Tylar Sutton
Brent Wesley’s first taste of the honey he harvested from his apiary on a vacant lot in West Akron was something brand-new.
“I realized this honey tastes different than anything I’ve ever tasted. That idea of flavor captured me so much,” says the owner of Akron Honey, known as “Wesley the Keeper.” “One day I was like, What if the flavor of the honey is contingent upon where the bees are going?”
His hunch was right. While his West Akron honey had a citrusy flavor, when he added a lot in Middlebury, its proximity to the Little Cuyahoga and Japanese knotweed brought out spicy, caramel notes. Whereas other beekeepers mix honey from different apiaries, Wesley highlights these nuances by bottling each in separate jars marked with the location and season it was harvested.
Following a stint on LeBron James’ “Cleveland Hustles” entrepreneur TV competition, Wesley experimented to make new flavors. For a bourbon barrel honey, he combines cut-up wooden Cleveland Whiskey barrels with raw wildflower honey, which he sources from other Ohio farms to scale up production.
“We take those cubes that have the flavor of the bourbon locked in and infuse it into our honey,” Wesley says.
Use your Akron Honey to make these Lime Fried Chicken Tacos.
To make hot habanero honey, he grinds dried habanero peppers and infuses that coarse powder for four days into raw wildflower honey.
“You get the best flavor when you don’t mix it with other things,” he says. The result has heat that doesn’t overwhelm. “You taste the pepper, and you feel the kick toward the end. People flip over this stuff.”
By customer demand, he’s jarring his honey in larger 11-ounce jars, and last month he began selling the hot honey, bourbon barrel honey and raw wildflower honey at Giant Eagle. Plus, find them at local fast-casual restaurants like the bourbon barrel at Eye Opener and the hot honey at Your Pizza.
Wesley is constantly sharing on social media new creative ways to enjoy his honey. The bourbon barrel perks up Earl Grey tea and Greek yogurt with fruit and nuts, while the habanero makes for incredible wings, lemonade or, Wesley’s go-to, lime fried chicken tacos.
“We squeeze lime over and hit it with a strong drizzle of habanero hot honey,” he says. “Yo that flavor pops hard.”
Sold online and at Northside Marketplace in Akron or Giant Eagle Market Districts including Green and Portage Crossing, akronhoney.com
