Meet the Man Making Rum with Northumberland Honey
We catch up with Black Bee Rum founder Dan Martin to find out more about his honey-based creation
You’d be hard-pressed to miss a bottle of Black Bee Rum on a shelf. Glossy, textured with a beehive pattern and emblazoned with a brass bee, the bottle is every bit as tempting as its contents. After unexpectedly inheriting beehives and deciding to make the most of the opportunity, Dan Martin spent more than two years perfecting his recipe.
In 2022, Dan purchased a house following the sale of his business and was surprised to find that it came with a number of beehives left by the previous owner. At a loss for what to do with the excess honey, Dan started to experiment. ‘I did a bit of tabletop distilling. I did a distilling course and learned all about it and I started playing about with the honey and with some spiced rum recipes, because I loved spiced rum,’ Dan explains.
After getting the seal of approval from friends and family, he knew he was onto something special, and enlisted the help of a friend who happened to be an experienced distiller. ‘It took two and a half years to get the recipe right, 31 recipes, lots of different flavours and lots of different levels of honey. But after two and a half years, we’re really happy with it.’
Black Bee Rum launched last September, and has gone from strength to strength since. The rum is delightfully smooth and complex, thanks to the honey from Dan’s particularly special bees. ‘We found out we had Northumbrian black bees which are a regional bee that produce this lovely honey, and they feed off the woodland and grasses around my home,’ he explains. ‘We distill pink pepper, black pepper, cocada, cacao, all spice, toasted coconut, and then we blend in the honey as the last part of the process. You get all these different flavours. You get the savouriness up front, the spices, then the vanilla notes of the coconut and the smoothness of the honey at the end, so it’s a real journey.’
Dan is particularly proud of the community he has built around the rum, and the standard of local businesses he works with, including Matfen Hall, Fenwick, and Sandhill Arms. ‘We’re doing more than just building a product, what we’re trying to do is build a community,’ he explains. ‘We’re getting people engaged in the brand with events, we do a lot around motorcycles and vintage vehicles, we have a clothing line that we’ve just launched, and lots of gifting things as well.’
Dan hopes to continue expanding the product range. ‘We’re looking at a Tennessee sipping whisky, almost like a Jack Daniels but a little bit more crafted and special. We’re also looking potentially at an alcohol-free option because what we’re finding is fewer and fewer people are drinking, especially the younger crowd,’ says Dan. ‘We want a drink that’s just as sophisticated and that feels special but just doesn’t contain alcohol.’
Ultimately, Black Bee Rum is still a source of joy and passion for Dan, who loves to share his creation. ‘We’re enjoying it and we’re having a lot of fun,’ he says. ‘We wanted to create an experience – not just a drink, but a real kind of event. If you drink a bottle of Black Bee it’s an event and it feels special.’
What’s your drink of choice?
Dark and Stormy. Bit of ice, little drop of honey in there and lime, it just pops.
Rum or whisky?
Actually I love rum and it’s a passion but I do like a bourbon. An American-style bourbon has a lot of flavour.
Neat or on the rocks?
On the rocks. I do like a bit of ice and I always try to stick a little bit of lime in there.
