Get a rare opportunity to learn about the terroir of honey by sampling three honeys from the same apiary, but from different hives, different seasons, and different crops. You'll also taste a variety of honey infusions, handmade on the Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm.
Stone Barns Center's beekeeper Dan Carr leads an immersive, interactive Beekeeping 101 class atop the Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm's apiary. Starting in the classroom, you'll learn the basics: bee biology, lifecycles in the hive, and beekeeping safety. The class then moves upstairs for an in-depth look inside the hive.
Wilk Apiary has partnered with three Queens breweries to create new beers from hyper-local honey harvested at apiaries located within the same zip codes as the breweries. This casual event features beer tastings, honey tastings, a limited number of hive visits, as well as samplings of honey-based dishes made by local restaurants.
Meg Paska — beekeeper, homesteader, and one of the founders of NYC Honey Fest — recently wrote The Rooftop Beekeeper, a how-to guidebook about urban beekeeping. She'll appear at the majestic Wave Hill in The Bronx for an in-store meet-the-author and book-signing. Copies of the book will be available, along with her homemade honey soaps and propolis tinctures.
Free w/ $8 admission to Wave Hill
Honey Fest is a daylong celebration of bees, beach, beers, and bites. This year's family-friendly festivities feature a Bee Marketplace, honey-infused beers and honey-laden foods, kids' arts and crafts, a honey-tasting contest, the Be-A-Bee Parade, a raffle, and much more.
The magical world of a bee colony is revealed when participants peer into City Growers’ amazing observation hive, where a bee’s lifecycle and evolving duties are illuminated, and the differences between workers and drones (and maybe a queen, too) become evident. Other activities during this bee-centric day include making bee-friendly seed bombs and touring the family-friendly farm to learn about some of pollinators’ favorite plants.
As part of Edgemere Farm's Thursday Dinner Series, St. John Frizell of Red Hook's Fort Defiance serves up a succulent porcine feast straight from his caja china box. Visit this one-acre verdant paradise before enjoying an unforgettable on-the-farm pig roast in the Rockaways, home to Honey Fest.
As part of Gowanus Canal Conservancy's Urban Ecology Lecture Series, Tim O'Neal of BoroughBees will discuss the role of honeybees and other pollinators in our local, national, and global food systems, with a particular focus on urban areas.
Honey in a plastic bear? Cheese as a big yellow block? As if. Marina Marchese of Red Bee Honey and author of The Honey Connoisseur guides your palate on a gustatory journey through the terroir of several monofloral honeys paired with cheeses from Murray's that'll dazzle your senses.
This honey-themed dinner features James Beard Rising Star Chef Max Sussman coupled with Stone Barns Center's beekeeping Dan Carr for an intimate dinner celebrating our favorite pollinators. Known for "killing it with vegetable-focused dishes," Sussman's kitchen acumen is fast becoming a Soho favorite. And when combined with one of the city's most ambitious natural wine and beer programs, heaps of liquid gold, plus The Cleveland's secret backyard garden, diners' senses will be a'buzzing.
To bee, or not to bee. City Growers leads a bee costume-building session to outfit kids for Honey Fest’s Be-A-Bee Parade in the Rockaways. Afterwards, head to the roof for a cooking demo and family-friendly farm tour to learn about bee-friendly plants that keep our little black-and-yellow friends so busy.
NYC Beekeepers Association invites former Peace Corps volunteer Ivan K. Landers to sweet-talk about his time in Paraguay amongst the Guarani, followed by a panel discussion about urban swarm catching, pollinator decline, and the problems almond pollinating presents for honeybee health, featuring Landers, former NYPD detective "Tony Bees" Planakis, and Gretchen Heine.
Chefs Angelo Romano (Lupa, Roberta's, The Pines) and Katy Peetz (Roberta's, Blanca) team up to celebrate the products of fellow perfectionists, the honeybee, serving a five course meal beginning with an Aleppo pepper honey candy and ending with a honey tea service. Dishes will feature honey components like propolis, raw bee pollen, and honey comb accented by varieties of honey like wildflower, buckwheat and hyssop.
Local beekeepers invite wanna-bees into backyards, onto roofs, and to community gardens to visit live beehives and learn more about the wondrous world of honeybees. Logistics and the degree of interactivity of these apiary tours varies from location to location, so contact each beekeeper for more info. Attendance is limited, so first-come, first-served.
Eataly, that mecca of all things culinary from Italy, celebrates NYC Honey Week by highlighting all things bee and honey. This weeklong, store-wide promotion buzzes with varietal honeys, honey-infused craft beers, and special offers of honey-inspired dishes and pairings with cheeses and wines.
Prices vary. Visit the store to indulge.
Sample entries from New York City's best craft cocktail mavens, competing for the tastiest honey-infused drink, as you snack on tasty honey-influenced nibbles by Maribel Araujo, Caracas Arepa Bar and Emily & Melissa Elsen, Four & Twenty Blackbirds. Hosted by New York Distilling Company, Kings County Distillery, and Uncouth Vermouth, this won't be like any other tasting event.
