Lake Hāwea entrepreneur Chanelle O’Sullivan has this month launched Borage + Bee Meadery, and the new honey-infused drink will be on shelves around the country and online this month.

Mead is traditionally a still wine, sweetened by honey and fermented by yeast over time. Traced back to over 9000 years ago, it is arguably the oldest alcoholic drink known to mankind.

“Mead is steeped in the history of Vikings, rebels and kings,” Chanelle said. “People who lived for freedom, cared for the earth, dared to dream big then celebrated the efforts of their hard work with a swig of fermented honey brew.”

Chanelle’s first foray into mead making began two years ago when she read an article about sparkling mead. A keen home brewer for nearly a decade, Chanelle began scribbling down flavour combinations and experimenting with fermented honey concoctions.

In enlisting the aid of Sam – a Dunedin-based qualified brewer, scientist and beer judge – Chanelle said she found the perfect technical whizz to enable Borage + Bee to fly.

Together they have reinvented the traditional beverage by giving it a modern twist, adding added carbonation for fizz and dialling down the alcohol content to 5 per cent - comparable to cider or craft beer.

The Borage + Bee Meadery sleek 330ml cans feature a watercolour painting by Wanaka artist Sophie Melville.

The venture has been a truly local affair. 

“The majority of people I have collaborated with for Borage + Bee live in the Southern Lakes region - from the Wanaka artist who painted the beautiful watercolour artwork for my cans, to my designer and my marketing team,” Chanelle said.

Chanelle and her husband David live near Lake Hāwea with their children Hunter (five) and Izzy (eight). 

“Entrepreneurship is celebrated in this think-outside-of-the-box area and it’s a really supportive community to live in,” Chanelle says.

She is looking to support local in return and has chosen to use only small family-owned apiaries to supply the honey for Borage + Bee’s mead.

“My goal is to be really transparent. I want to know exactly where my honey comes from and my strict belief was that we would not be using any sulphites or chemical additives. There are no artificial flavours, colours or preservatives and certainly nothing that can only be identified as a number in a Borage + Bee can.”

The packaging has been carefully selected with the environmental footprint in mind.

“Environmental impact and regeneration are at the forefront of our mead. This is why we chose cans over bottles, and recycled cardboard and sugarcane pulp can rings over plastic.”

Borage + Bee is currently working with four Otago University Food Science undergraduates, who are experimenting with flavour and methodology trials in the laboratory.

Hinting at future flavour plans, she said they are experimenting with New Zealand grown botanicals, herbs, spices and fruits. 

Although mead production is Chanelle’s first venture into the alcohol industry, it’s not the first time she has entered the entrepreneurial world.

Chanelle created a rural women's support group called Farming Mums NZ in 2013, which has grown to connect 13,000 rural Kiwi women. She also owns and operates a holiday house in Twizel, called Highland Escape, with her husband, and has co-written a children's travel activity book called Cross Country Kiwis.

Learn more about Borage + Bee Meadery here.

PHOTOS: Sarah Drummond