Golden Coast Mead

This was our first time tasting mead! Wow it’s delicious. Almost reminds me of champagne but definitely all had an undertone of honey. My favorite was the Cali oak. They have a great groupon. The staff was very friendly and knowledgable and answered all of our questions. 100% recommend this place for an evening hangout

We loved this place and the meads were all really tasty. Great service. Tried it with a Groupon and we were not disappointed. We will definitely be back. Alex was very welcoming and helpful. Local business at its best.

This is my very favorite place!!! The mead here is amazing and I love the variety! Chris and Alex are my favorite and have great recommendations! It is like cheers. Great prices and fun events are also part of the whole experience. You are also able to bring in your own food which is cool.

Great time had at their Mead Chocolate and Cigar Pairings. An amazing group of people wh make you feel like family. Mead is an amazing escape from heavy beer. With a complicated pallet and delightful flavors — very much enjoyed. Highly recommended.

Pros: Super friendly bartender and owner. We had a great time. The orange blossom was really good. Cons: small tasting room, but worth the visit.

What is Mead, let alone a Meadery? Well apparently, I was introduced to Mead, a type of alcohol that is apparently older than beer or wine. I would say that Mead is closer to the taste of wine. Mead is fermented with honey, yeast, and water. The drinks come in small glasses since they are quite potent, 12.5% of alcohol to be exact.
Golden Coast Mead is very discrete. It wasn’t even easy to find. It is hidden among a bunch of warehouses. Follow the «Tasting 21+» sign. There is a funny sign outside mentioning that Gandolf drinks mead, so apparently you should too. We decided to try two flights of Mead. Each flight costed $ 8 plus tax for 4 tastings. In particular, I really like the Cali and Savage. Golden Coast Mead is a no frills facility, but really, I think it is the only «Meadery» in San Diego. Also, it seems like they have a Groupon for this place so make sure you purchase one before coming. I really enjoyed the Savage so much that I purchased a bottle to go for $ 10 plus tax. I would definitely recommend this place if you are adventurous and would like to try something new.

My wife and a friend checked this place out — it was kind of fun finding it, but better signage would have been helpful. The rough insides was quaint and had a fun vibe. A little tight, but it was good they were busy
We loved the meads they offered, something very different than we are used to, and it was great to have something local to try.
We were excited to find some of their meads in our local Bev Mo, so that was cool this little, local meadery is starting to expand!
Highly recommend not just for mead lovers, but wine lovers in general — this is something really unique and fun!

Visiting from norcal, I just had to visit here, being a mazer from the way back. Golden coast invited me in with open arms. From the initial flight of meads on tap to the SECOND flight of the resident operator Alex’s recommendations, to our final choices for full chalices, we were treated like royalty. Yes they’re small in size and meager in presentation, but they’re huge in flavor and exuberance and heart! I loved their viking tears and sour orange blossom! Amazing.
Sitting amongst 30 barrel fermenters, and IBV totes full of honey (!), we were in heaven. I will make GCM as regular a stop as I am able. God bless ye, royal gentlemen, as you venture forth into mead frontiers unknown!

I really didn’t know what mead means but it’s pretty tasty. I read a few reviews and decided to try it out because I love to support local businesses. Some of the reviews said that they don’t serve food but that you can bring your own. So I ate before I came and tasted some of their most popular meads.
So mead is not beer or wine its alcohol made from honey. I never knew that but also its about 12 percent. I’m used to drinking beer that is about 5 to 8 percent so drinking this is a whole different game. My favorite by far is the Orange Blossom because it doesn’t taste too strong.
This location is really small like other reviews said but I couldn’t believe how small it was. At the same time it wasn’t really busy so I guess that makes up for it. The customer service is top notch because they explain what mead is and isn’t. I will definitely without a doubt come here again. They also have a damn good soda on tap made with Earl Grey tea.

Beers are excellent. Ample parking. Unisex, clean bathroom. l available. Staff are attentive and friendly.
It’s a little hidden and a bit small.
Will definitely be back, the beers are wonderful if you’re a mead lover which I happen to be. :)

Stellar service and friendly staff. Great drinks. Go for the chocolate chipotle if it’s on tap, don’t be a dong.

First time tasting Mead and must say I’m a fan. I’m more of a cocktail fan not so much beer but this is a nice new taste for me.
The owners are very attentive and knowledgeable. We had tasters and wanted to take home the Dry Hopped Cascade but they ran out.
Wish we would have tasted something else so we weren’t tempted!
They mentioned possibly opening a location in North Park later this year. We will for sure be regulars if that happens.

This place is a hidden gem in Oceanside. Yes, they have limited hours. But with breweries galore in the area, the are the only place for mead. The bartenders gave us the history of mead and let us sample multiple varieties. They paid attention to us even though they were busy. We had a groupon so it was a great deal, but you should make reservations if you have the deal. It’s in the fine print, but the bartender let us taste anyway. Mead is 12.5% alcohol so pace yourself. We bought a growler of the pucker punch. I highly recommend it.

This small and down to earth meadery/​tasting room reminded me of my usual spot back home in Sunnyvale, Rabbit’s Foot Meadery. I think the tasting room is fairly new, and probably needs to gain its footing a little bit. Even though it’s hidden in the back of a business park, there were maybe 15 people there which almost filled up the place! It seemed like the two servers could barely handle that many people, but when they did have time to help us they were very friendly.
The meads themselves were great. Most of them were carbonated which makes them a bit more refreshing than the meads I’m used to, which tend to be a bit too syrupy for me. The Mirth is the only one that was more traditional in that sense. We had the taster of 4 meads on tap plus a bonus secret mead (the creamsicle, my new favorite!). In addition to the tasting, we were interested in buying some bottles, so they let us sample those meads as well which was awesome.
If I lived in the area, I could definitely see coming here somewhat regularly. It seems like a cool place to chill and hang out with some mead, pretzels, and there were board games as well.

3.5 stars.
The people here are really nice and pretty funny. They kept intro-​ing the tasters as ‘Well, this one went horribly wrong…’, but we later found out that they meant it in a good way. The summer heat resulted in some temperate fluctuations that made the mead more unpredictable in flavor and pretty much impossible to reproduce. It definitely could have been taken the wrong way if we didn’t clarify.
They are definitely just starting out. The place is small and in the very back of a business park, just like all of the other North County microbreweries. Enough seating for maybe 20 – 30 people.
We sampled:
California Oak– sweetest
Christmas Tree– light, dry, and pine-​y
Savage Bois– dry, closer to a Sour
Galley Grog– the ‘accident’, tasted like Sweet Tarts meets tortilla chips
Note of caution: Mead is pretty easy to drink, but be careful. It sits at a fast-​hitting 12%. No food except complimentary pretzels, but they sometimes have a food truck on site.
As this place gets more popular, it’s probably a good idea to book a spot in advance online.

simply amazing!
I have now been inducted into MEAD.
I enjoyed the beer at rip current and went the next day to get some samples to give to a relative whom owns some craft brew bars.
Will definitely return to this location.

I had no idea what to expect from these guys — first off, I’m not a big mead fan. I love wine and craft beer, but mead is really neither! Here are the details to help you enjoy your first visit to a meadery:
EAT BEFORE YOU GO — There is no food served here other than the pretzels you eat to cleanse your palette between tastings. And although it doesn’t seem like it, mead has a high alcohol percentage. Wheeee! ;)
TASTERS: $ 3 each
FLIGHTS: $ 8 for a 4 taster flight. I recommend you try this. Check out my photos to see the colors, but here’s the rundown:
–Orange Blossom: Great for those who like things syrupy sweet, but a bit too much like sipping liqueur straight for me.
–Speakeasy: Not too sweet, this was my second favorite.
–Hop Vertical: Made with Simcoe hops (read more here:
), this is a very unusual mead that wasn’t to my liking, but my BF enjoyed it!
–Sour Orange Blossom: This is my favorite! Almost like a champagne lemonade. I ordered a chalice with fig reduction added for a satisfying hint of sweetness. Not sure about the fig syrup, but this type of mead is also GLUTEN FREE.
BOTTLES TO GO: There was a large selection of bottled mead to go. They also sell Golden Coast Mead at Whole Foods, and soon to be at Sprouts and other local grocery stores.
One chalice was enough for us after the round of tasters, and all three of us vowed to come back earlier in the day and plan to check out one fo the nearby restaurants afterward!
THANKS FOR AWESOME SERVICE!

Really great experience. Alex and Ryan were great hosts for us and helped us learn more about Mead.
Sampler was excellent and even bought a few bottles.
You can even bring your own food in.

We love this place and the people who own/​run it. Everyone is always having a good time and the conversation flows. It’s obvious the people tending bar enjoy the very unique product, which is important.
Rotating taps, nothing is ever the same when we show up. It’s all good, too. I recommend simply getting the sampler of all four taps when you first walk in. These are light-​color, carbonated meads, which are VERY different from your, say, Renaissance Faire mead. Light, crisp, refreshing — and alcoholic ;) Be careful!
You can get bottles to go — and I recommend it. Totally worth it.
Note: I think this is the only meadery in SoCal.

Mead!
We got to try some of their beer out at the Mission Valley Craft Beer Festival & thought their meads were pretty impressive so we made the trip up to Oceanside to visit!
We were the first ones in the tasting room that day so we got some time to talk to Ryan and Alex, and they were very informative and friendly, even offering up some other brewery suggestions nearby to check out.
The tasters of (4) 2oz pours will run you a reasonable $ 8, and caution the ABV of these suckers. They’ll creep up on you! Don’t make this the last stop of your brewery tour ;)
We tried (& liked them all): California Oak, Savage Bois, Creamcicle, Pan-​Galactic Gargle Blaster, Speakeasy
While the tasting room runs on the smaller side, I wouldn’t hesitate to return.