Recipe: Bees Knees Cocktail
Our favourite summer cocktail recipe, with honey sourced from Mianret Station
One of our favourite summer cocktails to offer guests featuring our local honey is our “Bee’s Knees” cocktail. A classic selection from the prohibition-era, brightly flavoured and lightly sweet featuring a zesty combination of The Source Gin, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and our locally sourced honey.
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2 parts - The Source Gin
1 part - Honey
3/4 part freshly squeezed lemon juice
Bees Knees Cocktail
Step 1
Combine all ingredients and mix well with ice in a shaker.
Step 2
Strain into a sugar rimmed glass. Serve with a garnish of lemon.
The Business of Bees in Partnership with Alpine Honey
Settled on the western shores of Lake Wanaka below the Alpine Lodge you will find Minaret Station’s working farm, home to some 12,000 deer, 1,300 cattle, and 1,000 sheep. This unique high-country station has no road access which means access to the station is made only by air or by boat. With the towering Minaret peaks above, the station is comprised of a range of land classes including cultivated flats, rolling-downs, steep hillsides, and lush pasture. The arrival of spring stimulates the flowering of various alpine and pasture plants and with that you will find some of the station’s hardest workers come to life - the honey bees.
Alpine Honey: A Family Business
Beehives have been brought to Minaret Station for about 25 years in partnership with Alpine Honey. In the early days, Alpine Honey collected organic clover honey from the high country clover pastures, but in more recent years they have started working with Alpine Helicopters to streamline the transportation of hives further into the backcountry. This year Alpine Honey had over 200 beehives on Minaret Station withover half of the hives collecting manuka honey in addition to the traditional clover honey.
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Clover plays an integral role in pasture production and high-quality grazing for Minaret livestock. Unlike grass, clover relies on pollination from bees and insects rather than wind. This pollination contributes to the growth and establishment of clover which produces high-quality pastures by naturally fertilising the soil with nitrogen fixed from the atmosphere. Once in bloom, clover becomes a premium grazing resource for livestock.High in protein it enhances animal performance while resulting in a honey rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants
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Minaret Station has worked strategically to protect the indigenous flora and fauna found on the station which includes Manuka and Kanuka forest. Manuka honey is produced from bees pollinating from the small white flowers on the Manuka trees in bloom. Known to have antibacterial and medicinal properties, Manuka honey is much darker in colour and is known for its unique flavour.
The beehives begin their journey to Minaret Station in the evening the day before. . Beekeepers load hives onto trucks late into the night as this work has to be done in the cool of the evening after the bees have returned to their hive. The following morning the team at Alpine Honey start work bright and early to catch the barge trip across Lake Wanaka to Minaret Station.
Upon reaching the farm, two helicopters arrive and the team begins to fly the hives high onto the mountainside amongst the manuka forest. The hives remain at Minaret Station for 6 - 8 weeks before returning to Alpine Honey's factory in Hawea where the honey is extracted, and the hives are prepared for their next destination.
Alpine Honey is a family-owned and operated business, run by the Ward family who are 4th generation beekeepers. They produce predominantly manuka honey, but also offer mono-floral honey varieties including Thyme, Clover, Kamahi, and Rata, as well as a Multi-floral Manuka for international export and local honey buyers.