The Fairmont Waterfront and The Fairmont Vancouver Airport Launch Locally Authentic Honey Products Looking for that perfect gift to bring back to family and friends from your travels away? When Vancouver is on your list of destinations, The Fairmont Waterfront and The Fairmont Vancouver Airport may have just the coveted memento of a taste of the city. Seems like there’s such a buzz over the hotels’ honeybees, they’ve produced a line-up of signature gifts to share their delicious stories.
The Fairmont Waterfront’s rooftop apiary overlooking Burrard Inlet is home to a half million honeybees during the summer months and where a 600 lb. harvest inspired the creation of the hotel’s honey truffles, the “Bee’s Knees”. The Fairmont Waterfront’s truffles, created in partnership with British Columbia’s legendary chocolatier, Rogers’ Chocolates, are offered in milk and dark chocolate and feature flavour notes of butterscotch, vanilla and cinnamon.
Brightly packaged in eye-catching tones, the attractive six-piece sleeve of local chocolate confections are available for $15. Purchases can be made through the hotel’s Herons West Coast Kitchen + Bar, enjoyed as a last course from Executive Chef Patrick Doré’s dessert menu or by emailing the hotel at herons@fairmont.com.
During the summer months, guests of the hotel are invited to join the weekly garden and hive tours conducted by Director of Housekeeping and resident Beekeeper, Graeme Evans and to learn more about the hotel’s leading sustainability practices. With over 60 varieties of herbs, edible blooms, fruits and vegetables benefiting from the work of the honeybees, Executive Chef Doré and his brigade harvest the freshest produce and honey for use with the hotel’s restaurant and bar menus.
Book “The Birds and The Bees” package and make The Fairmont Waterfront your home sweet home. Package includes a one night stay, full buffet breakfast, Chef’s honey-themed welcome amenity and a personalized herb garden/beehive tour. Package rates start at $269 for a Fairmont Room based upon double occupancy and subject to applicable taxes. To book, call 1-866-540-4509 or visit www.fairmont.com/waterfront.
Just across town, The Fairmont Vancouver Airport’s unique location and discerning guest services in one of the world’s busiest airports makes their product particularly unusual. Produced by the million or so bees that reside on the Vancouver International Airport’s land at McDonald Beach Park and a flight path away from North America’s “Best Airport Hotel” (Skytrax 2011 World Airport Awards), The Fairmont Vancouver Airport’s honey is a mélange of sweet and spicy notes with a hint of cinnamon and apple. The area’s vast array of indigenous plants, trees and flowers give the bees an ever changing menu of forage throughout the season to produce a signature honey product. The attractively packaged 500 gram bottle of liquid gold is a Canada #1 Amber honey and retails at $16.99. In addition to being available for sale at the hotel, the honey is now carried by Discovery BC and the Euro Café located in the Domestic terminal as well as the Vancouver Kitchen Store situated in the US Departures area.
Guests of The Fairmont Vancouver Airport can always sample the honey in a myriad of cocktails and dishes offered at the hotel’s Jetside Bar and Globe@YVR restaurant. Favourites include the rum-based Honey Harvest cocktail, Chicken and Quinoa Salad with Honey Lime Vinaigrette and the Cranberry Pear Cobbler served with house-made Honey Ice Cream.
Beekeeping has definitely taken off amongst the Fairmont family with sister properties such as Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City, Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club, The Fairmont Royal York in Toronto and The Fairmont Washington, DC each doing their part by supporting green initiatives for a more sustainable future.
High resolution product images are available upon request.
