New Day Meadery opens in Fountain Square

The husband-and-wife team of Tia Agnew and Brett Canaday in their new Fountain Square tasting room.

The Elwood couple knew about Fountain Square when they first decided to begin relocating their wine-making operation to Indianapolis. Still, they looked at spaces across the metropolitan area and even in Bloomington.

“It seems we kept coming back to Fountain Square,” Brett Canaday said on June 29 when he and his wife, Tia Agnew, opened New Day Meadery, located at 1102 Prospect Street in the epicenter of the burgeoning Near Southeast community.

New Day Meadery isn’t the first wine-tasting operation in the heart of Downtown, but it is certainly the first one dealing exclusively in mead – wine made from honey. Canaday and Agnew launched their Elwood tasting room in 2006, two years after beginning their wine-making production using honey produced by an Anderson beekeeper.

The opening of the Fountain Square storefront space follows the closing of the Elwood store, although wine production will continue there until the couple can locate a suitable Indy production facility.

They said they chose the Prospect Street site not only because of the ambiance but because of its proximity to Downtown and to interstate access.

“We love this neighborhood,” Agnew said, “and we love the synergy here – the different businesses and all the different people in the neighborhood.”

New Day Meadery is located in a dramatically spruced-up space on the first level of a circa-1865 building which was originally a blacksmith shop. Historic hardwood floors, pressed-tin ceiling and an exposed brick wall are juxtaposed against contemporary fixtures designed by Agnew.

The inventory includes wine paraphernalia and Indiana artisan food products, but the focus is clearly on the mead, which earned a silver and two bronze medals in the 2009 Indy International Wine Competition.

Canaday, pointing out that many historians consider mead to be the oldest alcoholic beverage in the world, said New Day Meadery produces both dry and semi-dry mead, as well as an array of mead blends using locally grown fruit such as blueberries, black raspberries, red raspberries, plums and peaches.

In addition to tastings, customers can purchase wine by the glass, bottle or case. Meat and cheese plates will be offered soon. Other future plans include the opening of a private room to accommodate parties and meetings.