When we get into the weeds of homebrewing, there’s a bunch of different considerations we make when we decide what to brew or drink for that matter. One thing that often goes overlooked at least in the beginning is the costs associated with everything.
When talking about mead, a lot of the time it gets associated with wine because of the way it’s brewed and the final product having similar characteristics. To the question of is mead cheaper than wine, the answer is almost always going to be no. Mead is more expensive than wine. Obviously there will be exceptions to this as there are some wines that are very expensive. But it comes down to the base ingredients for mead, honey specifically, being more expensive than grapes.
Below, we’ll dive into the specifics of how mead is more expensive than wine and the different reasons for that.
The Cost of Producing Mead vs Wine
When it comes to producing mead or wine, the determining factor in how expensive it will be usually comes down to how expensive the ingredients are. If we’re doing an apples to apples comparison of the primary fermented sugar in each product, using honey will be more expensive than using grapes or grape juice.
When you’re trying to factor the costs of how much something like honey or grapes are, the costs always go down when you’re buying in bulk. The amount that commercial meaderies and wineries get stuff for is a lot less than the typical homebrewer. Even when you’re buying in bulk however, it seems that honey is more expensive.
This makes a lot of sense because the way that honey is produced comes from bees storing pollen from flowers in their stomach and regurgitating it in the hive. Honey is then extracted from the hive by beekeepers. Obviously to get honey at the amounts you would need to produce mead it’s going to be a labor intensive process. This drives the cost up.
This isn’t to say that grapes are easy peasy to make. You have to have the soil just right and hire farmers to plant everything correctly and can only harvest them when they are in season. However, the process of using plants gives you a lot of control vs the process of using bees.
A major meadery that decides to get honey in bulk might be able to get it at 1 dollar a pound. Usually this is a very high bulk like a truck load of honey. Compare this to a winery getting a ton of grapes which would go for around 790.00 for red grapes and 550 for white grapes. As you can see, it’s just no comparison.
The Cost of Buying Mead vs Wine
This higher price to make mead by the source is reflected in the price of buying the finished product at the store. The fact of the matter is that there doesn’t seem to be that many commercial meaderies that offer mead available for purchase across the country. The reason for this is likely costs vs popularity. It’s a chicken and the egg scenario because you don’t know which causes which, but however you slice it, there just aren’t that many options when it comes to commercial mead.
With limited meaderies selling their wares at liquor stores, it’s hard to get a good comparison on prices with such a small sample size. Mead typically runs in the 15-30 dollar range per 750 ml bottle while wine can go from your 12 bucks for a box of wine up to 40 plus for a single bottle. The difference is that I can go online and look up wine prices and categorize them by price whereas with mead it really doesn’t give me that option because there’s so few choices.
Generally, buying a bottle of wine that is for your average drinker, you’re going to spend in the 10-20 dollar range per bottle which is less expensive than your mead you’ll buy.
I looked up what local meaderies were selling their mead for and it was even more expensive. A local meadery near me in Pennsylvania was selling a 375 ml bottle for around 20 bucks, this is half a normal bottle of wine size. Part of the problem with mead being so expensive besides the honey is that there aren’t many national meaderies that sell a simple mead across the country. I found one brand called Chaucer’s and they are selling meads in the 11-13 dollar range for a 750 ml bottle. This is but one brand though. Other brands like Dansk Mjod are an import so you’re dealing with international shipping costs on top of everything else.
Until we see more big American based brands, the price of mead will almost always be higher.
The Cost of Homebrewing Mead vs Wine
Now that we’ve established that mead is more expensive to make and buy vs wine, what about homebrewing it? Well, there’s just no escaping the cost of honey. Mead is going to be more expensive to homebrew than wine as well.
Typically a beginner homebrewer will make a 5 gallon batch of mead or wine when they are starting out. With a 5 gallon batch of mead you’re going to use 15-20 pounds of honey depending on how sweet you want it. When it comes to wine, you usually either buy the grapes or the juice in its own bucket from a homebrew supply store.
At my local whole foods I can get a 5 lb jug of honey for around 25 ish dollars right now. So if I’m making a 15 lb batch I’m dropping 75 dollars just on honey. I’m sure there’s places you can get it for less, but a lot of stores only have 1 and 3 lb containers of honey. Walmart has a 5 lb amount of honey selling for 14.70. This is a good deal, but what’s this honey like? Is it cut with anything? It seems like with honey, you get what you pay for.
As for wine, at my local homebrew supply shop you can order grapes, juice, or juice kits. The grapes and juice are fresh product shipped in and stored in a giant cold box. They also have kits that contain juice concentrate but they aren’t as good as the fresh juice or grapes. A 36 lb box of grape will run around 55-60 dollars depending on the variety. A 6 gallon jug of juice will set you back about 85 dollars. The wine kits are around 70 dollars. These are less expensive than getting honey but only marginally. The full grapes are a big difference but you’re adding steps in the brewing process. The fresh juice is more expensive but you’re actually getting 6 gallons compared to the costs associated with buying honey for 5 gallons.
The cost of homebrewing mead ends up being more expensive than making wine, but only marginally. The rest of the brewing costs associated with mead are pretty much the same as with wine so it’s a wash. The only difference may be with time as mead could take longer.
Bottom Line
Any way you slice it, mead is going to be more expensive than wine. You just can’t get around the fact that honey is expensive. Does this mean that mead is better than wine? No absolutely not, but it’s certainly something to be treasured!