What's Included
• Short introduction to bees and beekeeping in the city
• Get suited up ready for a hive inspection
• Opportunity to help the beekeeper handle the frames and check the health of the hive
• Tutored beer and food matching session
• Introduction to honey beer as a style
• Enjoy 2 craft honey beers with food matches
• Try the raw honeys that are used in the beers
• You will form part of a group of up to 12 participants
What Can I Expect
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 in London that 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. The artisan blonde lager and the brown ale are both very balanced and have a lovely 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 ladies 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.
Availability
• The season runs from mid-April to mid-September
• Vouchers are valid for use on selected Sundays
Suitable For
• Minmum age 18
• Not suitable for those with a bee allergy or coeliac condition
Spectators
• Not suitable for spectators
Anything Else I Need To Know?
• 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
Location
• Kennington Park
• Bee Urban is about a 15 minute walk from Kennington Tube Station and 10 minute walk from Oval Tube Station
