Victoria, British Columbia — Est. with Questionable Intent

Bear & Bulldog

Meadworks
✦ ❧ ✦

Step right up, dear visitor, and permit us to introduce you to the finest fermented honey elixirs this side of anywhere in particular. Crafted with intention. Named with affection. Occasionally born of a fruit sale that got spectacularly out of hand.

Inspect the Elixirs Our Curious Story
Handcrafted Melomel Victoria, BC Forward-Thinking Fermentations British Stubbornness, Pacific Soul No Two Batches Alike Inspired by Family Perfected by Accident Handcrafted Melomel Victoria, BC Forward-Thinking Fermentations British Stubbornness, Pacific Soul No Two Batches Alike Inspired by Family Perfected by Accident
What manner of elixir is this?

Mead. Ancient. Reinvented.

The oldest fermented beverage known to humankind — now with considerably more personality.

Mead — that most venerable of drinks, born from honey and time — has spent several thousand years waiting patiently for someone to do something truly interesting with it.

Bear & Bulldog Meadworks is one man's answer to that waiting. A hobby that outgrew its container. A fruit sale that suggested a calling. And an inherited stubbornness that refused to let the idea go back in the cupboard.

The results, we are delighted to report, are rather good.

🐻 Bear & Bulldog "The wild and the wilful, in every bottle"

Victoria · BC · Canada
The Current Formulary

Our Elixirs

Each bottle a story. Each sip a small, deliberate act of civilisation.

🍓 No. I

The Old Tart

Strawberry & Rhubarb Melomel

"A cheeky little number with a sharp tongue and a soft finish. It will charm you before you've had a chance to object — and you won't."

🌴 No. II

Passion Project

Passionfruit & Pineapple Melomel

"Born of ambition, mild delusion, and a fruit sale that got spectacularly out of hand. We regret nothing. Neither will you."

🍎 No. III

Cazzy's Apple Crumble

Apple, Cinnamon & Vanilla Mead

"In honour of a woman who made it every Christmas without fail — and one year served it so hot it nearly took the roof of my grandfather's mouth clean off. She never apologised."

View the Full Formulary

The Art of the Ferment

"We make no claim to ancient tradition. We claim only to have tasted enough questionable homebrew to know what not to do — and from there, things rather took off."

See How It's Made
"My grandfather's brews were not, by any objective measure, good.
But they were, without exception, memorable.
This is what we are attempting to bottle."
— The Meadmaker
The Name Explained

A Bulldog & A Bear

The Bulldog is British — stubborn, committed, constitutionally incapable of abandoning something once started. The Bear is Victoria, BC — wild, generous, and possessed of a kind of grand, unhurried confidence that rubs off on you if you stay long enough.

One man. Two places. One small but rather excellent meadery.

Read Our Full Story