I just had to check out a place that just opened in Littleton, Colorado (Denver's western suburbs) earlier today -- after all, they are billing themselves as Colorado's Largest Liquor and Wine store. :icon_salut:
Unfortunately, what I found was lots of synthetic ambiance, wide aisles, and not much to speak of on the shelves comprising those aisles. At least not much associated with mead. So after wandering around the place for about 20 mins, I pigeonholed a guy in a dark grey jacket with the title "Wine Supervisor" on his nameplate, and I asked him where I could find the meads. "Mead?" he said, "I know we have one mead on the shelf over here," and he led me to the far corner of the "misc wines" row, where he discovered for himself that he indeed had more than one mead -- all of three Redstone products, and Chaucer's.
I waited for weeks for this place to open, figuring I might have a chance at finding a selection at least coming close to the only decent place I've found so far to buy meads in Colorado (it happens to be in Boulder), only to have my hopes dashed. :sad11:
So I asked him if he was aware of the International Mead Festival, or the association that has conducted the Fest for several years right in the general neighborhood. He was totally clueless.
Clearly, with several operating commercial meaderies within 50 miles of this place, one would logically expect "Colorado's Largest Liquor Store" to carry a bit more than the basics. Instead, Mr. J. Weeks, C.S., has virtually no knowledge of the beverage that we all love. ("Oh, they make mead in Poland, too??") :sad5:
Also clearly, if these guys don't know what we are talking about when we ask for mead, a whole lot of work needs to be done by the commercial producers themselves to push on their distributors for shelf space at these new venues.
Unfortunately, what I found was lots of synthetic ambiance, wide aisles, and not much to speak of on the shelves comprising those aisles. At least not much associated with mead. So after wandering around the place for about 20 mins, I pigeonholed a guy in a dark grey jacket with the title "Wine Supervisor" on his nameplate, and I asked him where I could find the meads. "Mead?" he said, "I know we have one mead on the shelf over here," and he led me to the far corner of the "misc wines" row, where he discovered for himself that he indeed had more than one mead -- all of three Redstone products, and Chaucer's.
I waited for weeks for this place to open, figuring I might have a chance at finding a selection at least coming close to the only decent place I've found so far to buy meads in Colorado (it happens to be in Boulder), only to have my hopes dashed. :sad11:
So I asked him if he was aware of the International Mead Festival, or the association that has conducted the Fest for several years right in the general neighborhood. He was totally clueless.
Clearly, with several operating commercial meaderies within 50 miles of this place, one would logically expect "Colorado's Largest Liquor Store" to carry a bit more than the basics. Instead, Mr. J. Weeks, C.S., has virtually no knowledge of the beverage that we all love. ("Oh, they make mead in Poland, too??") :sad5:
Also clearly, if these guys don't know what we are talking about when we ask for mead, a whole lot of work needs to be done by the commercial producers themselves to push on their distributors for shelf space at these new venues.
