World Bee Day with Bruadar

11:00
May 20, 2023

PR invite from We are Kabe // All thoughts and opinions are, of course, my own.

On the 4th May I was invited to Fife where Aberargie Distillery and also the Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers are located. But as today is World Bee Day – I thought it would be the perfect day to share more of this experience with you!

Bruadar Scotch Whisky Liqueur

Upon arrival we got a little look around the Aberargie Distillery, which we unfortunately couldn’t take any photos of, but I’ll be very curious to see how they will develop in the coming years as they already have spirit mature enough to be called whisky. However it does sound like it will be a couple of years until you’ll see an Aberargie whisky in the shops. But the main reason we were here was to highlight Bruadar – which is a scotch whisky liqueur flavoured with Scottish honey and sloe berries. It’s one of my favourite liqueurs, because it has a really fresh and inviting flavour without being too sweet or sticky and it tastes like real flavour and nothing artificial. Bruadar neat in a glass over ice, over ice cream or in cocktails is such a treat. One of the guys in the Bruadar team also told me he adds a few drops of Bruadar to a measure of single malt for a touch of sweetness which I’ll need to try at some point.

Bruadar had a rebranding fairly recently and one of the changes is that they now only use local Scottish honey for the liqueur. The Aberargie Distillery even has its own bee hives – but more on that further down. After our little tour of the distillery we sat down to try some honey and learn more about how the team works. Bruadar is produced in larger batches about 3-4 a year to achieve the best possible consistency of flavour. The new design features a sleek teal label with white text which brings a bit more colour and freshness to the brand.

Beekeeping at Aberargie Distillery

I’ve always thought bees are so fascinating and the more we learned about it throughout the day, the more interesting they are. It’s as if they are all programmed to do their tasks and are far more organised than many people, haha. We got to put on our beekeeper suits to go check on the hives that live at the distillery. The beekeeper team showed us how they change their homes to a larger hive, how to spot the queen and mark her with a colour to keep track of her age, and also to see the different kinds of bees there are in a hive and how the function. They were all very mellow and not aggressive at all when being handled. It’s just so strange that these little insects can produce so much honey.

Lunch at Violet Studios

After our beekeeping adventures we traveled to nearby Violet Studios – a cosy and beautiful studio kitchen where the Bothy Kitchen had prepared a lovely lunch for us. If you are visiting Fife you should stop by the Bowhouse which is located between Elie and St Monans – where Bothy Kitchen is one of the producers in-house.

Alongside the lovely salads, quiche and savoury lamb pastries we also enjoyed different Bruadar cocktails. There was one Espresso Martini twist, a Pina Colada inspired one and a Bees Knees. They were all lovely but the pina colada-esque one as well as the bees knees were my two favourites.

As if this wasn’t enough we also had a lovely berry tiramisu and a chocolate mousse for dessert.

We certainly left very full and happy!

The Bee’s Knees Cocktail

When it was time to head back home, we got a little cocktail kit with Bruadar samples to take away so we could make one of the cocktails at home – and it was one of my favourite ones! Here’s the recipe:

The Bruadar Bee’s Knees

30ml Bruadar

40ml Garden Shed Gin

20ml Fresh Lemon Juice

10ml Honey Syrup (either use Monin Honey Syrup or mix equal parts hot water & honey. Allow to cool)

Garnish: Lemon twist

Add Bruadar, gin, lemon juice and honey syrup to a cocktail shaker with ice (a clean jam jar works great as well). Shake well, strain and serve with a twist of lemon to garnish.

Recipe from Bruadar.