Mead and a Yellow Motorcycle
A mead flight in Somerville left me underwhelmed.
havna and I don’t really drink mead. It tends to be sweet, and sweet is complicated territory when you have Type 1 diabetes. My blood sugar doesn’t care how the honey wine tastes going down. But when I spotted a check-in on Untappd for Middlemist, a meadery that had just opened on Main Street in Somerville, curiosity won out over caution.
Bhavna’s sister and brother-in-law joined us. They live only minutes away from our home, so carpooling made sense, especially since parking in Somerville can be difficult. New Jersey has an odd rule: breweries, cideries, meaderies and distilleries aren’t allowed to serve food on-site. I suspect this is due to the restaurant lobby’s influence on state politics. So we ordered lunch at Kyma Greek Cuisine first and wandered into Middlemist to look over the menu while we waited.
Middlemist, Main Street, Somerville · Sunday 31 May 2026FujiFilm X-T3 · ISO 800 · 1/60 sec
XF27mmF2.8 R WR · 27 mm · f/2.8
The place surprised me. It felt like a houseplant shop that happened to pour mead. Shelves along the walls were crowded with potted greenery. The owner of Spotted Leaf Plant Company had teamed up with the meadery, and every plant was for sale. The meadery got free decor, and the plant shop got a captive audience. It was a clever arrangement.
Middlemist, Main Street, Somerville · Sunday 31 May 2026FujiFilm X-T3 · ISO 320 · 1/80 sec
XF27mmF2.8 R WR · 27 mm · f/3.6
Because mead runs closer to wine than beer in strength, Bhavna and I split a flight. None of it rated highly. The blueberry was fruity but forgettable. The limoncello version had citrus doing most of the work, which saved it from being cloying. The orange blossom mead was sweet enough to make my teeth protest, with a mouthfeel that lingered longer than the flavour did. The tart apple cider with honey was fine. It was tart up front, with the honey fading into the background. The citra hop mead was the most interesting: the hops came through, though the honey base reminded me this wasn’t beer.
Main Street, Somerville · Sunday 31 May 2026FujiFilm X-T3 · ISO 320 · 1/600 sec
XF27mmF2.8 R WR · 27 mm · f/5.6
By the time the food arrived, I’d lost track of what we’d actually ordered. We were all a little deflated.
Main Street, Somerville · Sunday 31 May 2026FujiFilm X-T3 · ISO 160 · 1/1100 sec
XF27mmF2.8 R WR · 27 mm · f/5.6
So I suggested we go to Village Brewing Company, less than ten minutes on foot. The walk gave me an excuse for some street photography. Somerville is an old town with tucked-away alleys carrying colourful murals, and vehicles worth a second look often line the kerb. That afternoon it was a yellow motorcycle, flame-painted and chromed, parked in a prominent spot.
Main Street, Somerville · Sunday 31 May 2026FujiFilm X-T3 · ISO 160 · 1/1000 sec
XF27mmF2.8 R WR · 27 mm · f/5.6
At Village Brewing I ordered an ESB called Fugging Phenomenal to clear my palate. It was a decent pint: malty, smooth, and it did exactly what the menu promised.
View of Division Street Shops from Village Brewing, Main Street, Somerville · Sunday 31 May 2026FujiFilm X-T3 · ISO 160 · 1/1700 sec
XF27mmF2.8 R WR · 27 mm · f/7.1
We stayed a while, talking, while I looked out through the open doors toward the sidewalk seating. Past the silhouettes of the other patrons I could see the umbrellas and storefronts of Division Street. This was once a normal road, but it is now a pedestrian mall. It was a quiet end to an afternoon that started with mead and ended with beer.
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