The Bryans Family

The Bryans Family are owners and operators of Munro Honey in Alvinston. The family includes brothers Davis and John Bryans and their spouses, Mary and Chris.

Munro Apiaries began in 1914 when Warren Munro captured his first swarm of bees. After the Second World War, Howard Bryans, whose father was a beekeeper, began helping the Munros run their apiary. Howard and his wife Mavis bought Munro Honey in 1958. As sons of Howard and Mavis, Davis and John Bryans grew up in the beekeeping business. They purchased Munro Honey from their parents in 1989. The brothers have since expanded their commercial honey production, processing, and marketing facilities. Because of their family-oriented approach, knowledge, skills, and abilities have been transferred between multiple generations through mentoring and practical training.

Munro Honey provides pollination services for a wide variety of crops in Lambton County and across Southwestern Ontario. Their bee colonies can be found on over 100 farms, and for many years they have sent loads of beehives to New Brunswick and Quebec to pollinate lowbush blueberries. Munro Honey also provides beekeeping equipment and supplies for hobby and commercial enterprises. The business provides queen bees and nucs (nucleus colonies) to beekeepers as a starter kit for a new hive. Locally, they have hosted educational courses for beekeepers. They even developed and marketed a hive fumigant called “Mite Wipe” that is not harmful to bees.

The Bryan Family at their Munro Honey Facility.

Since 2012, Munro Honey has met the stringent standards of “True Source Honey” required to sell their honey internationally.

They create value-added products from pure honey to sell in their local shop and distribute to other retailers. This material supports the Eat Local initiative. In the mid-1990s, they began experimentally making mead, an alcoholic beverage made from honey.

In 1999, they were granted one of the first manufacturing licenses for mead in Ontario. Along with mead, they now make melomels which are a combination of fermented honey and fermented fruit. Munro Honey plays a key role in local agritourism by hosting bus tours, letting visitors tour their facilities, and sharing their story of honey and mead production.

Community Contributions:

Davis and John have been active with the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association. Davis was on the Board and Executive for over 15 years and served as president from 1992-1994.
Support many charities and special events.
Alvin the Bee, a 10-foot-tall bee statue, was erected in Alvinston in recognition of the community’s long history of producing honey, along with the motto, “A Sweet Place to Bee!”