Happy Bear Meadery

Honey-based meads and a lavender-field setting outside New Home, Texas, with production tours and tastings

Best known for: Wildflower honey mead and flavored honey-based meads

Happy Bear Meadery makes honey-based meads beside a lavender field outside New Home, Texas. Honey, rather than grapes, is the starting point here, with flavors ranging from wildflower to coffee. Its Texas Highways wildflower mead is a third-place winner in the semi-sweet traditional category at the Texas Mead Association’s 2022 Mead Fest—a useful starting point for visitors interested in a more traditional expression of the drink.

Visits combine a look inside the production facility with time in the tasting room to explore different flavors. The lavender field belongs to sister company Texas High Plains Lavender, which also offers lavender products and walks among the plants. The setting gives travelers a reason to linger beyond the tasting itself, without making wine knowledge a prerequisite.

Happy Bear Meadery welcomes visits by appointment at 1430 FM 211, with a Wilson, Texas, mailing address. For a longer stay, a glamping tent sits amid the lavender with a queen-sized bed and solar-powered shower. It is a notably different overnight option from the usual wine-country hotel.