Archaic Alcohols is not a vineyard with rolling rows of grapes — it is a small, husband-and-wife meadery built into a shop on Sugar Mountain Drive in the Banner Elk / Newland corner of Avery County, and it makes some of the most distinctive honey wine in the High Country. If you want a tasting experience that leans into dark humor and horror-movie branding rather than mountain-vineyard elegance, and you want to try mead and cyser (a mead-and-hard-cider hybrid) instead of grape wine, this is the stop worth the detour.
A Pandemic Hobby That Became a Business
According to the founders’ own account, Ryon and Liz started making mead as a pandemic-era hobby after their Halloween wedding in 2019. What began as something to fill the time during lockdown turned into Archaic Alcohols, a meadery they still run themselves out of their hometown in Avery County. The business was formally registered in North Carolina in November 2021. Every bottle is hand-filled, corked, and labeled by the two of them, and each one carries a bit of the horror-and-dark-comedy storytelling that runs through the whole brand — from character names on the labels to flavor names built around classic monster and slasher tropes.
What to Taste
The lineup is built entirely around mead and cyser, all brewed in small batches on-site. Flavors rotate, but a few have picked up recognition at outside competitions: a sweet orange-creamsicle mead has taken a silver medal at the NY Finger Lakes International Wine & Spirits Competition; a caramelized-honey bochet mead with a smoky, whiskey-like finish has won both a silver at the Southeastern Regional Winemaker Challenge and a gold at the Finger Lakes competition; and a blueberry-basil mead has picked up bronze medals at both events. Sweetness levels are labeled on a simple scale, which is a nice touch if your group has both dessert-wine drinkers and dry-wine purists in the car.
The Setting
This is a small, low-key tasting counter rather than a sprawling vineyard property — think a shop you’d find in a mountain strip of stores, not a barn on a ridge. That size is part of the charm: it is intimate, the people pouring your tasting are usually the people who made it, and there is no waiting for a table on a busy weekend. It also means groups larger than a handful should call ahead so the space does not feel cramped.
Nearby and Worth Combining
Because Archaic Alcohols sits right between Banner Elk and Newland, it slots easily into a loop with other Avery County stops. Eagles Nest Winery is a short drive north near Elk Park, and Linville Falls Winery’s vineyard and Christmas tree farm is a scenic run south toward Newland on US 221. If your group wants to add a completely different setting later in the day, Little Switzerland Orchard and Winery over in Mitchell County brings ciders, mead, and a working farm into the mix.
Planning Tips
Archaic Alcohols is roughly 20 to 25 minutes from Banner Elk village and around 35 to 40 minutes from Boone, depending on the route through Elk Park or Linville. As of the meadery’s own site, hours have run Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed Sundays — but small, owner-run shops like this one adjust hours seasonally, so confirm directly with them before you build a schedule around it. Because this stop pairs naturally with one or two wineries rather than standing as a full afternoon on its own, it works best as part of a multi-stop route, which is exactly the kind of trip a private driver is built to sequence — no one has to remember which shop closes early, and no one has to be the sober one behind the wheel on Sugar Mountain’s narrow curves after dark.
Wine Tour Transportation to Archaic Alcohols
Ashe County Livery offers private, chauffeured wine tour transportation to Archaic Alcohols from Boone, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, West Jefferson and across NC’s High Country. Our Archaic Alcohols trip-planning page covers drive times, tasting-room hours, group sizes and pricing.
Travel in a luxury SUV, sedan, or Sprinter van with a professional chauffeur — everyone in your group gets to taste, nobody has to drive. Plan your Archaic Alcohols tour or call (336) 484-1350.
Other High Country wineries we serve: Eagles Nest Winery · Linville Falls Winery · Little Switzerland Orchard and Winery — or browse every High Country winery, cidery and meadery we provide transportation to.
Explore More from Ashe County Livery
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- Airport shuttles by town: Boone · Blowing Rock · Banner Elk · West Jefferson · Linville · Beech Mountain
- Ashe County Livery — Premium transportation in NC’s High Country
- Request a free quote — or call (336) 484-1350
🍷 Planning a Wine Tour in the NC High Country?
Ashe County Livery offers private, luxury wine tour transportation throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains. Skip the driving and let our professional chauffeurs take you from winery to winery in comfort and style.
Serving Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, Boone, and all NC High Country destinations • (336) 484-1350
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