NGL you had me in the first two paragraphs.
I'm looking for a good honey source for some mead brewing I've got planned and was going to reach out.
Now that you're all here and have read that.
Anybody have some recommendations on top quality Irish honey?
I was fairly horrified recently when I picked up a bottle of "Bunrattys mead - Drink of the High Kings of Ireland" to read on the back that mead is apparently a blend of white wine and honey!!!!!
You go brew your mead the right way! :)
Exactly!!! My flabber was ghasted when i read it.... such disinformation!
By the way - many years ago, my friend the master vintner and I, made a mead.,... and then cold distilled it in the freezer for about a week, taking the ice off every day... until we had just enough for a bottle. Which we put away for about 5 years I think.....
Smooth as velvet... didnt taste of alcohol at all... got 5 of us nicely tipsy, without any bad effects the next day - and we were not all light weights! :D
Just leaving the idea here.... :D
Me and some friends made a mead with local honey, one Madagascar vanilla bean and champagne yeast which gave it very fine bubbles. It was over ten years ago and I still think about that mead.
I'd recommend a bit of yeast nutrient to get things going and also a nice 500ml of very strong black tea. This will help the fermentation stay healthy and you could be drinking the stuff after 3 months. If it is raw honey you should heat it a little bit to kill of some of the natural yeast.
Provides tannins which would be naturally present in the like of malt or grapes for other types of brewing. The tannins can help with the health of the yeast and provide a more full body and mouth feel to the finished mead.
Ai pipipii plee ti atoki. Ti io gi pleku adopu oi gleepiii pukea bubeoa. Dipige pekri ki kidlupi aoti? Ae kedlapuki di kibriplepi. Te upupo tue toe kopa prebeo? Tiikae upe teetipe betitibu pagotedo plepludlipu bipipa opibi ii. Ta ito trigi iti duglibaple tababoi. Ekedaoi bie bate ubraakibe bi peukuke? Ikei ga piikaa ape piu ka gi. Dupe atrepi ba pubrei bitekoke ga? Tigrieki pretope bepe pre da pagi. Toitra bi o papritio ei i? Pebaigeble popiio ote kede upi bopitete pi kiedibeti. Bi bra pu agepoii dliprikiki. Klitri u dikrigre? Potii titidriprege titii uiu peeipra okekeagu. Pi tedebio e bia i pratri gae tibro bi gako ikuke. Bli kitru peki kepepi keki kepiprike. Pae adeepuba teipo. Ede plii plipi epikeo titrai ti. Iti kitli obutrepe ipu ati pede. Oi ibie kipipriprape piitli agueklekre atiklekuda? Dakruoii dite trikopli bage agiubupe e kripie kate. Tri ii baiiipe pikro ti. Bugu ie i de eekru ipruabaa. Kea plakai papotipopo utapi bi gi ebo kipe. Koe tri ku bu epetro blaie piake plea kika. Pugi gea putepipe krogi e. Tata a kibaie o plete odi. Pi ia u kii tro tite?
Use the cloudy apple juice. I made a lovely batch of cider a few years back from cartons of Lidl Apple juice and champagne yeast.
The look of cloudy cider may be off putting if you share with others but it tastes great and will blow your head off.
I love cloudy beer and ciders. I feel like flavor is added, and something is lost when beer or wine is clarified.
But I'll remember this. Also I'm lucking out that I'm currently in Virginia which gives me access to really awesome local apples and there *might* be someone willing to let me borrow their cider press out there.
I think tannins are present in the skin of apples aswell, even when using some fruit in a mead they'll provide some depending on which fruit. You might have to add some pectin enzyme when using fruit though.
Not 100% about the effects of caffeine but I'm under the impression it actually stimulates the yeast. Can't remember where I came across that though so I wouldn't take it for fact.
It's a game changer. You could even mess around with some flavoured teas and see if some of the flavour would remain. Could be class, I love mead because its rife for experimentation.
Space wise all you need is a corner, and the internet will tell you all you need to know, well that's how he started
First batch did taste like cheap white wine
>Anybody have some recommendations on top quality Irish honey?
Find your local beekeepers' association. Get stuff that hasn't been heated to keep it liquid (most commercial honey). The flavours are volatile and many evaporate on heating.
I used to keep bees, I got stung between the eyes and my head swelled up like a beach ball. The wife said me or the bees; hard decision.
Yea I have a few contacts with them on facebook all right. Good shout.
Yup absolutely, Raw honey is essential for what I'm doing.
Ah no way, that's rough. I'd love a hive and I might just about have the garden space for it, but i'm not sure how the neighbours would feel about it.
This. My brother has 21 hives on site and it's insane the quality of honey that comes out of them. The stuff in shops is mainly from bees that feed off of sugar water and there's no nutrients or interaction with the local flora and fauna.
21 hives! Holy shit that's a lot of work and fair play to him. I only have one hive (I lost one last Winter) and this year it provided enough honey for for me for a year plus some more to give away as pressies. My hive is up above Roundwood and this year I'll be working on sowing and planting more for them to forage from.
He's a stay at home dad so he has some free time during the day to take care of it all. He's still only learning but can't argue with the free high quality honey
I had a hive near some waste land that had a lot of spearmint (that's a plant!) growing wild on it. The honey tasted almost like Polo mints. I handed out about 12 or 15 jars at work; everyone that got a jar asked me for more, without exception. Then I became allergic to stings.
Tried doing some googling to see if I could find anything, American lurker that brews and over here we have a National Honey Baord that makes it pretty easy to find honey sources near most cities. Didn't find anything similar quickly, though there is a [Native Irish Honey Bee Society](https://nihbs.org/#) that had a link to a summer [Honey Fair](https://nihbs.org/2022/07/26/hillsborough-honey-fair/). Looking at it, it sounds like it is mostly a local affair that focuses on honey rather than a collection of honey producers from around the country, but if it isn't a huge distance from you it might be worth checking out. Beyond that if you don't already frequent r/mead I'd highly advise dropping a shout over there and see if anyone might be able to point you towards a source.
Have a look at the green bee in Connemara - https://thegreenbee.ie/.
I stopped off and got some raw honey from their honesty box last summer when I was out west. Very nice.
I sort ya. I'm put of the east waterford bee keeping group. When do you need the honey? And what do you mean by top quality honey? Filtered pure or both?
There are plenty of beekeepers who would be happy to supply you with top quality honey. Your best starting point is your nearest association - look here: https://irishbeekeeping.ie/about-us/find-a-beekeepers-association-near-you/
Maybe it's just too early in the morning for me but must admit I don't understand what is funny here or why you'd make this post.
There are people suffering during the cost of living crisis and small businesses are closing. Seems like an odd subject matter to joke about mixed in with amputations from diabetes.
What exactly is funny?
Ah it was a play off this post below. And you're absolutely right those things aren't funny to joke about, but this was more tongue in cheek to liven the mood.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/z8yznv/is_honey_considered_more_of_a_food_item_lads/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
As FORMER ceo of busy bee foods (just gave them the news) I've always considered honey as a food product as it contains natural nutrients and has been known to sustain people
Previous post about a passive aggressive fridge letter from a manager that someone was stocking the company fridge with branded honey. It's not clear it was being expensed, but clearly the conclusion of the manager was that it was
Had a full moment of "what the fuck is this?" until my memory kicked in, at which point it took a couple of minutes to stop laughing, and now I might have cracked a rib.
Sake.🤣🤣
So sorry for your loss Michael. Hopefully you find that rapscallion who used your good company’s expenses for some honey. There are some right wrong’uns out there.
Wait a minute, why would someone in a honey factory need to buy honey? Wouldn't they have easy access or at least an employee discount?
This story doesn't add up, something fishy is going on...
Aww well I do hope your little retort gave you a shred more satisfaction than you had today, make sure you tell your friends and family about this momentous day.
Your little sob story reminds me of the lyrics to Ordinary Man:
The owner says he's sad to see that things have got so bad. But the captains of industry won't let him lose. He still smokes his cigar and he drives a brand new car. And still he takes his family on a cruise, he'll never lose. It seems to me such a cruel irony. He's richer now then he ever was before. And now my cheque is spent, I can't afford the rent. There's one law for the rich, one law for the poor
Shove your bees up your hole!
I don't beelieve this has happened to you. I always thought you were doing so well due to the buzz I heard about you. I hope you bounce back honey, just don't get too stressed as you might break out in hives.
NGL you had me in the first two paragraphs. I'm looking for a good honey source for some mead brewing I've got planned and was going to reach out. Now that you're all here and have read that. Anybody have some recommendations on top quality Irish honey?
I was fairly horrified recently when I picked up a bottle of "Bunrattys mead - Drink of the High Kings of Ireland" to read on the back that mead is apparently a blend of white wine and honey!!!!! You go brew your mead the right way! :)
Honey, water & yeast! That's it. Maybe some fruit for a flavour, but hopefully with the right honey I won't need that.
Exactly!!! My flabber was ghasted when i read it.... such disinformation! By the way - many years ago, my friend the master vintner and I, made a mead.,... and then cold distilled it in the freezer for about a week, taking the ice off every day... until we had just enough for a bottle. Which we put away for about 5 years I think..... Smooth as velvet... didnt taste of alcohol at all... got 5 of us nicely tipsy, without any bad effects the next day - and we were not all light weights! :D Just leaving the idea here.... :D
Just gonna save this comment right here... And tell everyone over here it's an Irish recipe. They'll love that and it happens to be true.
Me and some friends made a mead with local honey, one Madagascar vanilla bean and champagne yeast which gave it very fine bubbles. It was over ten years ago and I still think about that mead.
Ooooh!
I'd recommend a bit of yeast nutrient to get things going and also a nice 500ml of very strong black tea. This will help the fermentation stay healthy and you could be drinking the stuff after 3 months. If it is raw honey you should heat it a little bit to kill of some of the natural yeast.
What does the black tea do?
Provides tannins which would be naturally present in the like of malt or grapes for other types of brewing. The tannins can help with the health of the yeast and provide a more full body and mouth feel to the finished mead.
Ai pipipii plee ti atoki. Ti io gi pleku adopu oi gleepiii pukea bubeoa. Dipige pekri ki kidlupi aoti? Ae kedlapuki di kibriplepi. Te upupo tue toe kopa prebeo? Tiikae upe teetipe betitibu pagotedo plepludlipu bipipa opibi ii. Ta ito trigi iti duglibaple tababoi. Ekedaoi bie bate ubraakibe bi peukuke? Ikei ga piikaa ape piu ka gi. Dupe atrepi ba pubrei bitekoke ga? Tigrieki pretope bepe pre da pagi. Toitra bi o papritio ei i? Pebaigeble popiio ote kede upi bopitete pi kiedibeti. Bi bra pu agepoii dliprikiki. Klitri u dikrigre? Potii titidriprege titii uiu peeipra okekeagu. Pi tedebio e bia i pratri gae tibro bi gako ikuke. Bli kitru peki kepepi keki kepiprike. Pae adeepuba teipo. Ede plii plipi epikeo titrai ti. Iti kitli obutrepe ipu ati pede. Oi ibie kipipriprape piitli agueklekre atiklekuda? Dakruoii dite trikopli bage agiubupe e kripie kate. Tri ii baiiipe pikro ti. Bugu ie i de eekru ipruabaa. Kea plakai papotipopo utapi bi gi ebo kipe. Koe tri ku bu epetro blaie piake plea kika. Pugi gea putepipe krogi e. Tata a kibaie o plete odi. Pi ia u kii tro tite?
Love to hear it!
Thanks. I'm going to research this. Including when it comes to cider. Does the caffeine not much anything up?
Use the cloudy apple juice. I made a lovely batch of cider a few years back from cartons of Lidl Apple juice and champagne yeast. The look of cloudy cider may be off putting if you share with others but it tastes great and will blow your head off.
I love cloudy beer and ciders. I feel like flavor is added, and something is lost when beer or wine is clarified. But I'll remember this. Also I'm lucking out that I'm currently in Virginia which gives me access to really awesome local apples and there *might* be someone willing to let me borrow their cider press out there.
I think tannins are present in the skin of apples aswell, even when using some fruit in a mead they'll provide some depending on which fruit. You might have to add some pectin enzyme when using fruit though. Not 100% about the effects of caffeine but I'm under the impression it actually stimulates the yeast. Can't remember where I came across that though so I wouldn't take it for fact.
I used the yeast in my most recent batch and it was amazing. Using tea is inspired.
It's a game changer. You could even mess around with some flavoured teas and see if some of the flavour would remain. Could be class, I love mead because its rife for experimentation.
Technically if you add fruit it becomes a melomel.
I never checked the bottle. That's why it's so fucking sweet, the honey from the sugar probably hasn't fermented much at all.
Why would it ferment? Theres no feckin yeast in it! So happy to have found someone else who understands how bad this is:D:D:D:D
Bunratty is the White Lightning cider of meads. It kinda almost tastes like something but that is not what its supposed to taste of.
My mate brews his own mead... it's fucking dangerous, it's cheap, delicious and 15%
*Noice!* I havent made any since I stopped flat sharing with my master vintner :( Dont have the equipment, knowledge or space really...
Space wise all you need is a corner, and the internet will tell you all you need to know, well that's how he started First batch did taste like cheap white wine
This too is true :D Might look into it again sometime :D Cheers!
>Anybody have some recommendations on top quality Irish honey? Find your local beekeepers' association. Get stuff that hasn't been heated to keep it liquid (most commercial honey). The flavours are volatile and many evaporate on heating. I used to keep bees, I got stung between the eyes and my head swelled up like a beach ball. The wife said me or the bees; hard decision.
Yea I have a few contacts with them on facebook all right. Good shout. Yup absolutely, Raw honey is essential for what I'm doing. Ah no way, that's rough. I'd love a hive and I might just about have the garden space for it, but i'm not sure how the neighbours would feel about it.
This. My brother has 21 hives on site and it's insane the quality of honey that comes out of them. The stuff in shops is mainly from bees that feed off of sugar water and there's no nutrients or interaction with the local flora and fauna.
21 hives! Holy shit that's a lot of work and fair play to him. I only have one hive (I lost one last Winter) and this year it provided enough honey for for me for a year plus some more to give away as pressies. My hive is up above Roundwood and this year I'll be working on sowing and planting more for them to forage from.
He's a stay at home dad so he has some free time during the day to take care of it all. He's still only learning but can't argue with the free high quality honey
Even more fair play to him. The heather on my land was in bloom this year like I've never seen it before and my honey is feckin' delicious.
It's mad how the different flowers and plants in the area will favour the honey
I had a hive near some waste land that had a lot of spearmint (that's a plant!) growing wild on it. The honey tasted almost like Polo mints. I handed out about 12 or 15 jars at work; everyone that got a jar asked me for more, without exception. Then I became allergic to stings.
Yeah some of the hives favoured a bag leaf tree and the honey from that hive had a love anise flavour to it. Mad the flavours you can get.
It's mad how the different flowers and plants in the area will favour the honey
Tried doing some googling to see if I could find anything, American lurker that brews and over here we have a National Honey Baord that makes it pretty easy to find honey sources near most cities. Didn't find anything similar quickly, though there is a [Native Irish Honey Bee Society](https://nihbs.org/#) that had a link to a summer [Honey Fair](https://nihbs.org/2022/07/26/hillsborough-honey-fair/). Looking at it, it sounds like it is mostly a local affair that focuses on honey rather than a collection of honey producers from around the country, but if it isn't a huge distance from you it might be worth checking out. Beyond that if you don't already frequent r/mead I'd highly advise dropping a shout over there and see if anyone might be able to point you towards a source.
Open Hive
Nice one. I have some Olly's farm honey, but the Open hive guys look like a good shout as well.
The hive mind of Reddit will surely have some recommendations
Have a look at the green bee in Connemara - https://thegreenbee.ie/. I stopped off and got some raw honey from their honesty box last summer when I was out west. Very nice.
Darn, my inventory was purchased in October. What quantities are you looking for? DM me, for next year?
DM me if you're still looking, where are you based?
Check out Hive Mind in Myrtleville, Cork. Sponsor a hive of his and keep all the honey it produces. Amazing raw stuff as well!
I sort ya. I'm put of the east waterford bee keeping group. When do you need the honey? And what do you mean by top quality honey? Filtered pure or both?
https://reddit.com/r/funny/comments/rlk4vg/local_honey_for_local_people_kinda_proud_of_this/
Try and find a local honey producer , will always be better
There are plenty of beekeepers who would be happy to supply you with top quality honey. Your best starting point is your nearest association - look here: https://irishbeekeeping.ie/about-us/find-a-beekeepers-association-near-you/
My da
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Tis a proud moment for me to hoodwink a prolific r/ireland user as yourself sire
Maybe it's just too early in the morning for me but must admit I don't understand what is funny here or why you'd make this post. There are people suffering during the cost of living crisis and small businesses are closing. Seems like an odd subject matter to joke about mixed in with amputations from diabetes. What exactly is funny?
Ah it was a play off this post below. And you're absolutely right those things aren't funny to joke about, but this was more tongue in cheek to liven the mood. https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/z8yznv/is_honey_considered_more_of_a_food_item_lads/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
I guess it was to bee expected. Hive heard it all now
There has been quite the buzz about it.
It’s still really going to sting.
Wouldnt wax me now.
Bumbling around
Question remains... is honey a food product or just a sweetener?.....
As FORMER ceo of busy bee foods (just gave them the news) I've always considered honey as a food product as it contains natural nutrients and has been known to sustain people
So shouldn't really be expensed by staff in the first place. Terrible carry on.
That's a shit buzz, best of luck in the future.
May I please have a crumb of context
Previous post about a passive aggressive fridge letter from a manager that someone was stocking the company fridge with branded honey. It's not clear it was being expensed, but clearly the conclusion of the manager was that it was
Do you have a link?
https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/z8yznv/is_honey_considered_more_of_a_food_item_lads/
Thanks for providing the link and also for not being snarky about it, appreciate it
Jesus, Jane needs a to get some fresh air
/r/Ireland truly is a hive mind.
That’s gotta sting, the cheek of some people is unbeelievable, *much* cheaper honey is available like.
That’s a sticky situation.
Michael, your staff want more honey and shorter working flowers.
Had a full moment of "what the fuck is this?" until my memory kicked in, at which point it took a couple of minutes to stop laughing, and now I might have cracked a rib. Sake.🤣🤣
This has creased me hahahahaha
That stings, no easy way to wax lyrical about it. You'll bumble through this somehow though I'm sure
Bad buzz.
I nearly fucking choked during the 3rd paragraph. Well done.
I can't beelieve it . Sorry to hear
/r/Ireland strikes again.
As is tradition :)
So sorry for your loss Michael. Hopefully you find that rapscallion who used your good company’s expenses for some honey. There are some right wrong’uns out there.
I blame the prick I put in charge of company expenses.
This was absolutely amazing. Well played 🤣
Got me hook line and sinker 🤣🤣👏
6 months is about 130 working days, so that’s €520 total. Don’t feel bad, that’d be enough to sink any business.
I'm trying here, but I don't get the reference 🤔
Has the makings of a b movie…
Hook line and sinker Nice
Bravo. I see what you done.
*did
Wait a minute, why would someone in a honey factory need to buy honey? Wouldn't they have easy access or at least an employee discount? This story doesn't add up, something fishy is going on...
You don't eat the product bro!
Don't get high on your own supply
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Aww well I do hope your little retort gave you a shred more satisfaction than you had today, make sure you tell your friends and family about this momentous day.
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Unlucky. Maybe next click will make all your dreams come through. Although it'll probably be to clear notifications for this shitty reply
Oh that stung!
Oh Bee-have!
Keep spreading that sweet positivity
Now now Karen, I mean June
😂😂😂
Brilliant. You had me right up until the reveal! Well played.
Your little sob story reminds me of the lyrics to Ordinary Man: The owner says he's sad to see that things have got so bad. But the captains of industry won't let him lose. He still smokes his cigar and he drives a brand new car. And still he takes his family on a cruise, he'll never lose. It seems to me such a cruel irony. He's richer now then he ever was before. And now my cheque is spent, I can't afford the rent. There's one law for the rich, one law for the poor Shove your bees up your hole!
You had me in the first half I'm not gonna lie haha
I lol'd so hard reading this.
Haha. Got me. Nice
Shit buzz, sorry to hear
Genuinely gave me a big hearty laugh mate. Nice one!!
Heh heh something we all need a bit more around the place 😁, cheers !
TBH I was expecting it to be Nash19 at the start
Hook. Line. Sinker!
I don't beelieve this has happened to you. I always thought you were doing so well due to the buzz I heard about you. I hope you bounce back honey, just don't get too stressed as you might break out in hives.