Plymouth Brewery Delves into Beekeeping

Luce Line Brewing in Plymouth is abuzz with activity, especially on its roof — the brewery installed a set of bee hives this spring. 

Tim Naumann, owner of Luce Line Brewing, said the goal is partly to help pollinators, which are increasingly threatened as their habitat disappears. 

“If we didn’t have pollinators, most of the plants, if not all of the plants would be gone,” Naumann said. “And then animals die, we die. So, you know, the pollinators are a huge impact to the world, to the environments as we know them.”

He said honey bees are not typically aggressive. Likewise, by keeping hives on the roof, they’re separated from the customer base.

“In general, bees are pretty peaceful — they try to gather nectar and pollen,” Naumann said. “They want to make their honey. And they’re not really thinking about us unless we’re interrupting their day or trying to cause them harm.”

Luce Line Brewing in Plymouth installed bee hives on their roof this spring. Owner Tim Naumann holds up an internal piece of the hive that’s covered with bees.

Clad in a white bee suit, Naumann showed CCX News the inside of the hive.

“There could be 10,000 [bees in our hives,]” Naumann said. “It could be more. The larger the hives gets, the more bees.”

But there’s more at work on the brewery’s roof than just environmental protection. Luce Line plans to use the honey in a new beer.

“It’s actually kind of still top-secret,” Naumann said. “All I can say is that it’ll be an ale, and it’s going to use the honey. It’ll take about 50 pounds of honey to make the honey beer. And I can also guarantee that it will be delicious.”

The beer will be unveiled at a party on Oct. 12. It’s a collaborative effort with the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, the University of Minnesota Bee Squad and the Minnesota Hobby Beekeepers.

Part of the money Luce Line makes from the beer will support beekeeping efforts.

“Some of the proceeds from the beer sales will go to youth beekeeping programs that the Minnesota Hobby Beekeepers offer to get more kids involved in beekeeping and so forth,” Naumann said. 

See also: Plymouth City Council Approves Beekeeping Ordinance

Plymouth