BUZZWORDS
Spirits of the Hive
MAY BERENBAUM
O
f all of the current plagues
afflicting the U.S. apiculture
industry, one is distinctly
human in origin. “Economically motivated adulteration (EMA)” is defined by
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as
“fraudulent, intentional substitution or
addition of a substance for the purpose
of increasing the apparent value of the
product or reducing the cost of its production, i.e., for economic gain” (Strayer
et al. 2014). Honey seems to be peculiarly
vulnerable to adulteration—both deliberate, by cheaper sweeteners added to dilute
or extend the honey; and inadvertent,
by contaminants that find their way into
honey by virtue of having been fed to bees
or placed into hives to increase production
by legal or illegal means. Easily the most
common type of EMA involves extending
or diluting honey with cheap sweeteners.
All around the world, unscrupulous honey
dealers have taken to adding significant
quantities of high-fructose corn syrup to
honey. The economic motivation is indeed
enormous; whereas the average bulk price
for honey is around 173 cents per pound,
high-fructose corn syrup goes for about
32 cents per pound (Strayer et al. 2014).
Charging honey prices for high-fructose
corn syrup can thus be amazingly profitable; not many other enterprises can
boast of a fivefold return on investment.
As ethically distasteful as that practice
American Entomologist • Volume 60, Number 1
“The ones at the end of the bar?
They say they’re just social drinkers.”
might be, though, at least high-fructose
corn syrup doesn’t present an imminent
public health risk; the same can’t be said
for many of the inadvertent adulterants
that turn up in honey. Beyond the tylosin
and oxytetracyline approved for in-hive
use against the bacterial disease foulbrood,
a veritable pharmacy’s worth of antibiotics,
including chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin,
enrofloxacin, lincomycin, metronidazole,
nitrofuran, streptomycin, sulfadimidine,
and sulfathiazole, have been identified
as honey adulterants (Strayer et al. 2014).
Some of these antibiotics are so toxic that
they’re banned by the FDA for use in food
animals; chloramphenicol, for example,
can cause organ damage, bone
marrow toxicity, and aplastic anemia at concentrations approximating those found occasionally in
honey (Payne et al. 1999).
What makes this illegal enterprise even more attractive to miscreants, particularly in the case of
deliberate adulteration with alternative sweeteners, is that such adulteration is difficult to detect by any means
other than with the use of sensitive and
expensive chemical analytical techniques
(e.g., Cabanero et al. 2006). What’s more,
there’s little downside to getting caught;
the U.S. has no national honey standard,
so even if adulteration can be confirmed,
prosecuting the guilty parties has been
difficult. In 1995, for example, a honey
processor on trial in Michigan for selling
adulterated honey was acquitted at least
“partly because of a lack of government
honey regulations” (Strayer et al. 2014).
Ironically, identity standards overseas
have recently resulted in honey itself being
considered as something of an adulterant.
In 2013, when Bacardi Ltd. announced
plans to introduce a honey-flavored version of Dewar’s Scotch Whisky into the
U.S., the Scotch Whisky Association (the
official trade organization chartered to
“protect the integrity of Scotch Whisky
worldwide”) objected to the proposed
labeling. The addition of flavoring agents
5
to Scotch whisky is apparently expressly
forbidden by Scottish law, although flavoring agents can be used in whisky-based
“liqueurs” and “spirit drinks” if they are
clearly labeled as such. As explained by
the Scotch Whisky Association,
There is no law preventing the production of new products based on
Scotch Whisky. The important thing
is that they are labelled and marketed in a way that clearly distinguishes
them from Scotch Whisky. We do have
concerns that the labelling and promotion of Dewar’s Highlander Honey
could distinguish the product more
clearly from Scotch Whisky. Under
EU law it has to be sold under the
sales description “Spirit Drink” and
it would assist if that description was
more conspicuous on the labelling
to help make it clear it is not Scotch
Whisky. Promotion of the product
should also not suggest it is Scotch
Whisky (http://tinyurl.com/a37w3og).
Thus, in the U.S., this alcoholic beverage,
enhanced by the floral notes of heather
honey from the Scottish heaths, is vended not as scotch but simply as Dewar’s
Highlander Honey.
Although certain aspects of the execution were called into question, Bacardi Ltd.’s motivation in partnering scotch
and honey was clear. From the human
perspective, ethanol and honey are polar
opposites; whereas people seem to be born
liking honey and other sweet things, they
have to work at developing what’s called
“a taste for alcohol.” As Reed and McDaniel (2006) report, “Humans love the taste
of sugar and the word “sweet” is used to
describe not only this basic taste quality but also something that is desirable
or pleasurable.” By contrast, Trevisani et
al. (2002) reported that ethanol activates
the vanilloid receptor-1, the ion channel
that mediates the “burning sensation”
associated with capsaicin, heat, and pain.
Thus, whereas Wikipedia includes “beer”
in its entry for “Acquired taste”; (http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquired_taste),
“honey,” long used to make unpalatable
things more tolerable, is the first entry in
the Wiki on “how to swallow bitter medicine” (http://www.wikihow.com/Swallow-Bitter-Medicine). Dewar’s was simply
exploiting a longstanding and time-tested
practice when it introduced Highlander
Honey as a scotch “for people who wished
they liked scotch” (Leonard 2013).
6
Even more than whisky,
vodka has benefited from
an association with honey.
As with whisky, honey
can be infused to flavor
vodka, which is, for all
intents and purposes, an
80-proof mixture of ethanol
and water and thus in
dire need of flavoring for
those who haven’t worked
hard enough at acquiring
that taste for ethanol.
In the U.S., whisk(e)y-makers are far
less persnickety about mixing things with
alcohol than is the Scotch Whisky Association, and honey has been added to just
about every type of hard liquor vended to
anyone over the legal drinking age. Dewar’s Highland Honey follows Brown-Forman’s Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey,
Beam Inc.’s Jim Beam Honey, Diageo’s
Bushmill’s Irish Honey (released in the
U.S. in March, 2012, six months before
it arrived in its presumably native Ireland), Seagram’s 7 Dark Honey Whiskey
Liqueur, and Campari’s Wild Turkey American Honey. And following Dewar’s later
in 1913, Paddy’s Irish Whiskey entered the
flavored whiskey market with Bee Sting in
November (featuring “real Irish honey”).
Even more than whisky, vodka has benefited from an association with honey. As
with whisky, honey can be infused to flavor
vodka, which is, for all intents and purposes, an 80-proof mixture of ethanol and
water and thus in dire need of flavoring for
those who haven’t worked hard enough at
acquiring that taste for ethanol. Krupnik or
Krupnikas, a honey-flavored vodka from
Poland or Lithuania, respectively, dates
back to the sixteenth century (interesting
historical note—Krupnikas has also doubled as a wound disinfectant). The German Bärenfang is even older, originating
in East Prussia in the 15th century, and
vodka flavored with pepper and honey is
a traditional beverage known as pertsovka
in Russia. All of these beverages continue
to be sold today—the Ukrainian company
Nemiroff, for example, among the world’s
top alcohol brands, offers a modern version of Honey Pepper Vodka. Stolichnaya,
however, upped the ante for the 21st century in 2004 by introducing what may be
the first varietal honey vodka: 42 Below
flavored vodka with manuka honey from
New Zealand:
42 Below’s Manuka Honey Vodka is
made with the purest ingredients. The
honey is taken from special beehives
placed in New Zealand’s manuka
tree plantations. Unlike most honeys,
manuka is darker and more savoury
with oaky flavours and a hint of caramel. To make the premium vodka, the
raw manuka honey is vapourised by
applying direct heat, driving off steam,
that condenses into a rich essence. 42
Below Vodka is then infused with the
honey essence. The complex flavours
are easily absorbed and create a unique
spirit (http://tinyurl.com/lw8kuuv).
It’s difficult to reconstruct the exact
timeline of the honey vodka bandwagon, at least in part because it’s tiresome to
have to verify my birth date (and thereby
remind myself just exactly how old I’ve
become) every time I try to access any
beverage company Web sites. Suffice it
to say that SMIRNOFF® Wild Honey flavored vodka “combines the pure, sweet
taste of golden honey with a wild side of
floral fruitiness that could only be found
in nature” (http://smir.nf/1fBmC19), that
Spring 44 Honey Vodka offers “Aromas of
lavender and fresh honey straight from the
honeycomb. Hints of vanilla and toasted
nuts” (http://spring44.com/honey) and
that Blackwater Distilling Inc.’s Sloop Betty
Honey, released in January 2014, is “infused
with honey primarily from the nectar of
butterbean flowers” with seasonal variants
added to capitalize on changing nectar
availability. It’s marketed as “a true expression of coastal Maryland, telling the story
of the land and air through the nectars
from the unique mix of trees and flowers
surrounding the beehive.” Lest you have
fears that consuming honey-flavored vodka
may reduce your ability to be a productive
member of society, Blackwater Distilling
offers the comforting information that “by
sourcing organic ingredients for our products whenever possible, we hope we’re also
doing our part to cut back on pesticide
use and prevent colony collapse disorder”
(http://bit.ly/1djBOvy ); by extension, then,
American Entomologist • Spring 2014
Sloop Betty Honey drinkers may be the
apiculture’s best hope for future viability.
Vodka is basically the result of distilling
any sugar- or starch-rich material; historically, it has been most famously distilled
from grains or potatoes, but it has also
been made from grapes, rice, soybeans,
sugar beets, molasses, and even wood
pulp byproducts. It’s not surprising, then,
that vodkas today are not just flavored
with honey, they’re actually distilled from
honey. You can hopscotch the country (or
hop-vodka the country) if you so choose,
sampling regional examples of honey-derived vodka. From the Olympic Peninsula,
Washington State’s Wishkah River Distillery offers the aptly named Vodka Distilled
from Honey, which boasts of “a lustrous
finish abuzz with good cheer.” Montana’s
Swanson’s Mountain View Distillery makes
Legendary Gold Honey Spirits http://www.
microshiner.com/2012_10_01_archive.
html). In the Midwest, Prairie Sunshine
offers Wildflower Honey Spirit made from
“wildflower honey gathered from Marengo, IL.” Nearby, Rehorst Citrus & Honey
Vodka from Milwaukee’s Great Lakes Distillery is distilled from “Wisconsin Natural
Acres honey, which is produced by artisan
beekeepers in Chilton, Wis. The beekeepers place their beehive sites near alfalfa, clover and basswood trees” (Stambor
2010). Out east, there’s Bee Vodka from
Hidden Marsh Distillery in Seneca Falls,
New York: “made from the purest honey
in the Finger Lakes region, triple-distilled
in individual batches for a flawless finish…
it promises to bee [sic] something you’ve
never experienced before.” In Port Chester, New York, StillTheOne Distillery offers
Comb Vodka, distilled from out-of-state
orange blossom honey (“Port Chester’s
‘buzziest’ new bev”) (http://bit.ly/1fLIEPv)
(Peterson 2011). The northernmost honey
vodka is probably Caledonia Spirit’s Barr
Hill Honey Vodka from Morses Line, Vermont, just below the border with Quebec
(http://caledoniaspirits.com/spirits/). As
an added apiarian touch, “After distillation,
each bottle of Barr Hill Vodka is brought
to proof and sealed with beeswax (what
else did you expect?)” (http://caskers.com/
product/barr-hill-vodka/).
When it comes to bees and alcohol,
sometimes what may appear to be false
advertising or adulteration is actually just
a translation problem. Across Asia, for
example, there’s an alcoholic beverage variously known as red bee shouchuu (as in
Nagano Prefecture in Japan) or tiger head
American Entomologist • Volume 60, Number 1
bee wine (in Taiwan). Like vodka, Japanese
shouchuu can start with any starch- or
sugar-rich material and historically has
been distilled from, among other things,
rice, buckwheat, barley, or sweet potatoes.
From that point on, the resemblance to
vodka comes to a screeching halt. According to one recipe,
1.Find a beehive.
2.Put bees in a trans [sic] by smoking them.
3.Collect the adult bees live.
4.Put the adult bees (live) into shochu
(potato liquor) and soak for several
months to several years (http://www.
schoold.org/wisdom/restaurant/
restaurant_nagano_e.html).
The recipe comes with a warning—stings
from these “bees” can kill any would-be
liquor entrepreneur. The reason that stings
from these bees are so lethal is that they’re
not actually bees; they’re Vespa mandarinia, the Asian giant hornet, variously known
as the yak-killer hornet, the commander
wasp (Korea), the giant sparrow bee (rural
Japan), or the tiger head bee (Taiwan).
These wasps, which have a 7.6 cm wingspan, are the largest wasps in the world;
they’re also among the most dangerous,
capable of injecting highly toxic, fast-acting venom with their 6 mm-long stingers.
Admittedly, they’re considerably less dangerous after steeping in potato vodka for
months. In Kumamato prefecture, they
are allowed to marinate for up to three
years, to produce the characteristic smell,
“much like that of regular shouchuu, but
with just a hint of rotting flesh” (http://
tinyurl.com/m2bdsp3).
The Taiwanese version of this beverage,
known as “tiger head bee wine” (hu tou
feng jiu) is made not with potato vodka but
with kaoliang, a fermented sorghum wine,
and rice wine. Tiger head bee wine, lacking the oaky flavors, hints of caramel, or
floral notes of honey spirits, is valued not
for its mouth feel, complexity, or finish, but
rather for its medicinal properties, which
include (but are not limited to) enhancing male virility, maintaining youth and
beauty, and more prosaically, alleviating
joint pain. Given its rotting-flesh note, this
medicine may be literally hard to swallow.
Tiger head bee wine would definitely be
a difficult taste to acquire; that said, adding a little honey might help improve the
taste for those few discerning people who
wished they liked rotting flesh.
Acknowledgments
I thank Ling-Hsiu Liao for bringing me
a bottle of tiger head bee wine from her
hometown in Taiwan and translating the
label for me. In case you’re wondering,
the bottle sits on the desk in my office,
still unopened.
References Cited
Anonymous. SWA Raises Objections to Dewar’s
Highlander Honey (Updated) http://
whiskycast.com/swa-raises-objections-todewars-highlander-honey/
Leonard, D. 2013. For people who wished
they liked Scotch, Dewar’s adds honey.
Bloomberg Businessweek, 27 March
2013. http://www.businessweek.com/
articles/2013-03-27/for-people-who-wishedthey-liked-scotch-dewars-adds-honey
Marketing (00253650). 2004. 17 November 2004, p. 13. http://connection.
ebscohost.com/c/articles/15274196/42-below-adds-vodka-portfolio
Payne M.A., Baynes R.E., Sundolf S.F., Craigmill A., Webb A.I. and Riviere J. E., 1999.
Drugs prohibited from extra label use
in food animals, J. Am. Vet. Med. Assoc.
215(1): 28-32.
Peterson, V. 2011. Cocktails for locavores or for lovers of honey. New York
Times, 1 April 2011. http://www.nytimes.
com/2011/04/03/nyregion/03dinewe.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Reed, D.R., and A.H. McDaniel. 2006. The human sweet tooth. BMC Oral Health 6 (Suppl. 1): S17, doi:10.1186/1472-6831-6-S1-S17.
Stambor, Z. 2010. Midwestern flavor in a
citrus vodka. Chicago Tribune, 11 July
2010. http://articles.chicagotribune.
com/2010-07-11/features/ct-sun-0711-drinkwisconsin-20100711_1_honey-vodka-citrusflavored-vodka-midwestern-flavor
Strayer, S.E., K. Everstine, and S. Kennedy.
2014. Economically motivated adulteration
of honey: quality control vulnerabilities in
the international honey market. Food Protection Trends 2014: 8-14.
Trevisani, M., D. Smart, M. J. Gunthorpe,
M. Tognetto, M. Barbieri, B. Campi, S.
Amadesi, J. Gray, J. C. Jerman, S. J. Brough,
D. Owen, G. D. Smith, A. D. Randall, S.
Harrison, A. Bianchi, J. B. Davis and P.
Geppetti. 2002. Ethanol elicits and potentiates nociceptor responses via the vanilloid
receptor-1. Nature Neuroscience 5: 546-551.
May Berenbaum is a professor and head of the
Department of Entomology,
University of Illinois, 320
Morrill Hall, 505 South
Goodwin Avenue, Urbana,
IL 61801. Currently, she is
studying the chemical
aspects of interaction between herbivorous
insects and their hosts.
7