Explore the Making & Tasting of Mead

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Cork, Ireland

Great choice

5+ bookings last month.

1 hour (approx.)
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Explore traditional flavors during an Irish gastronomy experience in Kinsale. Learn about local honey and the fermentation process to turn honey into mead. Hear stories about mead over centuries of Irish history and sample a variety of meads and cocktails during a guided tasting. Experience another side of Kinsale’s culinary history with a visit to a meadery.

Get to know Irish food traditions in Kinsale
Learn how honey is fermented into mead
Sip cocktails and sample mead in a guided tasting
Visit a meadery and meet a traditional maker

Sample Menu

Main

Selection of Kinsale Mead Co.'s award winning meads

A guided tasting of our award winning meads will conclude the tour.

What's Included

Alcoholic Beverages

Tour includes guided tasting of our award-winning meads and cocktails in the Meadery’s oak bar tasting room
Free car parking next to the meadery

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Troopers-Close, Kinsale, Co. Cork, P17 XV10, Ireland
Walking - Leave Kinsale Tourist Office right, take a right and right again. Left up Featherbed Lane, first right, in 50m up the steps/ramp, through the gates, past the Post office. Driving - Turn at the Garage, follow the road over the small roundabout, past Lidl, through the gates - free parking.

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Service animals allowed

Transportation is wheelchair accessible
Surfaces are wheelchair accessible
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 4 travelers

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Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 5 (from a traveler's review)

Featured review

Beth_F

Our guide was incredible. You can tell she is passionate about what she does and she has very in depth knowledge about Irish history snd making mead! I know now to never cut down a Hawthorn tree. Well, and the mead was pretty good, too! We realky enjoyed the whole experience!

Reviews

5.0

based on 162 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Don’t cut down a Hawthorn tree!

Beth_F, Apr 2026

Response from Host, Apr 2026

Hi Beth, Thanks for your gracious review and so pleased you had a great time with us, and yes, no cutting down the fairy trees, cheers Zara

Wonderful and informative tour

Janet_H, Apr 2026

Kinsale Mead was one of the coolest tours we have ever done. Dennis and Kate (the owners) are such a lovely couple! It was a cold, dreary, rainy day and Dennis warmed up some mead for us upon arrival. My family and I loved everything about it. I wish I had more room in my suitcase to bring home the delicious mead. Thank you for a lovely tour!

Response from Host, Apr 2026

Hi Janet, That warm mead makes such a difference on a cold wet day, doesnt it. Delighted you had a fun time with us at the meadery, cheers Denis

Learn about mead.

Sheila_K, Aug 2025

A fun time learning about how mead is made and tasted the base honey and then a few of the final products.

Response from Host, Aug 2025

Thanks for posting a review Sheila and delighted you had a great time with us in Kinsale, cheers Kate

Great History and Tasty Mead

Briana_R, Jul 2025

This was an excellent tour about the history of Mead in Ireland. The taste tasting of the honey used in the mead plus the actual mead was even better! I will be purchasing more as I see there is a company that ships them internationally. The owners and employees are so gracious. I forgot his name but the young man was a great tour guide and really passionate about mean making. I accidentally booked this tour thinking it was in Cork not realizing it was in a different town and missed my original booking. I almost didn’t go but asked on the off chance if I can switch my booking and they allowed it. The owner even gave me a ride to the bus stop since it was pouring rain. Wonderful and kind people all around which makes me want to support just for them.

Response from Host, Jul 2025

Hi Briana, Thanks for your gracious review. Stuart looked after you on the tour and we were happy to pop you back into town, couldn't let your bottle of mead get wet ! Hope you had a safe trip back to DC and Best wishes from us all here in Kinsale, Denis

Fun, flavor-filled and informative Mead Tour!! Do it!!!

Jill_W, Sep 2024

This Meadery Tour was absolutely great! Informative and engaging; welcoming and sublime overall! Kind staff and owner. Beautiful facility. We were waiting longggg time for a taxi and the ownergave us a ride to our dinner restaurant🙏

Response from Host, Sep 2024

Hi Jill, Thanks for the lovely review, we enjoyed showing you around our meadery and happy to pop you down the town on our way home, cheers Kate & Denis

Historical, interesting and tasty!

Deirdre_L, Aug 2024

Very cool history about mead as well as some tastes of the varieties of honey they use to make their different delightful concoctions. Bought more than I needed afterward but they had great small sizes in gift packs that were fun to give my family. Would highly recommend.

Response from Host, Aug 2024

Hi Deirdre, Thanks for taking the time to send us a review and taking home some mead with you, the gift packs have proven to be very popular, cheers Denis

Go! It’s Fun

Kathleen_F, Jun 2024

It was fun and entertaining and informative. Our Pleasant, adorable host answered all questions and engaged the visitors

Response from Host, Jun 2024

Thanks for visiting Kathleen, delighted you had a fun time with us, cheers Saoirse

Unexpected Fun!

Theresa_M, May 2024

Booked this out of curiosity and had a great time. It was informative and tasty! Exceeded my expectations. They have a great little operation there!

Response from Host, May 2024

Thanks for the review Therese, we're very proud of our meadery and our meads, cheers Denis

Mead comes back to Ireland

Gretchen_C, Apr 2024

Excellent tour, even better mead. Wonderful array of flavors, all were well made balanced and good drinking. Not your next door neighbor's mead! Pro tip, get a taxi to the address, it’s not an easy walk from town center, significant climb up a steep hill. Taxi to Lidl grocery store and Kinsale Mead Co. is right behind it.

A Terrific Intro to Mead!

hq5xxfhwrh, Jul 2023

I so enjoyed the visit to this cute little Meadery! Terrific introduction and history of Mead in Ireland. Of course, we were able to taste different honeys, tour the process and finally try some mead! Everyone was quite friendly and open to questions about every party of the process. Highly recommend!

Response from Host, Jul 2023

Thanks for the review. We do try to create a unique experience for everyone who visits, cheers Denis

Worth a Visit!

Kaitlin_F, Jul 2022

Kinsale Mead Co. is well worth visiting if you’re in the area. The tour was lots of fun with plenty of samples of honey and mead. It was interesting to learn about some of the mead history in Ireland as well.

Response from Host, Jul 2022

Hi Kaithlin, Thanks for coming on the tour and delighted you had a great time on Saturday tasting our different honeys and meads. cheers Kate & Denis

Das Honigtasting war...

Larissa_G, May 2024

Das Honigtasting war interessant. Der kulturelle Hintergrund war spannend. Es ist schade, dass man die einzelnen Stufen des Prozesses nicht probieren kann.

Response from Host, May 2024

Vielen Dank für Ihren Besuch und ich freue mich, dass Ihnen unsere Tour gefallen hat. Es ist schwierig, Met in verschiedenen Stadien verkosten zu können, obwohl wir auf der Tour während der Gärung eine Verkostung durchführen, wenn wir eine Charge laufen lassen, danke Denis