ABKA Honey Show 2011

ABKA Honey Show

ABKA Honey Show

Saturday brought with it glorious sunshine and the 2011 Aberystwyth and District Beekeepers Association Honey Show. The show was held in Llanfach Hall in Taliesin and thankfully for us was a fairly informal affair. I’m not really into all of the intricacies and nit-picking of showing things so the relaxed atmosphere was nice to see.

Show Entries

Show Entries

There was some ‘proper’ showing in various categories and obviously some people had gone to quite a bit of effort to get their honey or beeswax just perfect but even so it was all friendly and not at all exclusive. There were a number of categories for various types of honey, Mead, Beeswax, capped frames and also a honey cake that had to be made to a specific recipe.

While Marged and Heather were behind the curtains judging the entries, the rest of us tasted honey from many of the members and scored them. We’d taken some honey along for tasting, but hadn’t entered any into the show as we simply didn’t have enough. We had made a cake though and taken that for judging despite Anna’s worries that it wasn’t really up to scratch.

Judging

Judging

The Tasting went well and it was surprising to taste quite so many different varieties of honey from a relatively small geographic region.

With the scores in, the winner was Mike with 49 points and we were amazed to find our honey was scored as the second best by everyone just behind Mikes with a score of 47. Ann, the Association secretary, then insisted on knowing who’s honey was ‘the worst’. Richard who was collating the scores said that was a bit mean, but Ann insisted so in the end he gave in and told everyone that the honey with the lowest score of 28 was in fact Ann’s!

Cups of tea and biscuits all round, then time for the results of the show. Richard won most things, the best beeswax blocks, the best beeswax cake, the best capped frame and even the best honey cake and therefore won the overall trophy. Marged said a few words about how she had judged things and how people could improve their entries, then we all tasted some of the cake before heading home. Our cake actually went down quite well. It may not have been the best as far as presentation was concerned, but it wond third prize and tasted delicious.

Trophy for Richard

Trophy for Richard

Prize for Mike

Prize for Mike

Booby Prize for Ann

Booby Prize for Ann

Honey Cakes

Honey Cakes

Beeswax

Beeswax

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Alan Cole

Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports & Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad & husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.

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