Good Honey v. Cheap Honey

So, I'm about to embark on my first mead. I've secured an award-winning recipe from a friend for an orange blossom ginger mead, and I'm ready to go! All that's left to do is to select the honey to use.

I'm in the northern California area and I would love to use a local honey provider. I called about a dozen honey providers and one in particular came back with a very inexpensive estimate ($60 + shipping for 20 lbs of orange blossom). All most all the other estimates came to much more.

Here's my question: should I be concerned that I'm not getting high quality honey? Having never brewed a mead before, I'm not sure what sorts of criteria I should watch for when I'm selecting a honey. What do you experienced mashers look for when selecting a honey for your mead? Or can I just use the cheapest honey that's available?

Good fermentations, IPYay.

In general I would say that home grown honey should be similar unless it is old or they treat it poorly (heat etc). I would just try asking when the honey was harvested. If it was last fall then I'd go for it.

My dad ran into a local supplier, which were just farmers with bees. They really didn't get much business, and it seems that they weren't in it to sell honey. So my dad is getting honey for like $2 a lb.

Good honey doesn't necessarily have to be expensive honey. When you buy from the beekeeper, you can get some good prices. $3 a pound is still about average for orange blossom. If it is light in color and has a strong orange blossom aroma when you open it, you'll know you have good honey.

I would just make sure it's actually all local honey. There's one place in my area that sells honey, but the hives are actually in LA, so over a thousand miles away. Another source is combining their local honey with honey imported from overseas... So it's no longer 100% local. I won't be buying that in the future. There are other places that will give you a decent discount if you're buying a large enough amount. Usually at least 1 gallon (12#), sometimes you have to buy a 5 gallon bucket (60#)...

If the place is close enough, I would go and try some of the honey before buying it. Or see if they'll send you a small sample of the harvest to try. A few ounces is enough to know if you'll like the honey. Shipping won't be bad either.

Personally, I prefer to pick up the honey rather than get it shipped. Or I'll only buy a small amount that has to be shipped, to try it. Once I know I like it, I'll be comfortable buying larger amounts.

I was wondering the same. I live in Orlando and about 15 min from me there is a local honey provider that I am planning to go to to get mine. I will let you know how it turns out and the price I pay when I go.

Agreed, locally some guys are selling certain types of honey for almost $9/lb, and another guy within the same distance is selling for $2/lb, and he's got one of the larger commercial apiaries in the area as well as one of the best reputations; he's been in the business since the 40's. There's no difference in the honey, other than I suspect that the more expensive ones are buying his honey in bulk and repackaging under their own label. Those are the high and low end of the price spectrum, most people are between $3 and $5/lb

check with the local beekeeping club to get honey
http://www.sfbee.org/beekeeping.html

I just bought locally produced Michigan Clover honey for $2.20 / lb. I bought 10 pounds of spun and 12 lbs of raw.......now I need to figure out what I want to make.

My husband and I are in East Bay area and were thinking about trying to make a mead. We have only just started brewing beer, we just bottled our 3rd batch last weekend. Please keep us updated on who this supplier is and if you like their product. We have been shopping around to see where we will eventually get our honey from and I would love to hear how you like this honey.

Hi 16one94,

The honey provider I found is called Beekman and Beekman, and they're in Hughson, CA. Their orange blossom honey goes for approx $3/lb if you buy in bulk. I'll probably either take a day trip out there to try their honey or buy a small sample and see how it tastes. Feel free to PM me in a few weeks and I'll be happy to let you know how the honey tastes. I'll have tried it by then.

Mash on, brothers and sisters,
IPYay

millershoney.com out of California has the best price shipped to Arizona that I can find for bulk orange blossom....

Has anyone tried the Mesquite Honey from TraderJoe's? It's something like $9 for 3 pounds.

I'm not big on mesquite flavors, so I probably wouldn't get that much. If I could buy less than a pound, I'd give it a try. Of course, the only mesquite flavor I have for reference is from using it for smoke wood... Could be completely different.

Actually, for those of you in California - taking AZ IPA's advice, I found a new cheapest supplier of orange blossom honey. I can get 2 gallons (24 lbs) shipped to San Francisco from their farm for $77.68 (about $50 for the honey, plus $25 for shipping).

I might go with them. But first, I'm going to call to make sure the honey is in fact local and not from China or Mars or something.

Brew on!

Also - I have tasted the Mesquite Honey from Trader Joe's, though I haven't brewed with it. It does have a strong aroma.

Have any of you tried to brew with Mesquite Honey?

I had no idea what type of honey I should buy for my first mead either, so I just bought my LHBS's cheapest type, "wildflower". I assume that just means that the bees pollinated all sorts of plants, so I probably got a mish-mash of different honey flavors.

Next time I'd like to try clover-only honey.

So I just spoke to the Miller's Honey rep on the phone.

She told me that they have no way of tracking where the honey is from or when it was harvested. She says they get honey from all over the world, but they don't have any documentation system for how old the honey is or where it was harvested.

My sense is that this could lead to mixed results. You could get some really fresh honey one day, and then get some really stale honey the next.

IPYay said:

So I just spoke to the Miller's Honey rep on the phone.

She told me that they have no way of tracking where the honey is from or when it was harvested. She says they get honey from all over the world, but they don't have any documentation system for how old the honey is or where it was harvested.

My sense is that this could lead to mixed results. You could get some really fresh honey one day, and then get some really stale honey the next.

Click to expand...

That's somewhat alarming on one hand; but on the other hand, honey doesn't go stale....

If they're not using just local, or even US based honey, I'd go on to another apiary, and not use them.

I'm looking to use at least regional honey in my fermentations. There are several apiaries in New England that I can go to for that. Some of which are within easy driving distance too.

commonsenseman said:

I had no idea what type of honey I should buy for my first mead either, so I just bought my LHBS's cheapest type, "wildflower". I assume that just means that the bees pollinated all sorts of plants, so I probably got a mish-mash of different honey flavors.

Next time I'd like to try clover-only honey.

Click to expand...

Wildflower is purported to be a little "better" than clover....

I wouldn't spend lots of money buying clover - you can usually get that at Costco or somewhere else for relatively cheap.

commonsenseman said:

I had no idea what type of honey I should buy for my first mead either, so I just bought my LHBS's cheapest type, "wildflower". I assume that just means that the bees pollinated all sorts of plants, so I probably got a mish-mash of different honey flavors.

Next time I'd like to try clover-only honey.

Click to expand...

Wildflower honey, typically, has a more complex flavor to it due to all the different things the bees pollinated to get the honey. Look at it as more of a symphonic composition as opposed to a flute solo...

Personally I prefer wild flower honey I find the flavor is more balanced.

Well, good to know!

I live in an area with lots of beekeepers, and I have had beekeepers in the family. Honey will age like wine; the flavors will blend and mellow over time. Some people do not like fresh raw honey. They find it harsh or think it is stale. I get my general use honey for $17.50/5 lbs, but he gives me a pretty good break when I buy bulk for mead making.

Golddiggie said:

If they're not using just local, or even US based honey, I'd go on to another apiary, and not use them.

I'm looking to use at least regional honey in my fermentations. There are several apiaries in New England that I can go to for that. Some of which are within easy driving distance too.

Click to expand...

I'm in Concord, MA, and so am near you. Could I get a listing of apiaries you mentioned? Thanks!

I buy my OB honey from a place called American Honey Direct. Their honey was pretty high quality, and has produced some good meads. Their website says that their products are all completely from CA. I haven't priced it lately, but I bought 4 12lbs jars of OB honey from them last year and had it shipped to my door for around $140. Hope this helps.

I just wanted to thank all in this thread for the info, especially you fellow Californians. I plan to start a Mead or two once I either buy more carboys or bottle the Apfelwein I got going. But thanks again everyone!

KeithStone, you're so smooth.

Sorry, I had to; I know, you hear it all the time.

I'm thinking that $2.92/lb. delivered sounds even smoother; I'll check into that for OB honey! Wonder how much it'd be to ship here.....

- Tim