Jason Catanzaro taught himself how to make mead when he was 10.
Catanzaro is the owner of Forgotten Gods Meadery, located in Melbourne. Mead is made similarly to beer or wine, but instead of fermenting grains or grapes, it’s made by fermenting honey, water and yeast.
When Catanzaro was 10, he owned a Mr. Root Beer kit, which he used to brew his own root beer at home and then distribute it to friends and family. Eventually, though, the kit ran out of ingredients.
Catanzaro said he begged his mom to call for more ingredients (you couldn’t hop on Amazon for that kind of thing then), but it never happened.
“I was really into all the fantasy genre type stuff, ” Catanzaro said. “I was reading the story of Beowulf at the time, mainly because people said it would be too much for me as a 10-year-old. I’m like, I can do it. I’ll figure it out.”
While reading those stories, he was introduced to mead. Catanzaro said he thought to himself, if he couldn’t make more root beer with his kit, he would make mead, not understanding at the time that it was a type of alcohol.
He went into his Mom’s pantry, got all of her honey bears out, squeezed them into a big two-liter bottle, added some water and some yeast, and followed the same process for the root beer kit.
Just like that, Catanzaro had his first batch of mead.
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“The problem was I’d never had alcohol before,” he said. “I wouldn’t know what it was supposed to taste like. If it was good or not. So I waited for my dad to get home. I’m like, ‘Dad drinks beer. Dad’s had wine before. He knows what it should taste like.’”
His dad gave it a try, not understanding what mead even was, and said it tasted like honey beer. Catanzaro said he knew it had worked after that.
“In the back of my head, I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God, am I in trouble now? What did I just do?’” he said. “But he just took the cup, walked into the other room, and drank it with his dinner. Never heard another word from him, so I kept making it.”
Forgotten Gods opened its tasting room in May of 2025. Catanzaro makes all of the meads himself.
The branding of Forgotten Gods stems from his love of mythologies and old stories from his childhood.
“I’ve always liked things that were really, really old in school,” he said. “I loved learning about Greek mythology and all the different gods and goddesses. It was all just so fascinating to me, and just learning how people used to think thousands of years ago.”
Catanzaro comes up with a flavor for every god he can think of. The meadery has 30 meads on tap.
If someone is new to mead and walks through the door, Catanzaro said he usually recommends their “Blood Oath,” a cherry-and-spice mead that he said tastes like cherry pie. Or he might recommend their flagship mead, which is “Odin,” a clover mead aged on French and American oak.
Catanzaro grew up in Western Hills and now lives in Florence. He chose Melbourne as the location for his meadery after hearing about the opportunity by chance. Catanzaro said at the time he concluded that if you want to start a winery, brewery or meadery in the area, you need to have family land, or at least a million bucks.
He didn’t have either.
Catanzaro said he was sitting on the patio at Fabled Brew Works in Erlanger having a flight of mead with his brother, and they were talking about how difficult it was to open a meadery.
“You go to a bank, and you ask them to invest $1 million into a meadery, and most of them are like, ‘What is mead? Are you making hamburgers and steaks?’” he said.
Catanzaro said he left their table, and when he came back, another couple was sitting there speaking with his brother. They overheard the conversation about mead and honey and told him to go to Camp Springs Winery and check out their honeysuckle wine-and by the way, they were closing.
He started emailing the owners asking if they would consider renting the space to him. Catanzaro said they were usually short in their responses, with no thank-yous. He tried calling them, but could never reach them. He gave it one last shot and decided to show up in person during the closing weekend.
Catanzaro and his wife stood at the bar, tried all the wines they offered and bought a case.
“So the bartender’s in a good mood, and we just had a bunch of wine,” he said. “We’re getting ready to leave, and I say, ‘Hey, you know that guy that keeps calling and emailing you about helping out with the winery or taking it over? Yeah, that’s me.’”
The bartender was the owner’s son, and Catanzaro secured a meeting with them and won them over to rent the location.
Forgotten Gods Meadery originally started as AllFather Meadery, but Catanzaro ran into trademark issues with the name. He said there is another meadery in Texas that had a trademark on one of its mead flavors called “Allfather.” Catanzaro said the name change almost broke the business because he had it branded on everything.
Catanzaro said he and his wife Lori Catanzaro have been through a lot with the endeavor. He joked that he has fired her at least a dozen times so far, but she keeps coming back.
Lori Catanzaro said the most rewarding part about the business has been seeing people discover a passion for mead and become part of their community. She also said she was especially proud of her husband for making his dream a reality.
“We spent so many years pouring our time, energy and love into raising our kids,” Lori Catanzaro said. “Now that they’re independent, he’s had the opportunity to refocus on his creative side and build something that’s truly his own. My favorite part is seeing the joy it brings him and the meaningful connections he’s made with people who share the same passion for mead.”
Her favorite mead that Catanzaro makes is “Hel,” the meadery’s Blackberry Merlot Mead.
Lori Catanzaro said she and her husband want Forgotten Gods to be a place where people can relax, connect and share an experience that they’ll want to come back to.
Those wanting to try Forgotten Gods mead can do so at the meadery’s tasting room located at 6685 4 Mile Road in Melbourne. Or give them a try at River Valley Viking Festival, which will be at the Kenton County Fairgrounds, 2836 Harris Pike in Independence, the weekend of August 21-23.
