Looking for a good honey source.

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Taylor Vanbrewer
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Looking for a good honey source.

Post by Taylor Vanbrewer » Wed Sep 09, 2015 1:53 pm

Just moved to town and wondering if anyone can recommend a decent honey source?
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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by UberBaum » Wed Sep 09, 2015 2:23 pm

I'm curious to hear what others have to say, I've never actively looked for a direct from source option but the one mead I made was with a mix of honey and sugar. I got away with 2kg bottle from Costco that turned out pretty good but I'd guess that there are better deals to be had.

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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by Hobbitfu » Wed Sep 09, 2015 4:01 pm

Yah only made 1 batch of mead (still aging) and used 15lbs of honey from Costco... Would love to try using local honey (NB). But want to wait to see how current batch tastes

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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by chalmers » Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:21 pm

Cosman and Whidden are the ones that come to mind. They may sell to you in bulk if you tell them you're a homebrewer/mead person.

http://www.novascotiahoney.com/availability.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by Juniper Hill » Fri Sep 11, 2015 6:17 am

Welcome to Halifax! Crossman and Whidden - good quality local wildflower honey and available at most grocery stores. Will sell a bit cheaper in New Minas if you buy in bulk and bring your own container. Murray's Apairy is another local product available at SS and a few others, also very nice quality wildflower honey. A bit of buckwheat honey (available at Organic Earth Market) adds lots of complexity to mead IMO. Varietal Blueberry honey may be available at some select farms, but I haven't really sought it out.

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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by KMcK » Sat Sep 12, 2015 4:56 pm

My neighbour and I are interested in honey for mead as well. Anyone care to go in on a group buy from Crossman and Whidden (or another source if anyone knows of one)?
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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by Broob » Sun Sep 13, 2015 2:02 pm

I'd be interested in honey at a bulk price.
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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by LiverDance » Sun Sep 13, 2015 4:37 pm

Me as well


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"Twenty years ago — a time, by the way, that hops such as Simcoe and Citra were already being developed, but weren’t about to find immediate popularity — there wasn’t a brewer on earth who would have gone to the annual Hop Growers of American convention and said, “I’m going to have a beer that we make 4,000 barrels of, one time a year. It flies off the shelf at damn near $20 a six-pack, and you know what it smells like? It smells like your cat ate your weed and then pissed in the Christmas tree.” - Bell’s Brewery Director of Operations John Mallet on the scent of their popular Hopslam.

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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by Celiacbrew » Sun Sep 13, 2015 10:49 pm

I'd be interested as well.
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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by Taylor Vanbrewer » Sun Sep 20, 2015 9:25 am

Very interested in a group buy.
Certified BJCP Judge/Punk Rock aficionado/Witless Dullard

Fermenting: Best Bitter

Lagering/Conditioning: Bouchet
Orange Blossom mead

Bottled/Conditioning: Apricot multigrain mixed ferm saison
Mixed ferm saison
Wit
Historic Barleywine

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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by MitchK » Sun Sep 20, 2015 8:03 pm

I'd like to get in on the mead train if a group buy actually saves money

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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by MitchK » Fri Oct 23, 2015 12:29 am

I emailed cossman and whidden and buying a 7kg pail only would save a couple dollars over buying 7 individual KG jars at the grocery store of their stuff.

My hunt for an affordable bulk supply continues I guess, though in the meantime I might make a one gallon batch.

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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by Celiacbrew » Fri Oct 23, 2015 7:07 am

Have you checked with Foote Family Farm?
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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by Broob » Thu Oct 12, 2017 12:49 pm

This is a dead thread but..I was talking to Dave a few months ago asking if he ever thought about bringing in some bulk honey for those of us who like to make mead. He seemed to think there wouldn't be much interest. I don't mean wildflower honey like you'd get locally here (you could likely just buy it from Cosman and Whidden), I was thinking maybe honey that's harder to get. Orange blossom honey etc.

Would anyone be interested in this? I wouldn't expect it to be cheap but it's hard to get interesting varietals of honey here without some type of distribution channel.

edit - I'm not suggested that Dave will or can do this by the way. Just wondering if there is interest.
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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by Celiacbrew » Thu Oct 12, 2017 5:57 pm

I’d be interested in getting something interesting if there were a way to get it here cheaply.
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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by BBrianBoogie » Fri Oct 13, 2017 8:25 am

I would be interested as well.

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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by LiverDance » Fri Oct 13, 2017 11:31 am

I'd be in.
"Twenty years ago — a time, by the way, that hops such as Simcoe and Citra were already being developed, but weren’t about to find immediate popularity — there wasn’t a brewer on earth who would have gone to the annual Hop Growers of American convention and said, “I’m going to have a beer that we make 4,000 barrels of, one time a year. It flies off the shelf at damn near $20 a six-pack, and you know what it smells like? It smells like your cat ate your weed and then pissed in the Christmas tree.” - Bell’s Brewery Director of Operations John Mallet on the scent of their popular Hopslam.

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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by Jimmy » Fri Oct 13, 2017 1:03 pm

I'd likely be in for some

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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by Celiacbrew » Fri Oct 13, 2017 5:20 pm

Looked around a bit online and couldn’t find anyone doing bulk orders of varietal honey in Canada. Lots in the US. Anyone know if you can ship honey across the border?
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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by Taylor Vanbrewer » Mon Oct 16, 2017 12:29 am

A local source of orange blossom would be amazing.
Certified BJCP Judge/Punk Rock aficionado/Witless Dullard

Fermenting: Best Bitter

Lagering/Conditioning: Bouchet
Orange Blossom mead

Bottled/Conditioning: Apricot multigrain mixed ferm saison
Mixed ferm saison
Wit
Historic Barleywine

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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by Tiwilager » Mon Oct 23, 2017 1:53 pm

Hey everybody!
I'm a local beekeeper (in Middle Sackville). I'm getting into making mead from my own honey, and stumbled onto this forum. I have a little bit of honey left that I'd like to sell off. (If this post is not allowed, please let me know). I am only a hobbyest, so I probably can't get quite as cheap as the big producers in the valley, but if you are interested, let me know and we can work something out.

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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by Celiacbrew » Mon Oct 23, 2017 2:23 pm

Tiwilager wrote:
Mon Oct 23, 2017 1:53 pm
Hey everybody!
I'm a local beekeeper (in Middle Sackville). I'm getting into making mead from my own honey, and stumbled onto this forum. I have a little bit of honey left that I'd like to sell off. (If this post is not allowed, please let me know). I am only a hobbyest, so I probably can't get quite as cheap as the big producers in the valley, but if you are interested, let me know and we can work something out.
How much a kg and what variety do you have?
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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by Tiwilager » Tue Oct 24, 2017 10:41 am

Celiacbrew wrote:
Mon Oct 23, 2017 2:23 pm
How much a kg and what variety do you have?
The price would depend on how much you were looking for, but what I did for another mead maker was that they gave me a bottle of mead, a recipe, and brought their own container, and I gave it to him for $4/pound.

The variety is wildflower. It is light, which means that it contains more nectar from spring time flowers than fall flowers. If you are sourcing honey from NS, I would be very wary about varietal honey. Our season is very short and intense, and we lack monstrous mono-culture. While you can get mixes from different times of year (honey is generally darker from later in the year), I seriously doubt that there is any type of honey other than "wildflower" actually produced in Nova Scotia.

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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by KB1138 » Sun Jan 14, 2018 10:02 pm

If anyone is interested, I've found some good honeys at reasonable prices in winner's of all places.
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Re: Looking for a good honey source.

Post by elreplica » Sat Jan 20, 2018 12:15 pm

Did you try POF?🤓
At Bat: several Czech Pils
On Deck: Cream Ale
In the Hole: Kolsch
Clean Up: Tall Ships Ale clones
On tap: Propeller Pils, Festa Cream Ale

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