Bee Boyzz Honey and Meadery owners offer tasting events at their shop, where participants learn about mead and bees
Julie and Kon Paseschnikoff, owners and operators of Bee Boyzz Honey and Meadery, took their bottled honey wines and canned craft meads to the Icelandic Festival in Gimli, Man., in early August and found a match made in heaven.
Iceland, like many countries, has a history with mead, an alcoholic beverage made with fermented honey.
“All cultures have mead and that’s what’s so cool about it,” Julie said.
Costumed reenactors in the Viking village encampment set up on the shore of Lake Winnipeg and visitors attending the three-day festival sampled and bought Bee Boyzz products.
Read Also
Heat waves combine sunshine and sinking air
As we continue our look at heat waves, I figured we should first define what they are by looking at the criteria Environment Canada uses to define heat events.
Meeting directly with prospective customers and passing on their knowledge of mead making was a thrill for the couple, who operate Bee Boyzz from their home in Oak Bluff, Man.
Julie said the COVID pandemic allowed them time to work with their master mead maker to develop new varieties of honey wine and craft mead, but they want to educate people as well.
They recently began offering evening mead-tasting events at their home shop a few kilometres west of Winnipeg.
Julie said up to 20 guests, 18 years and older, are given a short history of mead, followed by information on bee keeping provided by Kon, then guests are able to taste four types of mead beverages.
“Until you taste mead, you don’t know what to expect.”
Afterward, guests can shop in the small store.
The next event is planned for Sept. 25, and the Paseschnikoffs hope to continue hosting special events to showcase their products, which will include a pumpkin-based craft mead for fall.
Another popular new item is a meadmosa, a carbonated beverage combining mead and orange juice.
The couple are also enthused about working with a new mead maker, who has a background in kombucha fermentation and production.
The family-owned business started thanks to Kon’s late father, Konstantin, who wanted his son to add beekeeping to their market garden operation.
Julie, Kon and their adult children, Katarina, Daniel and Gregori, look after about 200 hives. Bee Boyzz honey and flavoured-honey products, ranging from watermelon to tumeric, are available online and at grocery stores. The couple diversified into mead production after taking mead-making classes about four years ago.
The family has a booth featuring their honey wines, craft meads and jarred honeys at St. Norbert Farmers Market in Winnipeg each Saturday. Some Bee Boyzz wines and craft meads are also sold at Manitoba Liquor Marts.
