From Paperwork to Pouring: Our Journey to Opening a Texas Meadery

Opening a meadery in Texas isn’t just about honey and barrels — it’s about navigating paperwork, filing deadlines, and learning from every hiccup along the way. When we started Vinland Meads, we couldn’t find a single clear guide, so we pieced it together ourselves with help from fellow mead makers, late nights on Discord, and more than one trip to the Comptroller’s office. From fast TTB approvals to the headaches of label submissions and the surprise of missing eight months of RITS filings, we’ve learned the process the hard way. Here’s our story — and the lessons that might save the next mead maker some time (and a $5,000 penalty).