Using honey in cocktails is nothing new. The Bee’s Knees cocktail dates to Prohibition in the early 1900s, when gin was of questionable quality and honey helped mask the taste. Honey itself is delicious and versatile in the kitchen, and adding it to cocktails—classic and contemporary—lends an earthy sweetness and character that you can’t get from simply using sugar.
Daniel Sullivan started Shipwreck Honey in 2009 with two hives in West Seattle. He’s since expanded to roughly 135 hives, and supplies honey to restaurants and bars from the shores of Puget Sound to Snoqualmie Falls. As a beekeeper, he’s passionate about the health and safety of his bees, but also what they contribute to the community surrounding them. In 2011, Salish Lodge and Spa installed four hives and hired Sullivan as the resort’s apiary manager. He compared his job of managing his own hives and those at Salish to being a shepherd. “We’re shepherds who get stung,” he jokes.
Salish installed a large herb garden and the hives across the street from the main hotel. The garden feeds the bees and supplies the kitchen. “In the spring, it is flush with herbs and flowers and stays that way through fall,” Sullivan says. This year, Salish also installed a second herb garden closer to the lodge, which includes artistic installation of a beehive guests can see from the restaurant, where the honey produced by the hives makes its way into everything from sauces and dressings to and cocktails.
“It’s become this great full circle program between the garden, the bees, the honey and the lodge,” Sullivan explains. The honey is served alongside biscuits at breakfast as well, and is used for making various scrubs, rubs, and treatments in the spa.
Ben Smith, the food and beverage manager for the lodge, is offering a cocktail on the menu that utilizes honey throughout the drink. The Harvest Moon uses vodka infused with apples, cinnamon bark and honey, and mixes it with lemon juice, honey and a house cider made by Treveri Cellars that is sweetened with the Salish honey. “This drink is local right down to the cheese garnish from Beecher’s,” Smith says.
For other cocktails, both Smith and Sullivan agreed that honey makes a much more interesting sweetener than simple syrup. That sweet element balances out the strength or tartness of a drink, but honey also adds a character and complexity to round out a cocktail. “No two honeys are the same,” says Smith. “So you can try a couple different honeys and really taste that difference. I’ll never have honey from the little bear again.”
This year, the hives at Salish produced about 2,000 pounds of honey. The bees’ forage zone extends about 2 to 2 1/2 miles. Different plants produce pollen at different times, and Sullivan says the color of the honey changes depending on the color of the pollen where the bees are currently feeding. His biggest challenge in the temperate, sub-alpine zone where Salish is located, is keeping the bees dry. Cold is not as challenging as moisture, especially with the close proximity of Snoqualmie Falls. Condensation can happen quickly in a beehive, so that is something Sullivan has to closely watch during the winter months.
Sullivan added some additional thoughts about honey and why he loves working with the hives. “There is an emotional currency to honey that I have seen this from the very first day I started producing our own honey,” he says. “I think that the currency of honey is purely emotional. All of us recognize those earthy subtle flavors that we tend to forget in this world of pasteurized stuff and the mini bears.”
Harvest Moon Cocktail
2 ounces Honeycrisp Apple and Cinnamon Bark House-Infused Vodka
½ ounce Salish Honey
½ ounce fresh lemon juice
1 ounce Salish Lodge & Spa Dry Honey Cider made by Treveri
Garnish with Beecher’s White Cheddar Cheese
Directions
Fill shaker with ice, mix infused vodka, honey and lemon juice. Shake vigorously and strain into martini glass. Top with dry cider.
