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The Ryan family runs Fallentimber Meadery just west of Water Valley. One of the few meadery operations in the province, their products are a unique blend of wine style meads, session meads, hybrid beer/mead braggots, honey and wax products.
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In their current line up Fallentimber offers a traditional mead, a saskatoon mead, a sweet mead, a cinnamon mead, a pyment (honey/grape blend), as well as their hopped mead and ginger mead. They also produce a variety of seasonal braggots including a kolsh, a smoky rye and a India Pale Ale. You can find their products at the Canmore and Cochrane Farmers’ Markets, in select Alberta liquor stores and restaurants and of course, at their beautiful tasting room. You can also learn more on their website or by following them on Facebook.
How Fallentimber started:
Kevin Ryan has been a bee keeper his whole life. Up until 2009 he also ran a small herd of cattle. Together, the bees and cows earned him a living but left little room in the operation for any of his three sons to join the business. While building a house for his parents Nathan took up brewing and mead making on rainy days with a friend. Their interest, combined with Kevin’s honey production, quickly drew Colin (another son) into the mix and the two sons became avid homebrewers. Finding success there, they decided to take their hobby to the next level and Fallentimber Meadery was born!
Their products:
When they opened their doors as Fallentimber Meadery in October 2010, their operation was small and all their meads were in a wine style process like most mead produced in North America.
They began to play around with some brewed styles of mead in 2011. Their goal was to make a braggot mead which is a hybrid consisting of 50% honey base and 50% malt base. However, liquor laws in the province at that time prescribed the volume they were required to produce of any beer product so they decided to create their first carbonated product as a Hopped Mead.
The Hopped Mead is made by going through the motions of brewing a beer but excludes any grains. Despite the fact that the laws regarding beer brewing in Alberta have since changed and Fallentimber now produces many different braggot style meads, their Hopped Mead, is still one of their most popular products.
Their connection to customers:
Mead is not as well known as its beer and wine counterparts and exposing the public to mead has been a challenge. Often people generalize mead as being heavy and sweet but Fallentimber is doing its best to throw those mead stereotypes out the window. Visiting Fallentimber and experiencing their line up for yourself is a great way to realize that there is a mead for every palate.
Fallentimber operates on a beautiful piece of property tucked into the forests of the foothills. From meadery tours to family bocce ball tournaments to their annual anniversary party or simply die hard customers coming out to get their hands on their favourite product, they often play hosts to events for the public to enjoy.
The Ryans love to have customers come out to the Meadery because it allows them to share the whole process of their product. From the hives to the fermenting tanks, when a customer begins to understand the chain of events that brings the mead to their glass, they have a much greater appreciation for the product.
The future of Fallentimber Meadery:
In the future they hope to expand to host more events onsite so they can share the love of their space with the public. They love watching the public enjoy the land that is so special to them and to understand and respect the process of the product. Every time the Ryan's see that experience in someone’s face it’s re-energizing for them.
Though the meadery world in Alberta may be small, there is an ever increasing number of producers popping up. That trend is exciting for Fallentimber because it shows the traction that the mead industry is gaining at this point and time. Mead is such a versatile product that there is room for many different meads in the market.
“We chose to start the business here because we like being here. It’s about more than just the product, it’s about everything else too.” - Nathan Ryan
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