undefined
Posts
undefined
Followers
User since undefined NaN
Honey Shack Has Belén Buzzing
By Sarah Mock,
2026-09-23At the Honey Shack, Belén beekeepers offer a uniquely New Mexican mix of bee-made products. WHEN BILLY WEST set out to explore beekeeping in 2016, he was, at best, bee-curious. “He went out there to learn how to keep bees and just fell in love with the entire process,” recalls Jennifer West, his wife and business partner. A few backyard hives and trunk sales soon blossomed into a bustling Belén business, selling about two dozen honey varietals, including Desert Marigold and lavender-infused honeys, along with pollen, propolis, honey-based skin care, and beeswax items like candles. Another sweet offering is Honey Shack’s Bourbon Honey. Made in collaboration with Albuquerque’s Hollow Spirits Distillery, their cat’s-claw honey is aged in a Hollow Spirits bourbon barrel for more than 100 days, imparting a smooth, oaky finish. The emptied barrels are then sent back to the distillery to produce a honey bourbon, keeping the cycle going. “The honey tastes like the perfect old fashioned,” Jennifer says. Beyond their products, Billy tends hives around the region and removes wild hives. “Strong colonies will split up,” he explains, but the problem is that their new home may end up inside a wall, in a birdhouse, or underneath a vehicle. Relocating tens of thousands of bees might sound like an impossible job, but Billy says it’s all about the queen. “If you get her in the box, all the other bees will follow.”
Add to Preferred Sources
1