2-11-25 Tonight we're talking with Kirubell Araya, owner of The Heritage Winery, in New Jersey. Kirubell has taken over the making of t'ej from his father, and is now located in the old location for Melovino Meadery.
The Heritage Winery has been open since 1978, making it one of the oldest honey wineries in the US. Araya Yibrehu, Kirubell's father, is a pioneer in bringing Ethiopian cuisine and Tej to the United States. He opened Sheba in 1978, argueably the first Ethiopian restaurant in the US. Over the years he opened several more restaurants, with the most renowned being the Blue Nile in NYC, which became an icon for Ethiopian food lovers.
Beyond this, Araya was also a trailblazer in crafting and commercializing Tej n the US, helping to preserve and share this ancient tradition with a wider audience. This would later become the Heritage Winery.
Kirubell followed in his father's entrepreneurial footsteps, and grew up immersed in the family business. He graduated from Morehouse College in 2010, and went into commodities brokering, but came back to his roots. He joined the family venture in 2013, bringing a fresh vision and new identity to the Heritage Winery. In 2018 he left his job in finance to dedicate himself to expanding the company.
The Heritage Winery meads are made with organic, single-source honey from sustainable farms. Each batch is carefully fermented to highlight the rich floral complexity of the honey, balanced with the earthy bitterness of hops, a key ingredient in traditional Tej.
Currently they offer Axum Tej, made with wildflower honey, and Saba Tej, crafted from orange blossom honey. They plan to expand into meads that include fruit, coffee and sparkling Tej, moving an ancient drink into the 21st century.
Join us to learn more about Tej and see what Kirubell is doing with this traditional mead!
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