Robert D Ratliff

An experienced mead maker, Robert has been studying mead and its creative aspects since 2006. He has won multiple awards during competition with his meads at the Annual Mazer Cup International Mead Competition over the years and is regularly sought out for his input and ideas. Robert's extensive collection of meads, and mead recipes, has been gathered from around the world. A retired soldier (and former sailor), he is a veteran of the Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan wars, has lived in 7 states, and visited most of the rest. Between his work and serving his country, he has lived in or travelled to approximately 20 countries spanning the globe. Wherever he goes, Robert looks for local honey varietals, meads to sample, and any local mead makers to help expand his knowledge base. When travelling, Robert tries to pick up a local varietal honey from each country he visits. His objective for this simply being to make a small batch of traditional mead from each location for his growing collection. So far he has collected honey from 5 countries and hopes to add several more to the list before he retires and can finally start drinking them. Robert and his wife Janette currently live in Goodyear, AZ.