London Beekeeping & Craft Beer Tasting

Get a buzz out of urban beekeeping in London! With an admiration for those busy honey bees and a love of craft beer, you'll be in heaven on this hands-on experience that takes place in view of The Shard and combines urban beekeeping skills with honey beer.

But what is honey beer? Well, brewers usually add sugar to the fermentable mix to increase the alcohol content and give the beer body. Honey brewers replace that sugar with honey. If you think that adding honey to beer would make it overly sweet like mead, think again. Hiver's range of Blonde, Amber and Indian Pale Ales offer a balance and BEElightful flavour, as you'll find out on this fascinating workshop.

This bee and beer eperience is based within walking distance of Oval tube in Zone 2 on the London Underground Northern Line. You'll get kitted out in full beekeeper garb, ready for a hive inspection. See the female bees  at work, peer at those honeycomb patterns being created in front of your eyes and learn all about beekeeping in the city.

'You reap what you sow' as the saying goes, so once you've seen how the honey's made by those London-dwelling bees, it's time to find out what can be done with the delicious nectar. The honey brew team will tell you all about the process of taking what the bees produce and turning it into tasty beer. For example, the Hiver Beer Brown Ale uses raw blossom and heather honey along with darker roasted malts for a flavoursome and rich unpasteurised brown ale.

Once you've met the bees and brewed the beer, there's only one thing left to do. Sample it! You'll take part in a tutored beer tasting featuring honey beers from the range produced by this Kennington brewer. There'll even be nibbles and snacks provided too, for a very well-rounded food and drink experience.

So if you want to lift the lid on honey bees and hives in the big city, sign up for this interactive urban beekeeping workshop in London, with the added bonus of learning all about honey beer brewing too.

• The season runs from mid-April to mid-September
• Vouchers are valid for use on selected Sundays

• Minmum age 18
• Not suitable for those with a bee allergy or coeliac condition

• Not suitable for spectators

• In the event of rain or very cold weather, the beekeeping part of the experience will be focussed on beekeeping related activities such as building frames for the hives or using by-products of the hives