Honey Badger #9
Drinks with strong Ukrainian flavour
We are presenting one more member of the WTA community – Ukrainian company Honey Badger, which is nominated in the category: Brand – the visiting card of the country. By resorting to this example, we would like to draw your attention to the fact, how universally applicable the award is: Honey Badger, a young company, has no location of its own for enogastronomic tourists yet, but the concept and philosophy of the brand results in each of the brand’s bottle of nastoyanka and nalyvka having the Ukrainian flavor. Based on locations of their partners’ yards and gardens, supplying the high-quality raw materials, the trademark owners have developed their own map of the country. So, today, Honey Badgers product range, including COSSACK`S OAK and BEE IN FUSED NASTOYANKA, BLACK CURRANT or CHERRY INFUSED NALYVKA, U.Gin (Ukrainian Gin) are the best souvenirs that one may bring from Ukraine.
Created by millennials
The owners of the Honey Badger brand, Yulia Kalenskaya and Artem Skubenko, are the representatives of the millennials generation, who, as we know, thus choosing the best. In a rather uncommon manner, couple of young, energetic Ukrainians, who lived and worked most of their lives abroad, returned back home and founded their own enterprise with a quest to produce and promote traditional local drinks and drinking culture according to the revived recipes, hence the credo of their company: «To collect and preserve the best from the heritage of Ukrainian cities and villages». A simple idea turned out to be a brilliant one. A simple formulae: best local ingredients multiplied by the best local recipes.
With the love for Ukraine
Since 2020 the company established their own fruit farms in the village of Kalenske, Zhytomyr region, where one of the founders – Yulia Kalenska was born… indeed the surname and the name of the village is a strong coincidence that the company is still investigating. As the plantation expands and we revive the infrastructure, the company will open its doors to seasonal tourism.
As part of assimilation and adoption of new drink types on international arena, the company is also working closely with the top bars and barmen the country has to offer in a quest to develop a what one day might become a next classic cocktail.
Reviews
Honey Badger is a young, family business that was created for the purpose of promoting traditional Ukrainian drinks. After trying their products once – you will not be able to stop. It is just what happened to me… Now I am forever a fan of such high-quality products.