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.

Credit: Photos by Gerald E. McLeod

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.

Day Trips: Rohan Meadery, La Grange

A version of this article appeared in print on Nov 6, 2015 with the headline: Day Trips: Rohan Meadery, La Grange

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

Gerald E. McLeod joined the Chronicle staff in November 1980 as a graphic designer. In April 1991 he began writing the “Day Trips” column. Besides the weekly travel column, he contributed “101 Swimming Holes,” “Guide to Central Texas Barbecue,” and “Guide to the Texas Hill Country.” His first 200 columns have been published in Day Trips Vol. I and Day Trips Vol. II.