in central Ohio.

DeMura said he discovered mead in 2010, and began brewing it at home, where he “kind of fell in love with the process of actual brewing."

He eventually decided to pursue brewing as a business and opened Zen Bee Meadery in 2018.

“This is a passion, and I just had to find a place I could afford to pay the rent and build this up slowly,” he said.

DeMura said Zen Bee produces a variety of meads, which tend to fall on the semisweet side. He has six meads available year-round, including a strawberry vanilla mead called Pink Zilla; Everyberry, which has a flavor profile of strawberry, blueberry and raspberry; and two hopped meads – mead brewed with hops – called Jacked Cherry and White Rabbit.

“(Hopped meads are) kind of a bridge between beer and wine,” DeMura said. “It’s a dry hop process, though, so it’s not as much bittering, (and) it’s more of the floral notes. But that is also the experimental nature of the product we can do.”

DeMura also produces seasonal and monthly flavors in addition to his year-round staples.

DeMura’s meads received two gold, two silver and one bronze medal in 2020 and one silver and two bronze models in 2021 from the National Honey Board.

For more information, go to zenbeemeadery.com.

sborgna@thisweeknews.com

@ThisWeekSteve

This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Zen Bee Meadery owner Dan DeMura hopes to generate buzz with move to Worthington