Locavores take note! Local bee-keeping hobbyists are harvesting their backyard hives for a tasting—and cocktail party—in celebration of National Honeybee Day. Organized by apiary emporium the Valley Hive, the public is invited to get in on the sweet stuff on August 20 at West End Tavern, an Irish pub in Chatsworth.
Honey-forward cocktails will be crafted to cleanse your sticky palate while you wait for a panel of certified honey experts to judge the liquid gold brought in by beekeepers. In addition to honey, kitchen-savvy locals can enter their baked goods and other recipes that prominently feature honey for a public taste-off.
All the growers who contribute a jar for the tasting will also be putting up a second jar for sale, meaning you have a chance to get few ounces of special super-local honey that nobody else has. The proceeds raised from those sales will be donated to an urban beekeeping non-profit.
Home beekeeping was illegal in Los Angeles until just last October, when the city council overturned a 136-year ban on the practice, as NPR reported. The return of urban beekeeping to the city came as welcome news to scientists and activists who see home hives as a stand against colony collapse, a phenomenon that impacts the food system far beyond just honey.
If a swing through the tasting leaves you inspired to get to work on a new hive all your own, there are a few things to keep in mind. Most importantly, you’ll need to be in a single-family home with a buffer zone between you and other residents—in other words, no, you can’t start a beehive on your high-rise balcony, no matter how delicious your honey might be.
The Valley Hive Honey Tasting and Cocktail Event takes place August 20 from 4pm to 7pm at West End Tavern, 21356 Devonshire Street, Chatsworth. Admission is free for the public, the deadline for tasting contest entries is August 18.