Only our Viking knows the Hidden Legend. We're not sure if it is the way our honey wines are crafted from the finest Montana honey, the blend of spices that are used in our spiced honey wine, or the hills where the wild berries are picked that are blended into our berry honey wines. Maybe you can get it out of the Viking but the only thing he will give us is the twinkle in his eye that tells us he knows something. We can tell you, that you will not soon forget the delightful experience of tasting our honey wine for the first time. We hope that you enjoy our story and our wine.

The saga begins in rural Ohio, inside the basement workshop of Ken Schultz’s uncle, a research chemist and amateur winemaker. Little Ken would drop by to ponder the mysterious ability of yeast to transform food. He even chose fermentation as the topic of his eighth grade science fair project.

Which may explain why he later became a baker’s apprentice. That led to a hitch in the merchant marine, which led to a trip to Nepal — and then to a two-year job with a relief agency in Afghanistan just as the Russians began their invasion by bombing Kabul (but not Ken). After retreating to Europe, he returned to his hometown, where he met and married Lisa.

In 1975 Ken began to make wine as a hobby, using native varieties of grapes from the Great Lakes region. Three years later the Schultzes moved to Montana, where they set up home in a tipi. Inspired by the stone buildings of the Old World, Ken started a masonry business. In his spare time he built his own house. He also continued amateur winemaking, eventually winning medals in national competitions.

In 1989 a neighbor gave Ken a five-gallon container of crystallized honey. He made it into honey wine. Then, the morning after he bottled it, Ken, Lisa, and their three young sons moved to Papua New Guinea, where Ken taught villagers how to build houses using lumber from a donated sawmill.

When the Schultzes returned to Montana in 1997, Ken opened one of those half-forgotten bottles of honey wine. Inside was well-aged mead that surpassed his expectations, and by 2003, Ken, Lisa, and several other local couples had become co-investors in a meadery. Soon the small facility was at maximum capacity.

In 2005, Ken and Lisa started a new winery in Hamilton, Montana that specializes in fine honey wines. They named it Trapper Creek Winery in honor of a stream that begins life in the snowfields of several nearby peaks.

In 2008, due to a trademark dispute, Trapper Creek Winery changed its name to Hidden Legend Winery. The honey wines produced by Hidden Legend winery are the same in every way. So if you've tried our honey wine under the old Trapper Creek lable you will get the same honey wine under our new lable. The Winery also moved into a 3000 square foot facility on highway 93 where it currently operates.

These days Ken uses 100% Montana-made honey to handcraft a pure honey mead, a dark mead, three berry meads, and a spiced mead. Our wines are all natural and do not have any sulfites added. And —you heard it here first— he is now in the process of developing a carbonated berry honey wine to be served on tap.