Sheffield-based honey farm Australian Honey Products took home the prestigious Rueben Charles Memorial Trophy for the world's best leatherwood honey for a second time on May 27.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The highly coveted award is judged by an experienced honey sommelier who critiques each of the entrants on categories like density, colour, aroma, clarity and taste.
Despite fierce competition, it was the winning leatherwood from Australian Honey Products that stole the show in the end.
Leatherwood is a personal favourite from head beekeeper and president of the Tasmanian Bee Keeper Association Lindsay Bourke.
In fact, he said it exceeded all other honeys.
"It's the most pure, best honey in the world," Mr Bourke said.
"Australia doesn't have all the pests and things like the rest of the world and Tasmania, in particular, we've got even less."
Established in 1897, the Sheffield honey farm is Tasmania's oldest apiary, now equipped with state-of-the-art processing facilities with Australian Honey Products operating under three brand names: Cradle Mountain Honey, Taverner's Boutique Brewery, and Sheffield Honey Farm, and has hives located throughout Tasmania.
The company delves in different honey products, producing honey beverages, ales, meads and engages in many facets of the beekeeping industry including pollination services, and exporting live bees and honey throughout the world.
The trophy is a second victory for Mr Bourke, who last won the award in 2017.
He said the winning honey was produced from the leatherwood flower, which was native to Tasmania.
"Australia has the best extraction process in the world, it's all cold extracted," he said.
Like the name suggests, cold extraction is a process which extracts honey from the comb without heat, offering a product that is closer to the natural state of honey found in the hive.
The process preserves beneficial enzymes, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants found naturally with in honey.
"It's wonderful to produce such a beautiful honey and to have it be so successful and appreciated is fantastic," Mr Bourke said.
Mr Bourke's career in honey making came in two stages of his life, first as a beekeeper in his 20s, and not again until he was 60.
"I started when I was 23 and went for about 18 years, and then I went into property, but when I was 60 years old, I took it up again," he said.
READ MORE: Accused felt things looked 'yucky'
"I didn't have any money when I started, and I wanted to get a house one day, so I thought I'd get a bit of a start before that.
"I thought I'd have a few beehives because when I buy a house eventually I can take them with me."
Mr Bourke's love of honey seemed to stick to him no matter what career he landed in, and even as a firefighter, he had up to 200 hives.
"I was getting as much money from that as the fire brigade, but I'd sell it all at once to another beekeeper who would export it," Mr Bourke said.
READ MORE: Launceston's massive weekend of sport
Success like Mr Bourkes isn't without some strife, as last year Tasmanian beekeepers were faced with a threat from the varroa mite which was detected in New South Wales.
The detection prompted Australian Honey Products to breed double the amount of their queen bees, as typically the shortfall would be imported from New South Wales.
Looking ahead, he said he wanted the company to have branded recognition as the best honey in the world.
"Not only does the trophy show that we have the best honey in the world, it empowers us to keep making the honey for people to enjoy for years to come," he said.
"We've also just had a massive win with the manuka situation in New Zealand and now this award.
"Good things come in threes so I'm looking forward to what's going to happen next."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.examiner.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: @examineronline
- Follow us on Instagram: @examineronline
- Follow us on Google News: The Examiner