What you need to know about non-alcoholic honey wine with Bemuse founder Anna Chalov

We’ve had a lot of questions about the range of non-alcoholic honey wine we stock from Bemuse, a female founded B corp based in the UK who make their delicious drinks from sustainable honey. We caught up with Anna Chalov, founder of Bemuse Drinks, who gives us more information about honey wine, what it tastes like and why it should be next on your list to try!

First things first, what is honey wine?

Honey wine is a fermented honey-based drink. In the same way as more widely known traditional grape wines are made through fermenting grape juice, honey wines are produced by fermenting honey.

In terms of history, honey wine is the oldest fermented drink on earth. It predates both wine and beer. It can be traced back thousands of years when people would drink the naturally fermented liquid left behind by honeybees. It has also been referenced in ancient Greek history as a gift from Aphrodite, earning it one of its nicknames as the “nectar of the gods.”

What makes Bemuse unique – we are the only known to us maker of exclusively non-alcoholic honey wine. We achieve it by a natural fermentation process – we use a special type of yeast which does not produce alcohol and supplement it with two other parallel fermentation processes. We do not extract alcohol through reverse osmosis and can be considered a natural honey wine.

What does it taste like?

While you may think that honey wine would taste sweet, the flavour profile depends on the variety of honey used, any additional ingredients, and the fermentation type. Honey wines can range anywhere from sweet to dry, and can be still and sparkling. It can be infused with Herbs, fruit, hops to add to the flavour.

All Bemuse honey wines are Brut (dry) – with low sugar content. We infuse our wines with all-natural ingredients. The taste is light and refreshing and the drink is versatile and is perfect for many occasions. It can be used as an aperitif, pairs well as food and can also be combined with other non-alcoholic or alcohol-containing drinks to make delicious cocktails.

With a range of intensity and complexity, our blends marry the sophisticated and subtle flavours of apple blossom honey through to the heady exuberance of heather honey.

What food or dishes pair well with honey wine?

Calluna pairs admirably with seafood, roast chicken and cuts through the richness of a smoky aubergine and tomato dish, whereas Pomona pairs beautifully with roast lamb or chicken, adds complexity to spicy, bolder vegetable or beans dishes and is excellent with pungent cheeses.

What inspired you to found Bemuse?

I founded Bemuse together with Nataliya - my friend of many years. Being a very moderate drinker myself, I wanted to create a drink for consumers, just like me – for those who want to have a sophisticated delicious drink on a day when we do not want to have alcohol. When we started to work on Bemuse back in 2020, during the pandemic, there were already great alcohol free beers in the market. But we felt that non-drinkers should have more options of unique, delicious drinks, just like all other consumers. What motivates me personally and makes me get up every morning and move Bemuse forward is the thought that I am giving a choice to consumers – a freedom to express their personality through the consumption choices, helping to liberate non-drinkers from the stigma of “something being wrong” when one is not drinking. I believe that the mindful drinking movement is a colossal societal change away from the society dictating us the norms and towards individuality and freedom of choice. I am very proud to be a part of this.

Nataliya, my co-funder, has always been a nature lover. For her, using business as a force of good and helping the environment in the process was the main motivation factor.

So Bemuse was born out of these two passions combined.

We look at traditional honey wine as a source of inspiration. The core of our business is honey. Although everyone knows some facts about honey, when you look closer, you start realizing what an amazing ingredient it is!

It is very complex and varied in flavour – honey is our provenance, in a similar way as different vineyards define the taste of wine. It has lots of health benefits – from anti-septic to cognitive and mental health benefits.

And the bees – our co-workers as we like to describe them – are nature’s true wonders!

Tell us more about your work with bees and the environment?

Honey wines are the most sustainable drinks on earth. As we all know, we rely on pollinators for our food supply. With the population of wild bees dwindling, we will increasingly depend on the local beekeepers and domesticated bees to stand as the last line of defence for all plant-based foods we love. Moreover, apiaries have one of the lowest footprints, while vineyards, as beautiful as they are, require a lot of land. And while a lot of food production goes down the route of mechanization and minimising human labour, honey cultivation requires direct human interaction with hives and the beekeeping industry proud itself in creating jobs.

We are very excited about the role honey wine can play in giving us a more sustainable future. We are passionate about our mission of giving our consumers a choice – a delicious wine alternative – non-alcoholic effervescent honey wine, which is good for you and the planet.

Bemuse is a proudly Made in Britain brand, a B-Corp and a part of Buy Women Built Community. Bemuse Team is all female.

A few sweet facts:

The sting in the tale…

Since 1900, the UK has lost 13 species of bee, and a further 35 species are considered under threat of extinction.

The delicious range of non-alcoholic honey wines from Bemuse is now on sale at drinknolo.ie. Check them out here!