Hive Riot Honey
angry bees… kickass honey
Origin Story & Identity
I grew up beekeeping with my dad in Utah, long before I had any idea it might turn into a business. Back then, it was just something real we did together. Real work, real responsibility, real consequences if you didn’t respect the bees.
Fast forward a few decades and we purchased our farm in Keller in 2019. In a city where just about every open field is turning into another subdivision, we decided to stay committed to agriculture. Beekeeping felt like the perfect fit. It works with the land instead of against it, and it gave me a way to build something tangible alongside my four kids.
We launched Hive Riot that same year and have grown every year since. Not because we chased trends, but because more and more people are actively looking for what we offer: truly local, raw honey, fresh pollen, and a real connection to where their food comes from. Watching customers find us for the first time, and then never go back to store-bought honey, has been one of the most rewarding parts of the journey.
Fun Fact:
Hive Riot is a family operation in the truest sense. The kids are involved, the bees keep us humble, and we have very little patience for corporate food theater. We’re serious about quality, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously. Also, yes, we absolutely believe that friends don’t let friends eat store-bought honey!
What do you produce?
We produce raw Texas wildflower honey and locally sourced bee pollen. Both are minimally processed, seasonal, and tied directly to the forage our bees are working.
What are you most proud of producing?
Bee pollen. It’s one of the most underrated and misunderstood hive products out there. Fresh, local pollen is a completely different experience than the imported stuff most people see online.
What should people look for in honey? What should they care about?
About 70% of the honey consumed in the U.S. is imported, and a lot of it is… let’s just say creatively labeled. Imported honey is cheap, easy to blend, easy to filter, and easy to dress up with a fancy jar and a good story. That doesn’t make it evil, but it does make it very different from real local honey.
Local honey is more expensive for a simple reason: it’s hard to make. You can’t standardize it, rush it, or scale it without tradeoffs. You’re working with seasons, weather, forage, and living colonies that do not care about your spreadsheets.
What should people actually care about? Less buzzwords, more basics.
Can you talk to the beekeeper? Do they know exactly where the hives are? Does the honey change with the seasons? If honey tastes exactly the same year-round, something interesting probably didn’t happen. Real honey has personality. And once you taste the difference, it’s very hard to go back.
Shop Hive Riot Honey
Raw Texas Wildflower Honey (1lb Squeeze Bottle)
Raw Texas Wildflower Honey (1lb Squeeze Bottle)
$15.00 USD
Sale price
$15.00 USD
Regular price
Philosophy & Practices
Take care of the land, and the bees take care of the rest. Bees are brutally honest. If something’s off, they’ll let you know.
We focus on diverse forage, healthy hives, and minimal intervention. We’re not chasing maximum yield. We’re chasing long-term health and really good honey.
What’s something about your practices that most people don’t know — but should?
“Organic” doesn’t automatically mean better when it comes to honey. A lot of organic honey is imported and heavily filtered. Real quality comes from locality, freshness, and restraint, not just a label.
What’s the biggest challenge of beekeeping the way you do?
Actually, our biggest challenge right now is keeping up with demand from all our local customers! We are excited to partner with The Local Markethouse so they can help us with the logistics of getting our honey into people’s homes regularly.
Daily Life & Personal Connection to the Work
What’s your favorite part of the work you do every day?
Watching my kids learn and grow as we work together.
What’s your favorite way to enjoy honey?
Straight off the spoon is hard to argue with. Honey on 2% Fage greek yogurt with a sprinkle of bee pollen is a close second.
What are you excited to grow, offer, or dream up for the future of your hives?
I think the potential of bee pollen as a natural remedy / health supplement is so promising. I also think that some day soon, in partnership with large Texas ranches and the Texas Dept of Agriculture, we can start producing the first truly organic certified honey in the USA.
Raw Texas Wildflower Honey (1lb Squeeze Bottle)
Raw Texas Wildflower Honey (1lb Squeeze Bottle)
$15.00 USD
Sale price
$15.00 USD
Regular price
Slideshow
