{event} Liquid Gold with Red Bee Honey

This past Sunday I attended a really fun event at Red Bee Honey with the Connecticut Bloggers Collective. The event, LIQUID GOLD: A Taste + Test Wellness Bar, featured Red Bee honey and handcrafted skincare. Lydia and I headed Red Bee's Honey House Barn in Weston, Connecticut on Sunday morning to join beekeeper, author and honey sommelier, Marina Marchese on a journey into the fascinating world of bees. She discussed the many uses of honey and bee products for health and beauty. Marina has perfected the art of honey tasting, transferring the skills of the wine sommelier to the artisanal honey tasting table.

I attended a VIP preview before the main event started to try out 5 limited harvest honeys perfectly paired with cheeses and food. I skipped the cheese since I'm not a fan, but I was really excited to try out all the different types of honey since I pretty much know nothing about it. Learning new things should be one of my goals for 2018. It's fascinating how the honey flavor changes based on what flowers the bees visit while making it. That should be self-explanatory but it's something most people don't even think about.

We tried out the following honey flavors: 

• Orange Blossom honey - floral, fruity and rich in vitamin C 
• Blueberry Blossom honey - fruity and a good source of antioxidants 
• Buckwheat honey - robust and a good source of iron 
• Creamy Clover honey - delicious notes of cinnamon 
• Gold leaf honeycomb - raw honey with amazing benefits

My favorites were orange, blueberry and clover. Each honey was paired with something to bring out it's unique flavor notes. Here's what we paired with each:

Creamy Clover honey with coconut shavings and bee pollen. This was one of my favorite combinations. I bought some of the clover honey to take home!

Blueberry blossom honey with brie cheese. (I didn't try this with the cheese but the honey alone is delicious!) I almost bought some but decided on another instead.

Buckwheat honey with dark chocolate and almond. This was surprisingly delicious! When we first smelled this before tasting I didn't think I would like it, but when paired with the chocolate it was amazing.

Gold leaf honeycomb with a cracker. This honey was still on the comb so if you ate that part there was a nice bit of crunch. This was another favorite of mine, just so simple

Orange blossom honey with goat cheese and fresh rosemary. This was another one I had alone since I don't like cheese. You could really taste the orange in this honey which I found very interesting. I bought a small jar of this along with the clover honey. Not sure what I'll do with it yet, but I know it will be delicious!

After the VIP preview we joined the rest of the bloggers upstairs at a taste and test wellness bar where the honey we had just tested was out for everyone to taste. We were also able to test out some of Red Bee's honey-based beauty products. While we were mingling, tasting and testing we sipped on a honey elixir made with chamomile tea and a teeny bit of alcohol.

The Workerbee Rescue Balm was SUPER hydrating, perfect for dry winter skin. I really liked the Honeybee Butter Balm, it goes on very smooth and not oily at all. I also got to take home some Red Bee lip balm. A perfect goodie bag item because I am ADDICTED to chapstick. My lips are always super dry. I got the lavender flavor which is very subtle and you can even taste a bit of honey.

Thank you so much to Red Bee and Marina for having us and teaching us the importance of bees!