Through all our favourite fantasy novels, as dwarfs raise a flagon and toast drunkenly to their adventures, they’ve always been filled with one mysterious and elusive beverage. Mead. Described as a wondrous elixir that fills you with joy and good humour this drink has been long in coming to our shores but now, thanks to the enterprising minds at Moonshine Meadery, our dreams are about to come true.

Rohan Rehani and his business partner Nitin have the prestigious honour of being called the propagators behind India’s first ever meadery located between Lavasa and Pune. Though Rohan recently completed a course at Colony Meadery in Pennsylvania the duo have no other experience in the mead brewing business and their new line is the direct result of years of experimentation with flavour.

Mead itself is an alcohol created by fermenting honey and water with additions of fruits, spices and grains depending on the flavour you want. Though their mad scientist schemes took them through flavours like chocolate-orange, pomegrante, vanilla and jamun the intitial release will be a modest honey-apple blend with notes of Kashmiri apple. Currently they’re sourcing all the honey for their production from the north of India though their ultimate goal is to own their own apiaries - that’s beehives to you and me. In the future they hope to house their own beehives and produce honey on site but for now, we can only hope for a taste of their incomparable brews.