|
|
Nov. 22, 2013
B.C. meadery makes buzz
Tugwell Creek is award winning – and B.C. Kosher certified.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
Tugwell Creek Honey Farm and Meadery recently became British Columbia’s first kosher-certified meadery – and, it seems, Western Canada’s. The BCK stamp of approval can be added to its medal wins at the Northwest Wine Summit (2008-2010), and having one of its wines named among the best in British Columbia by the CBC in 2012.
Bob Liptrot and Dana LeComte started Tugwell Creek – the first meadery in Western Canada – in 2003.
“Dana and I met almost 20 years ago in Vancouver, where we were both born and raised,” Liptrot told the Independent about how the couple’s partnership began. “It was about 16 or 17 years ago that we both decided to move to Vancouver Island and buy a farm to start a quieter way of life for ourselves.... Our products are based on old traditional mead recipes from our family (which has been keeping bees and making mead for over 50 years) and from around the world. Since my family and academic background is in beekeeping, this became our focus after establishing Tugwell Creek Farm.”
A conservation partner with the Land Conservancy of British Columbia, protecting the environment ranks as high in importance as product quality for this Vancouver Island company.
“We are a farming family, living and working from our farm 10 kilometres outside of Sooke, B.C., and are committed to high-quality traditional artisanal meads and honey products produced by our bees around our farm,” explained Liptrot. “Both Dana and I have academic backgrounds and strong ties to the local slow food movement. We are strong believers in locally produced high-quality, fresh foods and, although we are not certified organic, we place great pride in the purity of our products and the fact that we have always exceeded organic certification standards for our industry.”
Mead, or honey wine, is the oldest art of fermentation, according to Tugwell Creek’s website. Liptrot has more than 25 years of experience making it, and twice that in beekeeping experience. He has a master’s degree in entomology, teaches a beginner and an intermediate beekeeping course at Royal Roads University every year, “actively promotes bees through social media and is an active member of apicultural research projects.” He’s a member of the B.C. Honey Producers Association.
In the beginner’s course description online, the topics range from beekeeping history, to everything you wanted to know about honeybees, to hive management, to crop pollination. (The next beginner’s course starts March 25, 2014, and entails four evening sessions and one hands-on field day at the farm.) As the season changes, one of the regular topics – fall and winter management of productive colonies – seems especially relevant.
“Our bees are kept healthy year round by having a healthy environment for them to live in while they forage for the food they will be needing for winter,” explained Liptrot. “Simply put, they get first crack at the 20 to 30 kilos of honey they require to get through to the next spring and any surplus honey is for us. This year, we had approximately 3,000 kilos surplus from around 100 hives.
“We do not use synthetic chemical compounds to treat our bees,” he continued. “We are breeding for resistance to pests and pathogens presently causing much grief for bees and beekeepers, and have been participating actively in a stock improvement program over the last four seasons. It is my belief, after keeping bees for over 50 years now, that we as beekeepers can be the solution to a lot of the problems facing bees and farming by moving toward a simpler, cleaner and smaller-scale biodynamics, where the health of the environment and the animals within it are considered the first priority.”
“Each season, our 100 carefully tended beehives go out to collect honey from the wildflowers around Sooke,” explains Tugwell Creek’s website. “Depending on the weather, the bees will forage more or less on certain blossoms in reach of the beeyard. This brings forward different flavors in the honey from season to season. The honeys of Vancouver Island are quite light and floral tasting in general and are considered some of the best in the world.”
The “classic honeys” of the island are wildflower, fireweed and blackberry. Tugwell Creek also uses maple honey, which, the website notes, “we only get if we have sunny weather in March,” and field blossom honey, which comes from other apiaries in the province.
Tugwell Creek products, which can be found at many Vancouver liquor stores and restaurants, include Harvest Melomel 2011 ($17), silver-medal-winner Solstice Metheglin 2012 ($20), bronze-medal-winner Kickass Currant Family Reserve 2012 ($29.95), Original Sin Cyser Mead 2012 ($26.95), silver-medal-winner Vintage Sac Sweet Fortified Mead ($27.95), CBC pick Wassail Blush Sweet Berry Mead 2011 ($26.95) and Acerglyn Maple Mead ($29.95), the last of which only 30 cases were made in 2011, but which “will be back soon!”
For mead neophytes, melomel is made with fruit – in Tugwell’s case, with berries from their farm (marion berry, loganberry and gooseberry) – and metheglin is made with herbs and/or spices, with Tugwell’s featuring ginger root and spices. Tugwell’s cyser is made with tart cider apples and quince.
Tugwell Creek’s tasting room (and self-guided tour) is open through April 30, Saturday and Sunday, noon-5 p.m., except for January, when the meadery is closed for the month. Located at 8750 West Coast Rd. in Sooke, the directions, as well as more information about the meadery and its summer hours, can be found at tugwellcreekfarm.com or by calling 1-250-642-1956.
^TOP
|
|
