Beeble’s Honey Whisky, £32 for 50cl & Beeble’s Honey Vodka, £32 for 50cl Available to purchase here

• Beeble started with Honey Whisky and has since launched its Honey Vodka and Honey Rum with plans for a Honey Mezcal later this year

• Already taken the countryside by storm, in 157 farm shops across 42 counties

• Focusing on its London retail expansion this year following success in Fortnum & Mason, Daylesford Organic and The Conran Shop

• Expanding its on trade offering across London
  • Beeble’s ‘Hot Toddy’ was 45 Park Lane’s winter drink of choice

• 8 million bees make Beeble’s honey used in its spirits

• Beeble’s spirits have no added sugar, using only its ethically produced Wiltshire honey for flavour

Beeble, the Honey Spirits brand started from founder Nicola Reed’s kitchen table five years ago, is underway with its London expansion following huge success across the countryside.

Nicola started Beeble after her husband was gifted a hive for their Wiltshire home. Nicola took it on and started making just enough honey to give some jars to friends. However, she soon realised that it was difficult to avoid wasting the honey stuck to the frames taken from the hive. To avoid this waste, Nicola soaked the frames into whisky - this turned out to be her first ever batch of Honey Whisky. Nicola took this first batch of Whisky to her local farmer’s market where it sold out within an hour and continued to sell out every weekend.

Nicola teamed up with friend Matthew Brauer, an accountant, to set up Beeble and help take her Honey Whisky beyond the local farmer’s market. Together they created a perfect team – the beekeeper and the bookkeeper.

Beeble quickly expanded beyond these local farmer’s markets to farm shops, increasing its production by 685% in its first year. It is today stocked in 156 farm shops across 37 counties. The overwhelming positive feedback on the honey whisky taste led Beeble to create a new product, Beeble’s Honey Vodka. To keep up with this growing demand and to create the Honey Vodka, Beeble’s production has had to increase over the years, and so have the number of hives it has relied on for honey.

Beeble now makes over 50,000 bottles of honey liqueurs a year and is responsible for the existence of 130 hives around Nicola’s family home in Wiltshire. Nicola’s apiary has eleven hives, and the other 119 hives are in fields close to her home which a beekeeper manages and then sells the honey to Beeble. There are around sixty thousand honeybees in a single colony which adds up to almost 8 million Wiltshire bees making Beeble’s honey spirits.

All the honey used in Beeble’s spirits and products (which also includes cosmetics and the honey itself) is ethically produced. Beeble harvests its honey using an idler beekeeping technique which involves minimal interference with the hives through collecting a small amount of honey at points where the bees have a surplus of it, therefore ensuring the bees still have an adequate supply of honey for themselves throughout the year.For the honey spirits, after being liquified, the honey mixture is then transported to Clyde distillery in Glasgow, where it is delicately blended to make Beeble’s drinks.

2022 expansion

Beeble launched its newest drink in February, the Honey Rum, and this year, is focusing on expanding into London retailers and venues following success in stores such as Fortnum and Mason, Daylesford Organic and The Conran Shop.

Beeble is already well represented across a large network of farm shops in the UK. The group is now focused on creating a new drinks category of Honey Spirits with a presence in bars and restaurants across the country and also a presence on the shelves of mainstream supermarket and spirit retailers.

Co-founder Nicola Reed says,

“I never imagined that the Honey Whisky I created from my kitchen table would go beyond my local farm shop to become a new category of drinks, Honey Spirits. I’ve been overwhelmed by how popular these drinks are becoming and excited to be expanding this year into bars, supermarkets and restaurants.

“Our Honey Whisky, initially a fun way to avoid honey wastage, was so successful that we decided to consider other spirits to infuse with our honey. The honey adds the perfect touch of natural sweetness to spirits and makes for a smoother drink, so it only seemed natural to expand beyond whisky. Our Honey Vodka launched in October last year and our Honey Rum launched in February, and I’m delighted to see that both look to be almost as successful as our Honey Whisky.”