To bee or not to bee

Apologies for missing last week’s column. I was out of town for another industry event—the annual Toyota Road Trek, which I shall write about in my other column in the motoring section of the Philippine Star. Suffice it to say it was great bonding time for fellow media practitioners and Toyota executives over extended “all-ins” and “single malt” evenings. I was back in Manila in time to cast my vote.

Speaking of that, the Filipino people have spoken. This is about the most contentious race yet for the top officials of the land that has divided friends and families.Polling the attendees of the Toyota event, we had diverse choices which we defended fiercely, but in the end, the majority’s voice will rule. Let’s respect that.

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Let me share with you one of the new discoveries we came across for Business & Leisure, the TV show and this column.

When we covered the most recent Sikat Pinoy trade fair of the Department of Trade and Industry, we discovered many novel ideas that have been translated into viable products. Most of the booths carried food or beverages, and one of the booths that stood out was Dielle’s Honey Wine.

Luke Macababad, the proprietor, is a graduate of BS Biology in UP Los Baños. Only after working for three or four companies did Luke realize he was perhaps meant for some other calling. It started with some of his friends who were clearly enjoying their life as gentlemen farmers.One of his frat brods introduced him to a not-so-common pursuit—culturing honey bees.

Life on the farm is decidedly different, and many times, the business side of it may not be as profitable if you run on a small scale. Luke simply wanted fresh honey on the dining table for his family, and so he ventured into it, but not after researching thoroughly on it.

In December 2001, he attended a seminar on honey bees.The most important advice he got from that seminar is – if you have an allergy to bee stings, don’t even venture into raising bees. That decision could be fatal—take heed! Small kids who live in farm areas somehow develop a measure of immunity with so many stings. In the end, the inflammation from bee stings becomes localized and bearable.

Luke wasn’t allergic, so he started small, initially with just four colonies. After one season, he had a bountiful harvest of honey with just the four colonies, more than what the family could consume. He gave jars away to family and friends, and his initial success inspired him to expand his bee culture. His father-in-law broached the idea of experimenting with wine that is honey-based. Since it seemed like a simple operation which did not require distillation, Luke went into it with bare implements that were improvised, and materials that did not quite match his product. He used bread yeast instead of wine yeast, but after a series of hits and misses, he knew he had a viable product.

With a bigger population of honey bees, he had to learn the different seasons for flowers for his bees. When it was the season for sunflowers, for instance, he would bring his bees to Baguio or Nueva Ecija. He shared that the honey he produced had different tastes, aroma and color, depending on the flowers. Honey made by bees that fed on mango flowers, for instance, had a hint of the tangy taste of the fruit. The honey flow, as Luke calls it, happens between January to May when the flowers are abloom.In February, the flowers are on the undergrowth, but a couple of months later, the bees feed on the flowers on the bigger trees.

We learned that a queen bee in one colony lays between 1,000 – 1,500 eggs a day, so one can imagine how fast these bees multiply. Luke’s bee culture, while not occupying a very big space in his backyard, has several colonies, so it was easy to understand how he could produce so much honey during flowering season.

Going back to the wine part of his business, Luke started making several varieties of fruit wines after perfecting his honey wine with mead which is fermented honey. He got carried away with what he could do with such a wide array of options that he had as much as 20 flavors of fruit wine. He eventually decided to settle on the 10 most viable variety.Among the more popular ones are his bignay, duhat and mango-flavored honey wine, but he also has coffee, chilli, pineapple, java plain, marang and mangosteen.

Before he began to manufacture commercially, Luke did his assignment. He attended more seminars and approached relevant government agencies for assistance and support. The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) not only shared technical advice, they also supported him with some basic implements. DOST also gave him valuable tips on good, attractive packaging. By the way, Dielle’s Honey Wine comes in attractive bottles that Luke says he imports. He took out a loan to purchase a good inventory of these 375 ml unique bottles which turned out to be a good investment.

Like many upstarts, Luke started with bazaars and government-sponsored trade fairs like Sikat Pinoy. His small factory is very clean, and for one who never had a serious background on wine-making, his manufacturing and bottling processes are systematic.

Luke now has as much as 40 colonies, and while some have approached him to bring his honey wines to other countries, he is treading cautiously.He has offers of distributorship too, but Luke says his production capacity right now is still rather limited. Expanding his bee culture can be expensive as honey bees now cost more than, say, 10 or 12 years ago when he first started. He also has to solve the problem of natural predators like birds decimating his bee coloniess. For now, he efficiently serves the domestic market from his production area in Muntinglupa, happy in his own niche.

Maabuhay!!!Be proud to be a Filipino.

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