Monks Meadery Opening Tasting Room, Retail Store Below JavaVino in Early-2021

Monks Meadery, an Athens-based mead — an alcoholic beverage created by fermenting honey with water — producer, is opening a Poncey-Highland tasting room and retail store. Monks’ new Atlanta location will be situated in a 450-square-foot lower-level space within the JavaVino coffeeshop building, at 579 North Highland Avenue NE, according to an alcohol license application recently filed with the City of Atlanta. Monks Co-Owner Justin Schoendorf confirmed the plans with What Now Atlanta Monday. Schoendorf and Co-Owner Martin Key are expected to present their plans to the Neighborhood Planning Unit: N on October 22, 2020.

“We’ll be the only meadery in the city,” Schoendorf said. “It will be the first time we’ll have our own dedicated space where we’ll be able to tell our own story. Up until now, all of our sales have gone through distributors and then into retail and restaurants. We’ve developed some great relationships over the years but having something that our own is going to be great!”

Out of its forthcoming brick-and-mortar, Monks will sell its canned mead for on-site consumption and to-go, as well as retail company merch. There aren’t currently plans to offer a food component. For non-mead drinkers, Monks will also offer a selection of Southern Brewing beers, the Athens brewery where Monks actually produces its mead. Savannah Bee Company goods — where Monks sources the honey for its mead — will also be available for purchase.

“I’ve known the owners of JavaVino since it opened and we have a shared passion for wine, good beer, and coffee,” Schoendorf said. “The space is cosy and hasn’t been utilized to the fullest yet. Our concept will complement [JavaVino’s] current business. Most of their business starts in the morning and goes until the late afternoon. I foresee our business starting in the late afternoon and going until the early evening and so we won’t be stepping on each other’s toes.”

There are plans for a 12-gallon tank in the Poncey-Highland storefront for test batches but the majority of the mead served out of the new space will still be produced in the Athens production facility. Pending the alcohol licensing process, Monks is aiming to open at the beginning of 2021.