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Honey: Local vs. Internet

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OOC92

NewBee
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Jun 12, 2008
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Our mead club is growing (currently two brewing members with many waiting with goblets) and it is becoming daunting the amount of honey our pleasures and experiments call for.

Living in Southern Louisiana, and hearing that local honey helps with allergies, I decided to use local honey; at 33 dollars for a gallon.

My associate surfed the web and it is daunting how the internet challenges these local beekeepers. But aye I shall keep the faith. I feel I must, considering the state of affairs of the modern world, the spirit of mead-making, and the fact that I skip shipping!

Comments welcome.
 

GrantLee63

NewBee
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Feb 19, 2006
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Clarkston, MI
Price will vary of course depending on where one lives, but I would shop around a bit - locally I mean. I pay 75-90 bux for 5 gallon pails of locally produced wildflower honey here in SE Michigan, and I would be willing to bet you can find it cheaper in Louisiana. 33 bux a gallon is kinda' pricey, assuming that it is a wildflower and not varietal honey.

- GL63
 

OOC92

NewBee
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That has been the best I have been able to find here. Other best bet is an hour and half drive west. If I were to drive to the source (1hour) I would save 5 bux. I will keep looking but it looks grim. I have noticed more beekeepers around Chicago. Guess here in Louisiana we have alot that grows but not alot that blooms.

Will keep looking, open to suggestions.
 

OOC92

NewBee
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Thanks for the mention but I am trying to get as close as possible without breaking my back. Got to admit though 5 gallons at 75 is, uh, sweet?
 

BeeFolks

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Oct 9, 2006
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I'm all for using local honey for any purpose, but you can find a wider variety of honey over the Internet. Look around a bit, you might find something that sounds interesting. Today, I'm working on setting up a batch of pure Heather mead, soon I'll be doing two separate batches of Meadowfoam mead (one with and one without vanilla beans), and I expect to do a small batch of Maple mead soon, too (last batch tasted like port by the time it is done aging).

You might try contacting the LA Department of Agriculture, phone number will be either in the book or on the net. Many states require beekeepers to register their hives. It may give you more local options. LA has plenty of plants that bloom that the local bees collect from. The downside is that hurricanes over the last couple of years wiped out a lot of beekeepers, and CCD has closed down some of the larger beekeepers last year and early this year. Still, I'd think the Department of Agriculture would be a better bet to find local beekeepers than a random Google search.
 

beeboy

NewBee
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Aug 29, 2004
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Port Orange, Florida, USA
Local honeys can be the best or worst to make meads out of. I've been using my own honey out of my hives for three or four years and had some that was downright nasty and stayed undrinkable for over a year. I was able to trace the worst batches back to the honey that came from what I think was Bar Berry which is a popular southern honey. I was at a Mead seminar last year and a lot of the local mead brewers had off flavors from that same honey. I've discovered that just because it is a good table honey it doesn't mean that it will give you a good mead. With four good hives going I'm lucky enough to always have a surplus of honey on hand and always have one or two 5 gallon batches either fermenting or sitting in the secondary. Although I've never had the need to buy honey off the internet I am sure that there are flavors advailable that would make the extra cost well worth it. I would love to get my hands on a gallon of Tupilo for a classic show mead. Just to get everybody upset, I passed up on a 5 gallon pail of wildflower for $50.00 last year and I'm still kicking myself for not getting it.
 

OOC92

NewBee
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Jun 12, 2008
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My colleague found a local honey guy quoting us 95 bucks for 60 gallons. Comes out to less than 2 bucks a pound.

Yes I know, what about quality, well it is Bernard's Acadian Honey, very good.
 
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