The Story Behind our Bumbee Girl

The Legend of the “Bumbee”

A “Bumbee” is the Manx colloquial name for a bumblebee. In days gone by, children on the Isle of Man were told that a "Bumbee" was in fact a bad fairy that had done something terribly wrong and, as punishment, had been turned into a bumblebee.

To teach the Bumbee a lesson, children would weave small willow cages with handles, known as Bumbee cages. They would wait patiently for a bee to crawl deep inside a foxglove flower. Once inside, the flower would be carefully closed around the bee and transferred into the cage, creating a rattle.

At bedtime, while the child slept, their parents would secretly release the bee and replace it with a small stone. The next morning, the child would be told that the Bumbee had learned its lesson, turned back into a fairy, and escaped using fairy magic. The small stone left behind was said to be the fairy’s bad heart.

Our Vodka Label & the Bumbee Girl

This folklore tale was the main inspiration behind the design of our vodka label. Distilled with pure Isle of Man honey, our vodka provided the perfect opportunity to bring this piece of Manx folklore to life.

The idea of a poor bumblebee being trapped inside a Bumbee cage isn't actually very nice. So our talented label artist, Julia Ashby Smyth, reimagined the story with the creation of our “Bumbee Girl” character to portray the freed Bumblebee.

She’s sassy, rebellious, mad as hell and intent on some mischievous revenge!   

Julia’s design for our Bumbee Vodka has become a real favourite, featuring a backdrop of rich honeycomb, delicate foxglove flowers, and Bumbee Girl herself sitting centre stage in classic 1940s pin-up style.  Most recently, she appeared on our limited-edition “Faerie Racer” vodka label, riding a vintage-inspired Honeyda Dream B-Type bike.

And before anyone points it out — yes, we know bumblebees don’t make honey. Their cousins, the honeybees, take care of that. But bumblebees are still brilliant pollinators, proud members of the Apidae family, and frankly… once fairies enter the story, we’re taking a little poetic licence with the rest.

Buy Bumbee Vodka

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