I — Our product
BEEST honey is offered in two editions — one drawn from spring's open meadow, one from late summer's forest edge. Each is a single-apiary harvest, bottled at source, with its own NCS-spec'd packaging.
Two harvests a year. Two editions. Never more.
The bees decide the timing; the season decides the body. We don't blend across the year, and we don't standardize between editions — what's in each jar is what the bees gathered, when they gathered it.
Tap an edition to read its profile.
II — Tests · Awards · Certifications
BEEST honey is profiled against the standard honey-analysis vocabulary. The framework is fixed; values shown are illustrative until the certified lab report publishes.
MOISTURE
17.8
16.2
%
HMF
12
8
mg/kg
DIASTASE
18
24
Schade
POLLEN DIVERSITY
9
14
distinct
Great Taste · 3-Star Gold
2024
Mielli del Mondo · Gold Medal
2024
Black Sea Honey Trophy
2024
III — Where to find us
BEEST is carried by a small set of trusted houses. Stockists publish here on partner agreement — the list grows slowly, on purpose.
IV — Our bees
We work with the native Caucasian honey bee — a species that has developed over time in the forests of the Caucasus. They are not bred for speed or maximum production. They are adapted to complexity.
Caucasian bees have one of the longest tongues of any honey bee. The proboscis reaches nectar deep inside flowers like rhododendron, opening plants other bees can't fully use. The honey carries more of the landscape as a result.
In the humid, shaded conditions around Martvili Canyon, where weather can turn quickly and sunlight is limited, they continue to forage steadily — calm, precise, and comfortable in the dense forest where other bees prefer open, sunny fields.
They use propolis — a natural resin gathered from trees — to protect and seal the hive. The colony reads as cleaner, more stable, more resilient. They are part of the ecosystem, working with the forest rather than against it.
This is why the honey they produce is not standardized. It carries variation, depth, and character — shaped by the plants, the climate, and the quiet, consistent work of the bees themselves.
V — Nature · Floral
BEEST honey follows the bloom calendar of Martvili and the Colchic forest. Each season delivers a different palette to the comb — and each leaves its trace.
The forest answers in spring with Rhododendron ponticum — purple, common in the Colchic understory. Sweet chestnut follows in early summer, one of the strongest nectar sources of the year, and linden carries the season through its height. Cherry laurel opens the early window, beech and hornbeam thread the cycle quietly, and Colchic boxwood (Buxus colchica, endemic to this forest) adds its small, subtle flowers. Common ivy closes the year before winter — late, but critical for the bees.
The meadow side adds clover — very important for the bees — wild daisies, and mixed wildflowers. Along the rivers and in the humid shade, wild mint and aromatic herbs add their own register; small moisture-loving plants and dense green vegetation knit the rest of the year together.
VI — About us
At the edge of Martvili Canyon, where the ancient Colchic forest still breathes.
We work within the rhythm. Not against it.
Rhododendron, chestnut, linden, ivy — each leaves its trace.
Honey as it exists in nature. Nothing added, nothing hidden.
Chapter I — In full
i. The place
In Lekhaindravo, a village in Martvili, our beehives sit at the edge of the ancient Colchic forest — a landscape of depth, moisture, and living biodiversity, where seasons unfold slowly and nature is left to speak for itself. We have worked within that rhythm since 1942. In flowering months the hives travel deeper into the mountains, following untouched bloom across ground the family has tended for eighty years.
ii. The beekeeper
Photograph 1 of 5. Islam Danelia keeps his first hives in wartime Lekhaindravo, 1942.
iii. The practice
01 — We do not blend.
We do not standardize. We do not interfere with what the bees create. Every harvest is distinct — shaped by a specific moment, a specific season, and this exact place.
02 — We work within the rhythm, not against it.
Our bees move freely through the surrounding forest and valleys, following the natural sequence of bloom. We follow them.
03 — Our role is simple.
To care for the bees, to respect their environment, and to present their work with complete honesty.
iv. The bloom calendar
v. Provenance
VII — Contact
