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Distillery looking for honey source in Pennsylvania

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Keystone

NewBee
Registered Member
Apr 16, 2015
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Hi folks, This is my first post here in a long time. I learned to make mead from this site 6 or 7 years ago but life took another direction. I'm now partner in a start up craft distillery in Pennsylvania and we're looking to source honey for use to sweeten liqueurs and perhaps as a base for a distilled specialty spirit. We're in the Eastern part of the state. If anyone is familiar with a local apiary (in PA) that we could approach I'd appreciate a recommendation.

Thanks a lot. I'm looking forward to rejoining the group and making some more mead for personal consumption.
 
Welcome back, Keystone! Sorry, I'm in the wrong part of the country to recommend local apiaries in eastern PA, but if you're willing to go with a local distributor/wholesaler (although you won't always know exactly where the honey comes from), don't forget about Dutch Gold in Lancaster.

BTW - who were you in your past life on Gotmead?
 
Hey Wayneb, Thanks for the heads up on Dutch Gold. I'm totally new to this kind of volume and hadn't heard of them. It's nice to find a place in our own backyard so to speak. They're only a few hours' drive so shipping costs would be minimal. And we may have to go that way. After emailing a few PA producers it looks like it may be harder than I thought to get the volume we need from the locals. There just isn't enough being produced that way.

I'd still like to hear any other recommendations.
 
It may take some work, but try getting in touch with bee clubs.

Someone in my area recently approached me (as president of my local bee club) about coming to our meetings to connect with local beekeepers in part for his fledgling meadery. We've got a lot of locals who do smaller operations, but I know that this interests me as someone with an almost mid-sized operation who needs an excuse to get bigger. I suspect there are others in the club in the same boat.

Many of us could conceivably gear up for a much larger honey crop this year or next (leave aside the vagaries of weather and agriculture for the moment), knowing that we have a market to wholesale our honey. You might be able to craft similar relationships. If you want to work the "local honey," locavore, or "supporting small beekeepers" advertising angle, this could work for you in a year or so.

PS: Send me a PM about your location and a contact email. Some of our members are not so far from Wilkes-Barre, and may have -- or know of -- honey sources for you.

PPS: Mann Lake beekeeping supply company has a branch in Wilkes-Barre. They work all sorts of bee meetings and conventions in the East Coast. Their reps are all about connections at those meetings, so you might find some referrals there as well.
 
Thanks Shelley. We're still planning so we're not ready for that just yet. For now I've plugged in the prices from Dutch Gold and am trying to see what sort of profit margin is available. We need to run some test batches to get that nailed down.
 
Keystone, I'm out in Pittsburgh and I know a few places out here. In your part of the state, the only bulk honey operation I know of is dutch gold. You'll never be able to beat their prices on 5 gallon buckets of honey, but I've found their honey quality is mid to low quality. You can still be able to get what you need from them though. It's probably worth buying one pound of each of their honeys to see if any of them do it for you. I've brought probably 30 gallons of honey from them over the years. I sometimes use it as a primary fermenter, and then save the more fancy expensive honeys for back sweetening.

https://www.dutchgoldhoney.com/bulk-honey
 
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