No Bees, No Mead: Why Our Fight to Preserve the Swarm Matters

Bees are more than just nature’s busyworkers - they’re the heartbeat behind mead. Without them, our ancient craft collapses. At Honey Death, we believe that every drop of our mead should honor the hive. But as demand for certain crops and industrial agriculture practices grow, bees are dying off at an alarming rate - and that threatens everything we love: flavor, tradition, and the raw connection between earth, buzz, and brew.

The Alarming Decline

One of the most glaring stories comes from the almond industry, especially in the U.S. The Guardian reported that between winter 2018-2019, nearly 50 billion honey bees died-over one third of commercially managed bee colonies in the U.S.-due to stressors like pesticide exposure, disease, habitat loss, and the demands of pollinating massive almond orchards. (theguardian.com)

Sending thousands of hives into monocultures of almonds means bees are pulled out of their natural cycles, exposed to higher pesticide loads, and often deprived of diverse forage. The result? Weak colonies, higher mortality rates, and fewer bees returning home from “deployment” in almond groves. (theguardian.com)

Show this to your Vegan friend who won't eat honey but drinks almond milk. They should ditch the fake milk and go for sustainably produced local honey. 

Why It Hits Meadmakers Hard

• Ingredients depend on bees. Flowers must be pollinated to produce the nectar and pollen that bees gather, which sustain wild flora and the food chain. Without robust bee populations, many flowering plants suffer-and that ripple effect flows into honey production.

• Quality and sustainability suffer. Overworked bees produce less pure honey, may gather contaminants, or become more stressed-changes which can alter flavor, consistency, and ethical standing of the brew.

• Tradition is at risk. Mead is among the oldest fermented drinks in human history. Its lineage depends on bees, ancient practices, and ecosystems. If bees decline significantly, mead isn’t just another drink lost-it’s a piece of cultural heritage.

What Honey Death Is Doing

We don’t just talk about sustainability-we live it:

• Sourcing honey from beekeepers who use bee-friendly farming: minimal pesticides, diverse forage, ethical hive treatment.

• Supporting projects that preserve native wildflower habitats and push back against harmful monocultures.

• Limiting our environmental footprint: focusing on small batches, transparent supply chains, and practices that protect-not exploit-the swarm.

We raise our horns not only in celebration-but in vigilance. Because without bees, there’s no mead. None of the magic, none of the lore, none of the fermented honey dreams. And that’s a price too high to pay.