AN unemployed construction worker who turned his hobby producing honey into a mead-making business has won a top award for entrepreneurship.

Matthew Newell from Chepstow took up beekeeping as a teenager 15 years ago after meeting St Briavels beekeeper Doug Isles at the Forest Food Festival.

And after a spell out of work last year, he decided to turn his passion into profit by launching a full-time business making Europe’s oldest known tipple with brother Kit.

Things became a hive of activity as he bought more bees to produce the honey needed to make the drink, and in January, Wye Valley Meadery was born.

Last Thursday (October 17), the 30-year-old was rewarded with a NatWest Enterprise award from the Prince’s Trust Cymru, just days after the start-up featured on BBC One’s popular Countryfile show.

Mead production at their Station Road Industrial Estate base has soared from 300 litres to 3,450 litres since starting, with 25 shops “from Brecon to Brixton” stocking the spark-ling 5.5 per cent strength drink.

The Wye Valley Meadery uses fermen- ted honey from their own bees, water and yeast, infused with a variety of ingredients to create several flavours.

Starting off with the 10 hives he already had, Matt now farms 130 hives to ensure the honey keeps flowing in sufficient quantities to satisfy demand.

“I have been keeping bees for more than 15 years, after learning the craft from a commercial beekeeper,” said Matt.

“I found myself out of work for a few months last year, having previously worked in construction.

“Fortunately, I was able to use this time to think of how I could combine my passion and my work life in the future.

“My bees were making lots of honey at the time, so I started putting some of it towards making a low-ABV sparkling mead.

“After some encouragement from friends and family I decided to commit to my dream.

“To be honest, they were probably just tired of hearing me say, “One day, I really want to…

“After a few months of trial and error my product was ready to go, but I didn’t have the first clue about running a business.

“After doing some research, I came across The Prince’s Trust Cymru and the Explore Enterprise programme, which provided me with very clear advice and support on tax, cash flows, budgeting, and all the other ‘fun stuff’ I needed to know before becoming my own boss.”

“We have just been awarded a 2-star ‘Great Taste’ award for our ‘Honey and Hops’ flavour, and due to demand, we have increased our brewing capacity from 300 litres to 3,450 litres, and are now setting new, exciting targets.”

Matt, who has been paired with a volunteer mentor by The Prince’s Trust for the first two years of the business, is also giving back to the community having donated 60,000 honeybees to two primary schools.

“We have been mentoring the teaching staff there to manage a hive of busy bees, whilst also managing 30 curious nine-year olds,” smiles Matt.

“It has been great to watch my seedling of a business idea grow into more than just an idea, and I hope to keep building on our early success.

“Better still, I have been able to create my dream job; where every day provides a new challenge.”

On their recent Countryfile appearance, he added: “Being able to share something that we have made and are so passionate about is one of the big reasons we got into doing this in the first place.

“We were able to explain our love for the local area and nature, and how this turned into us creating this new take on mead.

“We enjoyed demonstrating how we apply modern brewing techniques to an ancient beverage, creating something quite unique,” he revealed.

“The setting of our apiaries and meadery in the Wye Valley is second to none, and this is what gives our mead it’s depth and unique flavour.”

Beloved of the Vikings and medieval monks, historic mead is becoming hip again.

That’s thanks in part to the hit fantasy series Game of Thrones, alongside the explsoion in craft brewing and the interest in more organic production methods.

Wye Valley Meadery currently produces six flavours – Honey and Hops; Honey and Rhubarb; Honey and Elderflower; Honey and Ginger, Mango & Mosaic and a Winter mulled-mead, all at 5.5% strength.

You can learn more about Wye Valley Meadery at www.wye valleymeadery.co.uk and on their Facebook page.