Apiary to Table at Wayward Distillery

Visitors to the distillery can witness the buzz of activity from windows in the tasting room.
By / Photography By | July 17, 2020
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Wayward uses BC honey in all of their products.

Visitors to the distillery can witness the buzz of activity from windows in the tasting room.

Photo 1: Langstroth Hive
Photo 2: Observation Hive

Wayward has installed one standard Langstroth hive and one observation hive—built and designed by local beekeeper Rachel Halliwell of the bee supply and education company Home Grown Bee. With the Plexiglas of the observation hive facing the tasting room window, visitors can watch the inner workings of a honeybee colony while they sit and sip the end product! 

By introducing two hives into a public setting, the intent is to demystify the wonderful world of honeybees. There is a general fear of flying insects, and unfortunately pollinators such as honeybees, bumblebees, flower flies, wasps and hornets tend to be grouped altogether. The belief is that you will be stung if they are flying in your vicinity, but this isn’t necessarily true.

Honeybees and wasps, for example, have very different life cycles and anatomy. While the wasp has a carnivorous diet and lands in your sugary drink while you’re not looking, the honeybee solely forages for nectar, pollen and resin from trees—leaving you and your food untouched. While the wasp is capable of stinging more than once due to the anatomy and placement of the stinger, the honeybee can only sting once before dying, so honeybee stings typically occur when you are intruding in their hive or accidently step on one. 

The installation of honeybee hives at Wayward is focused specifically on honeybee education. By understanding more about our precious honey producers, we can deflate the belief that they are pests and villains out to sting us.

At The Wayward Distillery, honey is one of the main ingredients in all their products. In order to produce one 750ml bottle of gin, vodka or rum, over 2.5 lbs of honey is needed. Although it's easy to disconnect the origins of our ingredients from the final product, showcasing the honeybee colonies facilitates an environment of connection, calms instilled fears, and introduces a forum for discussion.

Although these two hives are unable to generate enough honey for all of Wayward's products, they are a wonderful depiction of how hard hives must work to manufacture the delicious honey we enjoy so much.

While you sit in the tasting room enjoying an Unruly Cocktail, you'ill be able to appreciate what ‘Apiary to Table’ really means from the comfort of your chair.

Find it

2931 Moray Avenue
Courtenay, BC

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