Two Maryland institutions are toasting a shared golden anniversary in 2026: Linganore Winecellars and the Maryland Renaissance Festival both mark 50 years in operation this season, capping a partnership that has made Linganore the exclusive mead supplier to the festival since 1985.
The collaboration is a textbook example of long-term regional beverage partnerships that thrive at the intersection of food, beverage, and experiential hospitality. Linganore's mead and raspberry wine are served at beverage stands throughout the festival grounds each autumn, reaching what the festival describes as hundreds of thousands of guests per season at what is now the second-largest Renaissance festival in the country.
A Partnership Built on Place
The winery began as a modest operation on the Aellen family farm in Mount Airy, Maryland, and has grown into one of the Mid-Atlantic's primary winemaking destinations, now producing more than 30 varieties of estate-grown grape wines, fruit wines, and honey wine. The festival's move to Crownsville, MD in 1985 is when the exclusive mead arrangement formally took hold — and it has remained unbroken for more than four decades.
"It's been such a long collaboration between us that they almost feel like family," said Anthony Aellen, President and Executive Winemaker at Linganore Winecellars. "From the very beginning, our goal was to craft authentic wines and meads that bring people together, and supplying the festival's mead has been one of our proudest traditions."
Jules Smith, President of the Maryland Renaissance Festival, echoed the sentiment, calling Linganore the festival's "longest product association" and noting that the mead and wines "contribute greatly to the feasting and frivolity at the festival."
Why This Model Matters for Operators
For beverage directors and event hospitality operators, the Linganore-Renn Fest model illustrates the durable value of exclusive regional supplier agreements tied to experiential venues. Mead — long a niche category — has gained considerable commercial momentum in recent years as consumers seek historically rooted and craft-positioned alternatives to beer and wine, making festival placements an increasingly attractive channel for small and mid-size producers. Our beverage industry analysis has tracked this trend as craft mead moves from novelty to a mainstream festival staple.
Special 50th-anniversary events and toasts are planned throughout the 2026 season at both organizations. For foodservice and hospitality professionals scouting regional partnership models, the longevity of this arrangement — spanning more than half the winery's operating history — underscores how venue-exclusive deals can anchor a producer's brand identity and distribution strategy simultaneously. Readers interested in how regional producers are building similar experiential channels can explore our restaurant and hospitality beverage coverage for comparable case studies across the Mid-Atlantic market.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
