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Tech Worker Turns to Mead for Money
Posted: August 25, 2003 at 9:58 p.m.

BAY AREA (KRON) -- The North Bay may be known for its wine, but down in the South Bay, a former tech worker is making his mark on the meadery market. For those of us not familiar with the term, mead is wine made from honey, not grapes. 

The Rabbit's Foot Meadery operates out of an industrial office park in Sunnyvale. Its location isn't beautiful like a winery, but the meadery is turning out to be a successful start-up in Silicon Valley.

Mike Faul is making money from honey. The tech worker turned mead maker knows most people don't know what mead is, so he's also an educator. Mead is made of honey and then fermented like wine and beer. He started Rabbit's Foot Meadery from the savings he made from the tech boom.

"Some people think I'm crazy," he says.

People wouldn't think he was so crazy if they knew what his inspiration was. His daughter Ayofa was born with a lung disease. He and his wife, Maria, decided then it was time for a change.

"I couldn't see myself in the computer industry for another 10 years, full time," he says, "simply because of the amount of work you have to do. You never get to spend time with your family."

Because the mead tastes better with time, the Faul family didn't plan on doing much selling until 2006, but word of mouth has made Faul's mead popular. The company is about to break even, selling 1,000 bottles this year. Faul still takes on freelance programming work to pay the bills, but he doesn't miss his old life.

"The tech world started off as my hobby and then my hobby turned into work and this started off as a hobby, but it's still my passion," he says.

Right now you can only purchase the Faul's mead online. You can go to rabbitsfootmeadery.com for more information

(Copyright 2003, KRON 4. All rights reserved.)

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