Tupelo Abuzz Over Queen's Reward Meadery

by Kevin Wierzbicki

The bees that make the honey that's used in the wines made at Queen's Reward Meadery in Tupelo, Mississippi have got to be proud. There's quite the, well, buzz going over the delightful libations crafted at Queen's Reward Meadery, Mississippi's first meadery where tasting sessions led by owner Jeri Carter are palate pleasing and informative and often hilarious. Carter's fondness for the hard-working hive residents, all of whom live in Mississippi, is evident as she narrates a tasting session, and if the bees ever met the affable entrepreneur they'd no doubt like her too.

Queen's Reward Meadery owner Jeri Carter

After making homemade wine as a hobby, Carter decided to try her hand at something different and began making homemade mead. After two of these early varietals won awards in a national competition, Carter decided to go into mead making full time and Queen's Reward Meadery was born. The awards have been piling up ever since. Now available are favorites like Traditional Sweet, a dessert wine, Scarlet Noir that's made with California pinot noir grape juice, the floral and spice notes of Traditional Dry and the lemony mead that's aptly named Pucker Up. There's also a Riesling mead called Delta Gold, the self-explanatory Blackberry, the seasonal Winter Spice, another Riesling called Delta Dry, the crushing on cranberries RuBee (see what they did there!), the tart yet sweet Chocolate Covered Cherry, Traditional Dry Oak and for those who want a little extra zing in their mead, Honey Habanero. Amusingly, the Honey Habanero is described as being "kinda like a honeybee: cute and fuzzy on the front with a stinger on the back."

Some of Queen's Reward Meadery's award winners

Jeri Carter begins a tasting session

Another thing to try at Queen's Reward Meadery are their slushies, adult beverages that are amazingly refreshing that come in four flavors. Charcuterie boards are available too so you can have munchies with your drinks. And while the adults are enjoying their mead wine or slushies inside the kids can play oversized Jenga games or cornhole in the meadery's expansive green space (big windows allow for a good view of the kiddos too.) That means a good time will bee had by all!