Bees Happy takes home Great Taste 2023 award for its Natural Raw Honey!

In the countryside of Oxfordshire and bordering Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire, in the hamlet of Juniper Hill, the family-run honey bee apiary Bees Happy has been named among the top food and drink producers globally this year, picking up a highly prized 2-star Great Taste award for its “Natural Raw Honey”.

14,195 products were put through the competition’s rigorous blind judging process; and Bees Happy was dubbed “an attractive looking honey with a pleasant floral aroma” at the world’s most coveted food and drink awards. 4,088 products were awarded a Great Taste 1-star – ‘food and drink that delivers fantastic flavor’, 1,568 were awarded a Great Taste 2-star – ‘above and beyond delicious’, and 248 were awarded a Great Taste 3-star – ‘extraordinarily tasty food and drink’.

Described as “a gorgeous golden color with good viscosity”, this honey was a big hit with the Great Taste judges.

Made with 100% natural honey straight from the farm and, the Natural Raw Honey was one of 5,904 products to receive a Great Taste award in 2023 (which is only 41.6% of the total products entered).

Craig Tustain Banks from Bees Happy comments: “Receiving the Great Taste Two-Star Award is a remarkable achievement for ourselves, considering our new insight into the bee industry. What started as a small hobby when I left college at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, has now evolved into a full-time buisness. It is a testament to the dedication we put into every step of our honey production process, from nurturing our bees to crafting the final product. We are truly honored to share the joy of our delicious honey with the world. Being recognised with a Great Taste 2-star means so much to independent producers such as myself, as it makes all the hard work and determination worth it! Great Taste is the most recognised accolade for taste and quality in the food and drink industry, so it’s a huge moment for us!

What is Great Taste?

Recognised as a stamp of excellence and actively sought out by food lovers and retailers alike, Great Taste, organized by the Guild of Fine Food, values taste above all else. All products in the line-up for judging are blind tasted: every product is removed from its packaging so it cannot be identified, before entering a robust, layered judging process.

This year, judging took place over 89 days in Dorset and London, with a panel of more than 500 judges putting the products to the test. The line-up saw food and drink products submitted from an extraordinary 109 different countries across the world.

The Natural Raw Honey is available from our website. RRP: £6 (227g)

For more information about Bees Happy, visit www.beeshappy.co.uk.

The full list of this year’s winners and where to buy them can be found at www.greattasteawards.co.uk and a wide range of the award-winning products are available to buy in delis, farm shops and independent retailers across the country.