ABOUT THIS SERIES:
This is an insider’s peek into live music venues in the Quad Cities area, with a specific focus on venues whose audience capacity is below 500. The series aims to highlight the vibrant, diverse music scene in the Quad Cities and shed light on the more intimate venues that are often overlooked.
By highlighting venues with an audience capacity below 500, the series aims to showcase the intimate and personal experiences that these venues provide. We acknowledge that larger venues, and bars often dominate the music scene conversation with either touring musicians or cover bands, and seek to shed light on the charm and character of the Quad Cities’ smaller music venues.
Photographed & Written by: Matthew Terry
I don’t recall my first interaction with honey, but a fear of bees was an early establishment in my childhood. Of course, I must assume this was partially brought on by the classic “My Girl” film, and if seeing that scene as an adolescent didn’t tug at your chest you may need some self-reevaluation. These banded buzzing beings were seen as a menace for years, often due to unadulterated naivety. However their significance took flight in recent years, and now I find myself elated to catch these pilots of pollination guiding themselves between the flowers that bloom in my backyard and beyond.
Bees have a very brief lifespan – we’re talking 2 months at best – but the impact of these winged insects reverberates far beyond the spaces that they occupy in such a fleeting existence. Sometimes the smallest stones leave behind the most moving waves, and sometimes the most destructive floods re-instill faith in the fields which they scar.
The Motor Row section of Downtown Davenport is no stranger to these waves, whether hypothetical or in a quite literal sense, and that became clear in 2019 when the Mississippi River took up residence on 2nd street, inundating some of the spaces I’ve spent the most time in when downtown, including this month’s feature, Bootleg Hill Honey Meads.
Bootleg Hill, which had only been open for a year at the time they made it through this catastrophe, still holds onto that resilience. An admirable resilience that currently resonates through this historic stretch of downtown.
The Lustre King Trio
To understand Bootleg Hill a bit better, I think it’s important to first understand mead as a whole. Mead is classified as a wine and is made from a simple mix of water, honey, yeast, and fruits/spices that provide the varying flavor notes. Bootleg Hill provides approximately a dozen varieties on draft on any given day, allowing you to explore their traditional honey mead, more adventurous options like the coffee mead, or a new twist on classic cocktails like my personal favorite, the Meadjito.
While mead may be new to you, it holds significance across several cultures with origins dating back to 6500 B.C.E. in Northern China. The Greeks called it the Nectar of the Gods and held the belief it was Aristotle’s preferred beverage. In the mythology of the Celts, it was believed to bestow magical powers. It is even mentioned in one of the sacred books of the Vedic Religion in India. Furthermore, if you’ve ever visited a local Ren Faire you have unquestionably come in contact with this historical elixir.
The Lustre King Trio
The Bootleg Hill story began years before they found this lovely location sandwiched between prior feature Raccoon Motel and The Half Nelson, who they partially share an entrance with in the old Nelson Manufacturing building. This building, originally constructed in 1922 for the N.O Nelson Company housed several things – including a seed store and an antique business – before Rick Harris took over the west half of the space in 2018. Rick has long held a passion for brewing and began this mead dream in his East Moline basement in 2013 (though he had been “meading” since 1998). Further adding to the lore, the home where this all started was previously inhabited by a local 1920s bootlegger.
As an artist, always trying to grow, I have a great deal of respect for people who take a dream from the basement to a breathing being, especially when that involves helping establish a first-of-its-kind product/location for the present Quad Cities. When it was in its early stages, before occupying this century-old building, I remember walking into various Hy-Vee locations around the Quad Cities and seeing Rick giving out free samples of this elixir with a magical history to any patron willing to try something different than the normal wine, whiskey or beer offerings commonly filling the shelves and subsequently their carts.
His passion for the product was clear, and whether he was fermenting it in his home in the early days or in the large metal vessels set up in the rear of the downtown Davenport location, that passion continues to be present even now as I spoke with him and watched him being personable with the people that filled his business Saturday in celebration of their 6th anniversary on 2nd Street.
With vaulted ceilings and windows stretching well above your highest reaches, acting as an aperture allowing each passerby to be beckoned into this little hive, it’s a rather intimate space that feels anything but confined. This comfort is only exemplified by the couches and chairs which supply a lounge-like feel directly in front of the aforementioned windows that allow for an open view of 2nd Street and a front-row seat for the myriad of musical acts that grace “center stage”.
There’s a mellow energy to Bootleg Hill that matches this seating one would call “non-traditional” for a bar setting, but this is very much not a traditional bar setting, and it gives vibes a lot more related to a winery than a bar. This energy is a major piece of what makes this place so appealing and helps it stand out among the rest.
While Bootleg Hill stands on its own, it is also a very involved piece of Motor Row, an area that was once occupied primarily by auto businesses and has slowly been reestablished in the present with a more modern movement in mind. It’s likely a lot of you readers found yourself here during this year’s installment of Alternating Currents.
The variety of flavors that Bootleg Hill offers mirrors the diversity of performers who have come to share a piece of themselves with anyone who cares to listen. From soft acoustic ballads sung to a respectively muted mid-afternoon crowd to raucous performances from esoteric enigmas being taken in by revelers spilling out onto the sidewalk, this space caters to players and fans of all levels, and it has become a vital piece of the local scene.
So make a plan to stop in the next time you are downtown, and remember when you support Bootleg Hill you aren’t just supporting a local business. You are helping support beekeepers and their bees, which are undeniably vital pieces of our entire existence.
Venue Name: Bootleg Hill Honey Meads
Website: www.bootleghill.com
Venue Address: 321 E 2nd Street, Davenport, IA
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bootleghillmeads
