The bland leading the bland

There doesn't appear to be much happening in the bee world at present, so it's time for a rant.

Why oh why are some beekeepers so conservative when it comes to tasting new honey? Now, you'd think that a group of beekeepers would be falling over themselves to taste honey from the other side of the globe. I took some to a bee meeting last week and there was only moderate interest. And the response of some of those who tasted it? “Oooh, I don't really like it, it's got a very strong taste. I prefer my own.” And it's not the first time I've met that reaction. Anything different is met with suspicion.

It wouldn't really matter except I think that it's that sort of reaction that stops honey becoming the new wine. I wonder if Germans on first tasting robust red wines dismissed them with such haste.

Beekeepers would do themselves a lot of favours if they were at the fore in developing new terminology to describe honey flavours. Then maybe others would become more interested. < /rant >