Did you know that September is National Honey Month? National Honey Month got its start in 1989, when the National Honey Board worked tirelessly with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to give honey the praise it deserves. Fun fact: September was decided as it’s the month the majority of the countries honey is harvested. Honey is the only food source produced by an insect that humans eat, so it’s kind of a big deal.
A few fun facts you may not know about honey bees:
- There are over 25,000 species of bees worldwide — 4,000 of which are native to the United States.
- The average honey bee's wings flap over 183 times per second.
- Bees have an excellent sense of smell which allows them to find their hive.
- Bees dance when they return to the hive to tell the other bees where the flowers are.
- Each honey bee only produces about 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime. That means around 22,700 bees are needed to fill a single jar of honey!
- A queen bee can sting multiple times without dying.
- 99% of the bee colony is made up of female bees known as worker bees.
- Male bees are called "Drones" and they do not have stingers, their only purpose is to mate with the queen bee.
In honor of National Honey Month, we will be working with Barr Hill Gin for Bee's Knees Week!
Bee's Knees Week is a celebration of the bee’s knees cocktail, a spotlight on the importance of bees in our food and drink system, and a community of bartenders working together to save the bees.
Since its establishment in 2017, Bee’s Knees Week participants have collectively donated over $31,000 to non-profit bee and pollinator organizations. Join us as we take part in the third year of this event with Barr Hill Gin and bartenders who are uniting to help save the bees through this weeklong celebration of bees and the Bee’s Knees cocktail.
A dollar for every cocktail sold will be donated to support The Bee Cause Project and help install educational beehives in public places.
Does your bar want to join in? Sign up here!