Advertorial
GEORGE BUSINESS NEWS - A captivating taste experience is offered by the series of craft honey-based wines and beers available at The Red Viking in Ironsyde Street (opposite Van Rensburgs Foods).
The manufacturer, Cape Mead, started production in 2013. Owners Hilary and Allister Keay decided that it was time to have a specific outlet for their products, and The Red Viking opened its doors in July last year.
For the uninitiated, 'mead' is wine made from honey and it is an ancient form of alcohol drunk by the Vikings who would meet for drinks at public 'mead halls'.
Cape Mead makes a sweet and dry mead. The mead is also mixed with different fruit juices for a range of flavoured melomel meads. A Liquorice and Honey Liqueur and a vodka, bottled under the name Honey Blitz, is also distilled from the mead. Hilary also makes a flavourful vinegar from it.
"For the honey beer, we use beer yeast, hops and honey in the brewing process. We are the only ones in the country who make honey beer," says Hilary. There are three different flavours: 'Passion' has a slight passion fruit flavour, 'Dry Apple' which tastes like a cider, and 'Dark Moon' is for those who love stout type beer.
They are hoping to add some new flavours to the range soon.
There is not a product in the shop that does not contain honey. The rusks and biscuits, fudge and nougat, as well as a natural personal care range of soaps, hand washes, shower gels and lip balm, all have some honey in it.
The Red Viking's honey on tap, currently sold at only R85 per kilogramme, is already well-known among Georgians. In addition to this, a wide range of different bottled honeys is available, also creamed honey flavoured with either ginger or lemon and lime extract.
Hilary uses only pure extracts and no artificial flavourants.
Even the jams are made with honey. This gives them a more fruity flavour than sugar-based jams. The chilli sauces are manufactured by Choristercottage in Sedgefield.
True honey connoisseurs will appreciate the tiny honey pots with area-specific honeys, such as eucalyptus honey, grape, Bushveld and pumpkin honey.
Visit The Red Viking for a truly sweet experience!
Contact number: 074 195 7629
'We bring you the latest George, Garden Route news'
