Brown Palace Installs Rooftop Beehives

Culinary Colorado

Honey from above to be served at high tea in the lobby

A colony of honey bees has checked into Denver's landmark Brown Palace Hotel and Spa -- or rather checked onto its roof. The colony's mission is the production honey for the traditional, elegant afternoon tea and hopefully in the future toward signature spa treatments. While past Brown Palace guests have included crowned royalty, the hotel started with its own two resident queen bees supported by a court of 20,000 worker bees that are expected to grow to 140,000 by the end of the summer. The hotel has named this "the Bee Royalty Initiative."

The Brown has long had its own historian, and now it also has hired a dedicated beekeeper, Matt Kentner of Kentner Farms. He removes bees for people who don't want them and sources beehives to local farmers and ranchers who do want them for essential pollination of their crops. He's also a "personal beekeeper" and now is working with the Brown's colony. In the city, the bees buzz around landscaped city avenues and parks dipping into the pollan of flowering trees, bushes and other fblossoms to make honey out of their haul.

Colony collapse, unexpected decrease in bee communities, has been a real concern to growers, and the Brown is doing its part to improve the situation. As Kentner reminds people, “Unfortunately there are a lot of misconceptions about the nature of bees and what crucial roles they play in our food supply and environment. The affects of the decline in bees is extremely alarming and it’s important that we build awareness and do our part to help,”

Toward that held, the Brown Palace has donated two beehives to the Denver Beekeepers Association to assist in establishing hives in the Denver community and has also partnered with Denver Parks & Recreation to plant bee-friendly flowers in the nearby Civic Center Park.

“We’ve worked for years to bring urban beekeeping to fruition in Denver and The Brown Palace has demonstrated a true commitment to fostering these efforts in our community,” according to Marygael Meister, president of the Denver Beekeepers Association.

The hotel is running a "Name the Hives Contest," with contributors of the two winning names rewarded with a weekend getaway at The Brown Palace. Enter by going to the Brown's dedicated Facebook page.