Cerana Meads

The idea for Cerana traces back to 2013, when co-founder Yoginee Budhkar first encountered mead through a visiting British professor at ICT Mumbai, where she and Ashwini Deore were both pursuing doctoral research. Budhkar began experimenting with mead-making as a personal project, and by 2014, once Deore returned from a postdoctoral stint abroad, the two decided to build a business around it together.

At the time, no commercial licence existed in India for fermenting honey into alcohol, so the founders spent several years building a base of knowledge on Indian honey fermentation largely from scratch, since almost no prior data existed on the subject. They secured a rental space in Sinnar, Nashik in June 2018, and finally received their production licence in December 2019, making Cerana one of the earliest licensed meaderies in the country. Product inventory building began in January 2020, though the Covid-19 pandemic slowed early momentum until retail stores reopened in June 2020.

Nashik was chosen deliberately. It is widely known as India's wine capital, drawing wine tourism that a meadery could plausibly tap into, and it is also Ashwini Deore's hometown. Since launch, Cerana has expanded across Maharashtra, building a presence in Mumbai, Nashik, and Pune, with further state expansion planned.

Signature Products

Cerana organises its range into two tiers. The Session Meads are lighter, more approachable expressions meant for easy, unhurried drinking, and include the Jamun Mead, Pomegranate Vanilla Mead (often referred to as Pomegranate Melomel), Chenin Blanc Mead (a pyment made with grapes), and Blue Pea Lavender Mead. The Flagship Meads are higher-strength, more complex expressions aimed at connoisseurs, led by the Pinot Noir Pyment and the seasonal Yule Spice, a French oak-aged, spiced winter mead.

What Makes This Brand Unique

Cerana's defining trait is its farm-to-bottle philosophy and its use of regionally specific Indian ingredients that rarely appear together in a single bottle. Jamun from the Konkan coast fermented with Jamun honey from Madhya Pradesh, pomegranates from Nashik paired with lychee honey from Bihar, and Chenin Blanc grapes from Nashik combined with multifloral honey from Himachal Pradesh are all examples of the brand pairing hyperlocal Indian produce with honey sourced from a different part of the country entirely, creating flavour combinations that could not exist without deliberate, considered sourcing.

The brand also leans into sustainability as a genuine operating principle rather than a marketing line. Cerana states that it only procures honey harvested from the sealed, surplus portion of the honeycomb, meaning bees are never deprived of the reserves they need for their own survival, and the founders describe every pint of Cerana Mead as supporting the cross-pollination of roughly 40 lakh flowers.

Flavour Philosophy

Cerana's approach favours precision and terroir over maximalist flavour combinations. Each mead is built around a specific honey varietal matched deliberately with a specific fruit, grape, or spice, with the goal of letting both the honey and the other ingredient express themselves clearly rather than being masked by heavy processing or excessive sweetness. The brand describes its process as largely natural and minimally intervened, with quality control rather than recipe manipulation as the primary point of control.

Popular Bottles

1. Pomegranate Vanilla Mead (Melomel): pomegranate from Nashik fermented with lychee honey from Bihar, delivering a fruity, caramel, and vanilla profile.
2. Jamun Melomel: Konkan jamun fruit fermented with Jamun honey from Madhya Pradesh, light, crisp, and tart.
3. Chenin Blanc Mead (Pyment): Nashik Chenin Blanc grapes combined with multifloral honey from Himachal Pradesh, spiced with cinnamon, lemon, and bay leaf.
4. Pinot Noir Pyment: a flagship, higher-ABV mead pairing sealed-comb honey with Pinot Noir grapes for a rosé-hued, food-friendly pour.

Who This Brand Appeals To

Cerana suits drinkers who already appreciate wine and want to explore something adjacent but distinct, since several of its meads (particularly the pyments) are built with grape-forward structures that wine drinkers will find familiar. Its lighter Session Meads work well for people newer to mead who want a lower-commitment, easy-drinking introduction, while its Flagship range rewards more experienced palates looking for genuine complexity and regional Indian character.