Beekeeping has always been in Marko Čilić’s family. Growing up in Bosnia and Croatia, he tended five hives with his father. Then they’d trade their honey for goods other community members were producing or raising— wine or chickens, for example.
It was in this setting that Čilić learned how to interact with the insects. “You can’t really have a conversation with bees,” he says. “When you open up the hive, if you don’t read their language – what they want, what they need, how they are inside – in the first 10 seconds, basically you shouldn’t be in the business.”
Canadian Beekeeping: Burwood Distillery Forges A New Path
Čilić and his family moved to Canada in 1996. “December 13, it was -33 degrees!” he says, the detail imprinted on his memory. Today, the 48-year-old lives in Calgary and is the co-founder of Burwood Distillery. He started this spirits company in 2016 with his brother, Ivan, and their friend Jordan Ramey. Along with gin, whisky and honey-derived cocktails, the company makes medica, a traditional Croatian honey-based liqueur.
Leading a team of eight, Čilić manages 4,000 hives for the distillery. “We produce 250 tons of honey, and our goal is to put it all in our alcohol,” he says. (According to Čilić, one kilo of honey equals one litre of alcohol.)
They’re doing it successfully, too. At the Tasting Alliance’s 2024 World Spirits Competition in San Francisco, the company won two silver medals and one bronze. One medal was awarded to The Bee Whisperer. It’s what they call an Alberta-style prairie whisky, a combination of single-malt whisky and its barrel-aged honey spirit.
A Supportive Ecosystem: Pollinating Crops Across Canada
But Čilić is still doing some trading of sorts. After honey is harvested on a farm in Brandon, Man., Čilić’s team transports Burwood’s bees to Vancouver every winter to minimize losses to the colony. Later, they travel to blueberry farms in British Columbia and canola fields in Alberta. He calls these trips “colonization contracts.” They then return home to southwest Manitoba (where the bee farm was established when Čilić bought it).
“Every year, the [crops] need blooming time,” he says. Čilić explains that because of the rain in Vancouver and surrounding areas, that time can be quite short. “Farmers really need to have insects and bees to pollinate their flowers to [get] more yields out of their crops.”
Whether a farm is one acre or 100, the ratio is typically one hive per acre. Farmers tell Čilić what they need, and he and his team transport the hives and set them up to pollinate. The process typically takes four weeks.
Blueberry season is in May, he says, and canola is in July. There is one month in between to make the transition. As he enters another year of colonization, Čilić adds that there are benefits beyond the strategic business partnership for both farmers and Burwood.
“I focus on connecting the farmers, because that’s really important,” he says. “Their success is our success— that part is really fun. We know that we need each other, and it becomes basically family.”
‘Prairie-Mix Honey’: Uniquely Used at Burwood Distillery
The fruits of his, well, the bees’ labour make it back to the distillery too. “We extract only once a year, so the honey is piling up from blueberry, canola and wildflowers in Manitoba,” Čilić says.
What that means is the bees are infusing their honey with flavours from Vancouver to Brandon. “We call it ‘prairie-mix honey.’” It means every Burwood product is a distinct blend of the most iconic flavours of western Canada.
Art of Beekeeping: Marko Čilić Shares his Knowledge
And just like his father did with him, Čilić is passing on his knowledge to others in his community who are keen to master the art of beekeeping. Three times a year, he hosts sessions that teach urban beekeepers how to harvest honey as well as winterize and feed bees after the winter.
With its strong agricultural sector and the farming of clover, alfalfa and canola, and ample sunshine thanks to longer summer days, Alberta is uniquely qualified as a welcome environment for honey production.
But none of that matters if you don’t have the foundational knowledge for beekeeping— which is why Čilić hosts these workshops. “Alberta makes more honey than all of the provinces together,” he says. This is his way of ensuring that that achievement continues for generations to come.
Marko Čilić’s Guide: How to Read Bee Emotions
Čilić’s mastery of reading such signs and body language has earned him the title of “bee whisperer.”
- Happy: When bees are happy, they’re calm and may not move much even when their hive is open.
- Hungry or Nervous: This may happen because their queen is absent or they smell something they don’t recognize. Their movements will be busy or erratic and they’ll buzz louder.
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