Our Story

At Silver Hand Meadery, it's our passion to rediscover and reimagine, not just mead, but everything. Though mead is an old drink, we are not attempting to recreate what it once was. Our rediscovery of mead seeks to reimagine and reinvent mead, to bring it into current times, and make it relevant for today. We carry this principle of rediscovering and reimagining into the meadery in other ways. From the brick and corrugated metal on the walls, to the use of old barn wood and old doors to create our bar tops and tables, we want to use old things of beauty and give them a new purpose.
Our mission is simple: To create exceptional meads and unique experiences so that our guests can savor what is good together.
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Glenn Lavender
Owner and Meadmaker
Glenn had a 12 year career touring North America and Europe with his Juno award winning band, Downhere. He spent a lot of time on tour reading beekeeping books and historical fiction novels by author, Stephen Lawhead. It was through his readings that Glenn discovered and developed a passion for the ancient drink of mead. After exploring the world of meadmaking as a hobby for a few years, Glenn decided to take things to the next level by receiving some formal training at UC Davis, the world's premier winemaking institute. In 2015, he and his wife Sherri opened Williamsburg's first and only Meadery; the rest, they say, is history! Today, Glenn is a passionate, award-winning meadmaker and amateur beekeeper that maintains his insatiable appetite for innovation, collaboration and learning.
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Sherri Lavender
Co-Founder
Ever since the idea of opening a Meadery was first mentioned, Sherri has been instrumental to the founding of Silver Hand Meadery. In the hobby days Sherri played a key role in developing recipes which went on to win awards and are now currently part of Silver Hand’s regular line up. Many of the values of Silver Hand Meadery come from Sherri’s desire to make the most of every moment (savor what is good), and to be good stewards with what we’ve been given (rediscover and reimagine). Even though she prefers staying behind the scenes her personality and influence permeate through the entire staff team and to the customers every day.
Sarah Potts
Tasting Room and Retail Shop Manager
Sarah was born and raised right outside of Williamsburg, Virginia. After a brief career in elementary school teaching, she came to the Meadery in the spring of 2016.
Though Sarah started as a volunteer, it became clear as time went on that she had the potential for much more. Now the manager of honey and retail, or as she likes to be called, the Honey Queen, she has a passion for teaching our guests about mead and the honey varietals that go into each one.

Kayla Lord
Administrative Assistant, Insider Club Manager
Kayla was born in Alabama, but has lived all over the world, first as a military child, and then as a military spouse. In 2014, Kayla moved to Williamsburg with her husband and two sons. With her background in business administration and love of all things historic, Kayla joined our team in the winter of 2018 as our Administrative Assistant. Along with providing administrative support, Kayla also manages our Insider Mead Club and helps with wholesale operations for the meadery.
Sam Straight, Ph.D.
Director of Production
Growing up in Central New York State, Sam recalls first hearing about mead when reading Beowulf in high school. Many years later, during his academic career as a researcher and educator at the University of Michigan, Sam put his Ph.D. in Microbiology to a tastier use: crafting fermented beverages! For over fifteen years he created award-winning beers, ciders and meads as a hobbyist. Always the student, Sam pursued more formal training and practical experiences in fermentation science. In 2014 Sam and wife Angela, moved to the Hampton Roads area and in early 2020, Sam was chosen to lead the mead production team at Silver Hand Meadery where he will continue the mission to rediscover and reimagine this unique, ancient beverage.
Kevin Jones
Wholesale Manager
Kevin was born and raised in Virginia, and after spending some time in South Carolina, he moved to Hampton Roads in the fall of 2017. He first learned about mead from the Elder Scrolls game "Skyrim", and first tried it right in Silver Hand Meadery's tasting room. After joining the insider club and being a regular customer for several months, he joined our staff in October 2019. Kevin lives in Hampton with his wife Laura and their two children, where he also teaches at a local private school. Kevin loves working as a Tasting Room host in our shop, but also travels the state managing our wholesale operations.