Scot Schaar's guest appearances

Scot Schaar

GotMead Live Radio Show

Quad City Beer

Jason Scott

John Palmer

Fred Minnick

Michael Fairbrother

Ken Schramm

Mary Izett

Curt Stock

Steve Piatz

John Campbell

Ryan Carlson

John Harris

Sam Slaughter

Jason Todd

Brian Reed

Jeff Anderson

OwlTail

Polish Mead

3-30-21 Tonight we're talking Polish mead, and all other things mead with Kris Plizga and Scot Schaar. Both of these gentlemen are accomplished mead makers, and both are pretty darn good Polish mead makers.Kris' mead adventure started many years ago while he was still living in his home country. At that time Poland was probably the only place on earth where mead was still produced by several companies and was available almost in every better supplied liquor store. After tasting many of them and his first try of Jadwiga półtorak he was hooked and it became his favorite drink for special occasions and celebrations. There were several other styles of mead produced and each regional manufacturer would have some sort of historically or locally connected special edition usually with a nice story or legend behind it. After moving to the US he was only able to get mead while visiting Poland or very seldom in ethnic stores in areas densely populated by emigres from Central Europe. This situation was not satisfactory for him and since he also had become a beekeeper and had an abundant supply of honey, he decided to try reproducing some of the favorite meads on his own. This in turn led to searching for knowledge, learning about mead history and also meeting like minded people. The first group he got in contact with was an online forum frequented by many polish home meadmakers. The guidance and help he got from them was priceless. It is from them, that he learned about American competitions and online resources. He was not aware that mead was gaining popularity and had such following on this side of the Atlantic. He signed up for mead making classes at UC Davis, became a member of GotMead Forums, signed up for AMMA and National Homebrewers Association, attended MeadCon and Mazer Cup few times. In 2018 he entered his first mead competitions; MidWinter, Mead Free or Die and Domras Cup. To his surprise won BOS mead at MidWinter competition and few 1st, 2nd and 3rd placings at the others. 2019 brought even more prizes and a few BOS placings. In 2020 he participated for the first time in Mazer Cup competition and his Buckwheat and Sour Cherry historical Polish mead was rewarded BOS placing and two other meads placed second.Scot Schaar is head brewer at Crawford Brew Works and former distiller at Mississippi River Distilling Company. He is a BJCP beer and mead judge. Scot was the 2017 AHA Meadmaker of the Year (MMOTY) and shared the 2019 MMOTY award with Michael Wilcox and Carvin Wilson.He was the 2015 East Coast MMOTY; has won multiple mead, beer, and cider bests of show; and has had his recipes professionally made by Moonlight Meadery and Prairie Rose Meadery. Scot and his wife Karen earned their Level 5 certification in the European Mead Judging Programme this past year while judging the Kings of Mead competition in Poznań, Poland.Scott is very active in meadmaking, and turns up often in the Modern Mead Makers and GotMead Facebook groups. He was one of two people awarded an honorary Polish 'passport', along with Bob Slanzi, for his Polish style meads, which are excellent.Scott has also been active in promoting mead in his area and in his homebrew club, the St. Paul Homebrewer's Club, which also, in conjunction with the Minnesota Home Brewers Association puts on the Minnesota Mashout, one of the larger homebrew competitions in the US.Join us on the live chat and don't be afraid to call in if you want to!This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break]  [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes!If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and you...

3-30-21 Tonight we're talking Polish mead, and all other things mead with Kris Plizga and Scot Schaar. Both of these gentlemen are accomplished mead makers, and both are pretty darn good Polish mead makers. Kris' mead adventure started many years ago while he was still living in his home country. At that time Poland was probably the only place on earth where mead was still produced by several companies and was available almost in every better supplied liquor store. After tasting many of them and his first try of Jadwiga półtorak he was hooked and it became his favorite drink for special occasions and celebrations. There were several other styles of mead produced and each regional manufacturer would have some sort of historically or locally connected special edition usually with a nice story or legend behind it. After moving to the US he was only able to get mead while visiting Poland or very seldom in ethnic stores in areas densely populated by emigres from Central Europe. This situation was not satisfactory for him and since he also had become a beekeeper and had an abundant supply of honey, he decided to try reproducing some of the favorite meads on his own. This in turn led to searching for knowledge, learning about mead history and also meeting like minded people. The first group he got in contact with was an online forum frequented by many polish home meadmakers. The guidance and help he got from them was priceless. It is from them, that he learned about American competitions and online resources. He was not aware that mead was gaining popularity and had such following on this side of the Atlantic. He signed up for mead making classes at UC Davis, became a member of GotMead Forums, signed up for AMMA and National Homebrewers Association, attended MeadCon and Mazer Cup few times. In 2018 he entered his first mead competitions; MidWinter, Mead Free or Die and Domras Cup. To his surprise won BOS mead at MidWinter competition and few 1st, 2nd and 3rd placings at the others. 2019 brought even more prizes and a few BOS placings. In 2020 he participated for the first time in Mazer Cup competition and his Buckwheat and Sour Cherry historical Polish mead was rewarded BOS placing and two other meads placed second. Scot Schaar is head brewer at Crawford Brew Works and former distiller at Mississippi River Distilling Company. He is a BJCP beer and mead judge. Scot was the 2017 AHA Meadmaker of the Year (MMOTY) and shared the 2019 MMOTY award with Michael Wilcox and Carvin Wilson. He was the 2015 East Coast MMOTY; has won multiple mead, beer, and cider bests of show; and has had his recipes professionally made by Moonlight Meadery and Prairie Rose Meadery. Scot and his wife Karen earned their Level 5 certification in the European Mead Judging Programme this past year while judging the Kings of Mead competition in Poznań, Poland. Scott is very active in meadmaking, and turns up often in the Modern Mead Makers and GotMead Facebook groups. He was one of two people awarded an honorary Polish 'passport', along with Bob Slanzi, for his Polish style meads, which are excellent. Scott has also been active in promoting mead in his area and in his homebrew club, the St. Paul Homebrewer's Club, which also, in conjunction with the Minnesota Home Brewers Association puts on the Minnesota Mashout, one of the larger homebrew competitions in the US. Join us on the live chat and don't be afraid to call in if you want to! This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and you...

3-30-21 Cristoff Plizga and Scot Schaar – Polish mead and beyond

Episode 16- Scot Schaar with Crawford Brew Works

Bob Slanzi

Polish Passports

4-2-19 Polish Meads! At the 2019 Mazer Cup International, Scot Schaar and Bob Slanzi were given Polish 'passports', to recognize their prowess in making Polish meads. Both make amazing Polish style meads, and many have had the chance to try them and say 'hell yeah'. Making Polish style mead can be tricky, there are some rules around how the styles are made, and working with these sweeter meads is a bit of work. Making them well is a serious skill. If you're making Polish style, or thinking about it, then definitely give us a listen tonight for insights! If you'd like to give it a try, you can get some tested recipes in Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff. There are over 60 recipes, and 5 of them are Polish style, 3 of those medal winners. About Bobby and Scot: Scot and his wife Karen were watching a viking movie in about 2000, and they were drinking mead in the movie. Scot and Karen were intrigued, so they hunted down a commercial mead to try. They decided that it was pretty interesting, but thought they could make a better mead themselves. The result was raspberry mead on the ceiling, and they were hooked! Scot has been meadmaking since 2001?? He has multiple Mead BOS including MidWinter, Kansas City Biermeister’s comp, Domras Cup. Several Mazer Cup placings, multiple Mead Free or Die Placings, 2015 East Coast Mead Maker of the Year and 2017 AHA Mead Maker of the Year. Recipes scaled up by Prairie Rose Meadery and Moonlight Meadery. Past distiller at Mississippi River Distilling Company and current Head Brewer at Crawford Brew Works. Bob Slanzi has been keeping bees and making award winning eads for years He is very active in the homebrew and beekeeping communities, having held offices in both clubs in the past. he is the current president of the Home Governing Committee of the American Mead Makers Association, and very active in helping bring the word of mead to everyone. He is known for his meads, and isn't afraid to try new flavors, like seaweed.      Click the chat link to join us  in the live conversation during the show.This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.  Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes!If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow.Show links and notesLet There Be Melomels by Rob RatliffThe Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob RatliffUpcoming EventsApril 5-6 - The Colony Meadery - Spring Wine Festival at Bear CreekApril 6 - Meridian Hive Meadery - Run for MeadApril 12 - Charm City Meadworks - Two Fierce Chicks Present: A Mead, Mera and Music FundraiserApril 12-13  All Wise Meadery - Wine Riot New York CityApril 13-14 Starrlight Mead - 8th Annual Festival of LegendsJune 1 - Warped Pours II - Pour Harder - Metro South Homebrew League Homebrew FestivalJuly 27 - Orcas Island Cider and Mead FestivalGot an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at gotmeadlive@gotmead.com and tell us about it!

4-2-19 Polish Meads! At the 2019 Mazer Cup International, Scot Schaar and Bob Slanzi were given Polish 'passports', to recognize their prowess in making Polish meads. Both make amazing Polish style meads, and many have had the chance to try them and say 'hell yeah'. Making Polish style mead can be tricky, there are some rules around how the styles are made, and working with these sweeter meads is a bit of work. Making them well is a serious skill. If you're making Polish style, or thinking about it, then definitely give us a listen tonight for insights! If you'd like to give it a try, you can get some tested recipes in Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff. There are over 60 recipes, and 5 of them are Polish style, 3 of those medal winners. About Bobby and Scot: Scot and his wife Karen were watching a viking movie in about 2000, and they were drinking mead in the movie. Scot and Karen were intrigued, so they hunted down a commercial mead to try. They decided that it was pretty interesting, but thought they could make a better mead themselves. The result was raspberry mead on the ceiling, and they were hooked! Scot has been meadmaking since 2001?? He has multiple Mead BOS including MidWinter, Kansas City Biermeister’s comp, Domras Cup. Several Mazer Cup placings, multiple Mead Free or Die Placings, 2015 East Coast Mead Maker of the Year and 2017 AHA Mead Maker of the Year. Recipes scaled up by Prairie Rose Meadery and Moonlight Meadery. Past distiller at Mississippi River Distilling Company and current Head Brewer at Crawford Brew Works. Bob Slanzi has been keeping bees and making award winning eads for years He is very active in the homebrew and beekeeping communities, having held offices in both clubs in the past. he is the current president of the Home Governing Committee of the American Mead Makers Association, and very active in helping bring the word of mead to everyone. He is known for his meads, and isn't afraid to try new flavors, like seaweed.       Click the chat link to join us  in the live conversation during the show. This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback. Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes! If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow. Show links and notes Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff Upcoming Events April 5-6 - The Colony Meadery - Spring Wine Festival at Bear Creek April 6 - Meridian Hive Meadery - Run for Mead April 12 - Charm City Meadworks - Two Fierce Chicks Present: A Mead, Mera and Music Fundraiser April 12-13  All Wise Meadery - Wine Riot New York City April 13-14 Starrlight Mead - 8th Annual Festival of Legends June 1 - Warped Pours II - Pour Harder - Metro South Homebrew League Homebrew Festival July 27 - Orcas Island Cider and Mead Festival Got an event you’d like us to mention on GotMead Live? Send us an email at gotmeadlive@gotmead.com and tell us about it!

4-2-19 Scot Schaar and Bob Slanzi – Polish Mead (and Polish Passports)