8-31-21 Tonight we're doing a pre-recorded session with Tom Gosnell, owner of Gosnell's of London. Tom got interested in meadmaking in 2013 after a visit to the US and going to Maine Meadworks. He liked it so much, he decided to try meadmaking at home. After three years of increasing meadmaking in his kitchen, he decided it was time to go commercial, and took the plunge. Tom got hooked up with a commercial brewery in London, and when it closed down, they decided to get their own space. Tom is really fond of Spanish orange blossom honey, which is quite nice. They have it blended with some other European honeys to get a custom blend that they use in many of their meads. they make session/hydromel strength meads, and carbonate them. They launched their can line in August 2019 and their customer base really loved it. Their meads run from a hibiscus session to a complex sour mead. Gosnell's uses flash pasteurization to stabilize their meads, and Tom has done a lot of research into this, and is a big fan of pasteurization for meads.  Gosnells is very export focused, sending a lot to southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Singapore and is in 24 US states, and the US market is growing for them. You can find them in the US in Total Wine and More stores. During COVID Gosnell's pivoted to an online model, like many meaderies around the world. But they saw a 20 times spike in sales in the UK when they did this. This led to other ideas to keep customers interested, like an online tasting product with Instagram Live sessions to let people try the mead in a virtual tasting. He’s even doing corporate tastings for companies to do virtual gatherings with their employees Once things opened back up, Tom partnered with London breweries Anspach and Hobday in their taproom space and gardens. And now they've a full space for their weekend gardens events. Come listen to Tom! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! Sponsor: It's now mead slushee season, and we are celebrating with four rotating flavors. Each one is a dangerously delicious glass of heaven. Visit the state-of-the-art meadery and tasting room south of downtown Castle Rock, Colorado, in a converted man cave.  Mention the Got Mead Podcast this month for a free slushee taster!  They love visitors! www.honnibrook.com If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Upcoming Shows * September 14 - Keith Seiz - National Honey Board for Honey Month * September 28 - James Boicourt - Charm City Meadworks - Baltimore, MD Sponsor: a href="https://adventurousbrewer.app/login.