The University of Nebraska–Lincoln Bee Lab has partnered with Zipline Brewing for a Lincoln Beer Week event on May 26.
The family-friendly event will include two Zipline beers that feature the honey, free educational activities led by the Bee Lab and food available for purchase. Activities include honey tasting, a craft station, a bee observation hive, build-your-own bee hotel, and free native flower seeds.
Food will be provided by the Muchachos food truck. Apiary manager Dustin Scholl said the food truck owners are working Bee Lab honey into dishes that will be available during the event.
Brews and Bees, which is part of Lincoln Beer Week, is 2 to 6 p.m. May 26 at Zipline Brewing’s 2100 Magnum Circle location. The event is free and open to the public.
Zipline has also started adding Bee Lab honey to other small-batch craft beers. The first, released the week of May 14, featured Zipline’s brown ale with honey and dry-hopped with Glacier hops.
The Lincoln Beer Week partnership with Zipline Brewing is expected to expand in the future. The collaboration is the result of Scholl reaching out to see if the brewery was interested in using locally-sourced honey.
“We harvested about 1,500 pounds of honey last year and thought this would be a fun way to use some of our surplus,” Scholl said. “They purchased one bucket and added the honey to special cask beers that will be served during a Brews and Bees event.”