Photos by Matt Ellis.

August 2nd turned out to be quite the Saturday for day drinking in Columbus as over 70 local establishments joined forces to help tip the balance of bringing Stone Brewing to Columbus with #tapastoneday. And while Stone Brewing becoming a neighbourhood joint is still a dream, just off the corner of High and 5th, local staple Brothers Drake Meadery celebrated National Mead Day with a day of limited releases alongside samples and wares from a handful of Columbus vendors.

The meadery opened up early and began offering this years limited releases to fans that had the small bar fairly well populated for the majority of the day.

This years releases are more experimental than the usual offerings on tap and by design strayed from the normal flavours found in most commercial mead. Bourbon Barrel Aged Peach Rush and Brioso Coffee mead were made available in bottles for purchase in very limited quantities while a peanut butter and jelly mead and a whiskey barrel aged paw-paw mead were available on tap only. The PB&J mead was gone within a few hours of opening.

North Market favourite Taste of Belgium spent the brunch hours serving up free samples of their waffles and Brioso set up outside the front doors to offer up samplings of their coffee.

Despite the early downpour and constant steady rain throughout the day, Cajohns set up outside the meadery to offer up a selection of their hot sauces, Phyllis + Hazel brought locally made jewelry and food-truck Tokyo Go-Go offered up their usual Japanese street food along with a couple of specials just for the occasion.

The boisterous Aaron Ardle spent a large portion of the day giving his lungs a work-out as he gave the onlooking crowd a step-by-step demonstration on mead making and led multiple groups behind the scenes of the meadery on small production tours. Late afternoon tours when led by mead-makers Justin DeVilbiss and Orlan Clasen.

Local band Devil Doves provided musical entertainment for a large chunk of the afternoon before making way for the Sacred Shimmy Dancers to conclude the day’s scheduled events and allow people to take a quick break from the flow of alcohol before starting up again for Gallery Hop.

Brothers Drake Meadery is located at 26 E 5th Ave in the Short North.