PORTLAND, ORE.—Provenance Hotels announced a partnership with Bee Local that will bring local artisan honey, a uniquely Portland culinary experience, to guests of the company’s three properties in the city—Hotel Lucia, Hotel deluxe and Sentinel—and help ensure its sustainability for years to come. This month, the hyper-local Portland honey producer will install beehives on the roofs of Hotel Lucia, Hotel deLuxe and Sentinel and make its honey available in honor bars at all three downtown hotels. When the hotel hives are harvested, the honey they produce will be featured on the menus at Imperial at Hotel Lucia and the Driftwood Room and Gracie’s at Hotel deLuxe.
Bee Local has been featured in culinary and cocktail creations at James Beard Award-winning Chef Vitaly Paley’s Imperial and Portland Penny Diner since the restaurants opened at Hotel Lucia in fall 2012 and he initiated the collaboration between restaurant, hotel and honey maker. Putting the beehives on the roof was a longtime dream for Paley, who is famed as an instigator of creative collaboration in the Portland culinary scene, and a natural match for Provenance Hotels, a company known for creative partnerships with producers like Portland’s Salt & Straw ice cream and Smith Teamaker that highlight local artisans and bring their products to hotel guests.
“We are so pleased Vitaly brought us together with Bee Local Honey,” said Bashar Wali, President of Provenance Hotels. “We are passionate about supporting local companies and offering visitors authentic, unique experiences. Nothing could exemplify that better than knowing some of the honey our guests enjoy at our hotels was made on-site.”
Helps Strengthen Bee Population
In addition to being local, the hives at Hotel Lucia, Hotel deluxe and Sentinel are profoundly sustainable. There has been a dramatic drop in the honeybee population in the United State in the past six years, with almost 10 million hives wiped out because of colony collapse syndrome. The ailment is caused by risk factors common to large beekeeping operations, so fostering small colonies of urban bees, like those that Bee Local manages, aids in the recovery of the overall bee population.
“Commercially farmed bees typically pollinate a field of just one crop, and the honey is a byproduct,” explained Damian Magista, Bee Local’s founder. “A diverse urban foraging diet is beneficial for bees and results in healthier hives and honey with nuanced flavors that reflect the ecology of the local area.”
“The bees that live at the hotels will only visit plants within a small radius of the hive, so when you taste the honey, you will truly be getting a taste of the neighborhood,” Chef Paley added.
Honey Inspires Menu Options
At Imperial, Bee Local is prominently featured in the ever-popular fried rabbit dish and Harlequin cocktail. In celebration of the bees’ arrival at Hotel Lucia, Chef Paley will also make a special honey-inspired four course menu available April 25 to 27, 2014. Bee Local Honey is also highlighted on the new spring menu in the Local Honey cocktail at Hotel deLuxe’s Driftwood Room.
For hotel guests who want to take the Bee Local experience home, it will also be available in small, airline-friendly jars in the honor bars at Hotel Lucia, Hotel deluxe and Sentinel for $6. Honey lovers can also buy larger jars in Paley’s Portland Penny Diner at Hotel Lucia.
More information about the honey and hives at the hotels can be found online at www.hotellucia.com/honey, www.hoteldeluxe.com/honey and www.sentinelhotel.com/honey.
