I don’t claim to be an expert on hon­ey. Spir­its has always been my world. But recent­ly, I had the dis­tinct plea­sure of meet­ing the Mary­land native and founder of Cale­do­nia Spir­its, Todd Hardie, who’s built his career at the inter­sec­tion of those two inter­ests. At the age of 12, Todd and his broth­er start­ed their bee­keep­ing obses­sion. He lat­er moved to north­ern Ver­mont to con­tin­ue his ded­i­cat­ed study of bee­keep­ing, region­al agri­cul­ture and ecol­o­gy. He’ll tell you that the fur­ther you trav­el north the more pro­duc­tive the bees are. That’s why he set­tled down as far north as he could while still stay­ing in the states and set up camp in Mors­es Line, Ver­mont. Mors­es Line is north of the US Cus­toms office just shy of the Que­bec bor­der. How about that for dedication?

Todd is a fas­ci­nat­ing guy who loves to talk about his bees, and how they gath­er nec­tar, pollen, and propo­lis. Let me tell ya, I’ve learned a lot about the heal­ing pow­ers of bees and their hon­ey. I could lis­ten for hours. It’s tru­ly intrigu­ing. I rec­om­mend vis­it­ing the Cale­do­nia Spir­its web­site. There’s a wealth of infor­ma­tion there on bees in gen­er­al, as well as Tod­d’s hon­ey-based health prod­ucts, hon­ey wine and spirits.

When I first tried Cale­do­nia Spir­its I was blown away! These are unique hand craft­ed spir­its that you should def­i­nite­ly seek out and try. Their stills are cus­tom built and made in the USA. I can’t wait to make a trip up north and see the pro­duc­tion. They are just get­ting start­ed, so dis­tri­b­u­tion is lim­it­ed to a few states (Mary­land, Wash­ing­ton, D.C., New Jer­sey, Metro NYC/So. Hud­son Valley/Long Island,  Mass­a­chu­setts, & Ver­mont). I’m sure these prod­ucts will take off and be a huge success.

The Gin

Being a gin lover I was amazed by Barr Hill Gin, it’s one of my favorite gins to date. Right from the aro­ma you can tell this is a spe­cial gin. The aro­ma screams of flo­ral juniper berries and hon­ey. This gin is so good you can drink it straight. It’s not your typ­i­cal Lon­don Dry gin. And fear not–it’s not over­ly sweet. The gin is made from a corn dis­til­la­tion and fin­ished with just a touch of hon­ey. This gin makes for one of the best Negro­nis I have ever had and using this gin in a Bees Knees Cock­tail is a no brainer.

The Honey

You can also buy Tod­d’s hon­ey on his web­site. Try mak­ing a hon­ey syrup with it. You’ll be amazed. His hon­ey is not like any hon­ey I have ever tried and it’s sol­id like thick but­ter. Todd does a spe­cial process where the hon­ey is nev­er heat­ed up so all the heal­ing prop­er­ties car­ry through. I asked Todd to explain:

When hon­ey is heat­ed and fil­tered, it los­es its med­i­c­i­nal and food val­ue. The enzymes are one of the more impor­tant com­po­nents of hon­ey, and these are hurt when hon­ey is heat­ed. Much of the hon­ey on U.S. shelves is from Chi­na, and much of this hon­ey is con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed with chem­i­cals. It is impor­tant to get hon­ey and hon­ey prod­ucts from a local bee­keep­er and some­one you know or know of.

The Vodka

The Barr Hill Vod­ka is made entire­ly from hon­ey. They dis­till a hon­ey wine to make the vod­ka. The vod­ka has a love­ly tex­ture, ele­gant hon­ey fla­vor and a touch of flo­ral notes from the flow­ers the bees visit.

The Elderberry Cordial

The Elder­ber­ry Cor­dial is birthed from their love of the land, hon­ey and elder­ber­ries. The cor­dial is not over­ly sweet. It’s tart and sour like cran­ber­ries. The berry fla­vor is bold, deep and earthy. Like the hon­ey, the elder­ber­ries share some of the same heal­ing powers.

Here are a cou­ple recipes that I’ve used Bar Hill’s spir­its in recently.

Signs of Spring

• 1 1/2 oz of Bar Hill Gin
• 1/2 oz Bar Hill Elder­ber­ry Cordial
• 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
• 3/4  oz Saint Ger­main Elder­flower Liqueur
• 1/4 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth
• Gar­nish with a lemon twist

Add all ingre­di­ents except the gar­nish into a shak­er and shake with ice. Strain into a chilled cock­tail class and gar­nish with a lemon twist.

Bee’s Knees Cocktail

• 2 oz Bar Hill Gin
• 3/4 oz hon­ey syrup 1:1
• 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
• Gar­nish with a lemon twist

Add all ingre­di­ents except the gar­nish into a shak­er and shake with ice. Strain into a chilled cock­tail class and gar­nish with a lemon twist.