Day Trips: Rohan Meadery, La Grange
From the laboratory of busy minds comes a honey of a wine
By Gerald E. McLeod, Fri., Nov. 6, 2015
Rohan Meadery can provide you with a drink for those cold winter nights and warm summer days. The meadery's tasting room off a country road between La Grange and Round Top can help you decide which of their beverages to choose.
In 2009, John and Wendy Rohan left their corporate jobs in Houston, took their daughter Eleanor, and became farmers, beekeepers, and brewers. With the help of general manager Ashley Gaas, the Rohans have turned the meadery into a continuous science experiment, and visitors get to taste their successes for $5 for five samples.
And you might be surprised. The traditional Czech-style mead, made with honey and water, is dry and crisp with a flavor that allows the unique terroir to shine. The company's hard Texas apple ciders, one dry and one semi-sweet, are smooth and clean, just right for a summer's day.
Ashley's experiments with Sangiovese and a Black Cherry-Pinot Noir blend are very interesting. She sold all 306 gallons of her Black Spanish-Lenoir blend wine within a few months of its release.
"All of the people on the labels [of the wines] are my relatives," says Ashley, a native of Houston. "They're my great uncles and aunts and my grandmother, all 5-foot-3 of her."
Rohan Meadery's hospitality room opens Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 6pm. It's a nice drive to 6002 FM 2981, a few miles north of La Grange off TX 159. For more information, call 979/249-5652. Check their website, www.rohanmeadery.com, for monthly special events at the farm.
1,267th in a series. Collect them all. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of "Day Trips," is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 40312, South Austin, TX 78704.
