It was years ago when local businessman Scott Jeter got into the business of bees. He was mostly involved with safely removing large numbers of bees from public and private properties, but he ended up keeping some of those bee hives on his property.

When he had too much honey on hand, Jeter had an idea. He drove to the closest brewery near his home and offered them the honey.

“I dropped off 100 pounds of raw honey, unprocessed, unfiltered, still on the comb,” Jeter said. “I told somebody there, one of the cooks, I think, and told them give this to (his brewer) and see if they can make a honey brew. I want to see how it works. He didn’t do anything with it and it was going to go to waste.”

That was when the brewer noticed the honey and asked if he could take it home. From there, an idea began to form inside the head of one Bob Haggerty, who was working on an exit plan from full-time brewing.

“I didn’t know that it was Scott that dropped off the honey until like three weeks ago,” Haggerty said. “That came up in conversation and I went, ‘That was you!’”

Now, the reason we are telling a story like this is how things have come full-circle, in a way, for the duo of Jeter and Haggerty, who are the brains behind The Tatted Bee Brewhouse, a new brewery in the Northeast Heights.

Located in the former Black Snout Brewhouse space at 11500 Menaul Blvd NE, Tatted Bee is a unique collaboration between two men who love bees and beers.

Jeter came into the business from having previously owning a pawn shop for many years, in addition to his bee removal company. He said that the state laws changed, however, and ultimately he decided to get out of the pawn shop business.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do for a living,” Jeter said. “I ran into a friend who asked what are you going to do. I don’t know. He goes I know a guy who’s selling a brewery. I had one conversation with Eddie the landlord, nice guy, and decided to pick it up. I started calling around (for advice). My brother (Stevo Jeter) runs Ex Novo, he’s the general manager up there. I figured I at least got family doing it. I can ask for advice or get tips, and I’m sure my brother was going to be able to help me if I needed it.”

Haggerty, in the meantime, was enjoying life after Steel Bender at his home in the Manzano Mountains south of Tijeras. He was overseeing both an orchard and had started up an apiary up by Chimayo.

“I met Bob through a buddy that owns Albuquerque Hive Rental,” Jeter said. “His name is Justin Armstrong, I love him to death. As I was looking for a brewmaster or consultant to help me put together the menu, he suggested Bob Haggerty, because Bob works with Justin sometimes on his bee hives. I was talking to Bob and I think I said I need a consultant to do beers. He’s like nope. The reason you told me no was you were getting out of brewing, you didn’t want to do it anymore. I asked him why not and he said he was leaving to go open an orchard and an apiary, that’s what he wanted to do.”

It was over the subject of bees, not beer, that the two men soon found common ground.

“When you enjoy working with bees, you enjoy working with bees,” Jeter said. “It sounds crazy. I had a very easy full-stocked pawn shop that I could have stayed with, and I much prefer being outside on a hot roof in a 130-degree bee suit, sweating like crazy working with honey bees. Getting stung, even with the suit, 10 times a day, everybody thought I was crazy. It was what I would have rather done with my mornings. So I understand where Bob was coming from.”

Still, Jeter had to make a deal to get Haggerty on board.

“Bob told me had 17 colonies, and he needed to get them up to 100 in two years,” Jeter said. “I told him what I did for a living, which was take bees (safely) out of structures. I told him I could get him the 100 hives that he needed for his two-year period in 90 days. If he would come and work with me I told him I would do that for him. He made some calls and realized that I was serious, and Bob came on board.

“After meeting Bob, I had a lot of faith in this place, I had a lot of faith in his ability. And, I really like working with him. That’s the whole thing, I enjoy doing the bees, I enjoy working with Bob, I enjoy learning from Bob. It made this place really seem like this is the direction I’m supposed to go in and this is what I need to do. I dove in head first and had a lot of faith that it was going to work.”

Anyone expecting to see Haggerty back on the 2-barrel brewhouse on a daily basis should understand that his main title is brewery consultant. His goal is to help launch Tatted Bee’s beer lineup before handing it off to another brewer.

“Basically what I’m trying to do is get in here, hire a full-time brewer — I’ve got so many irons in the fire I can’t really be a full-time brewer here — so I’m working to get recipes in place, get the systems in place, get it set up to make it easy for a brewer to walk in here, take it over,” Haggerty said. “They can do their own recipes and get creative, but give them a good base to start from.”

Haggerty already has a saison fermenting away, and he was brewing a pale ale while our interview was happening. Guest taps are on hand for the time being until the full Tatted Bee lineup is available.

Of course, being the entrepreneur that he is these days, Haggerty is also planning to make use of Tatted Bee’s system for something else.

“At the same time, what I’m also going to be doing in here is I’m going to be launching my own brand,” he said. “What I’ve been doing since leaving Steel Bender is looking to try to launch my own brand and to do so without a brewery. I’m looking to do some contract brewing. I’m in talks with a guy right now to get in on distributorship. I’m going to be launching my own brand through here.

“Top Bar Brewing is going to be my brand. I’m going to launch it through here on draft. Then, hopefully in the winter, I’ll be putting beer in bottles. That’s going to be all the weirdo stuff that I love. Farmhouse-y type stuff. Brett will definitely be playing a part in some of these things. Large format bottles. I’m not looking to get rich, I just love to brew. Since leaving Steel Bender, while it kind of dawned on me that I was burned out since the pandemic on a lot of stuff in the industry, I still love making beer. I can’t really see a future for me without making beer. That’s the idea.”

Haggerty said the Tatted Bee beer lineup will be approachable and drinkable, though the brewer he hopes to hire will ultimately be able to choose his/her own seasonal styles with which to experiment.

The Tatted Bee has a definite sports bar theme. Jeter said they will never have covers, so fans of UFC/MMA and boxing will be able to come watch pay-per-view cards when those typically air on the weekends. They will also show everything from European soccer to more traditional American sports like MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, and college games.

Mario’s Pizza is just a few doors down, and there will often be a food truck during the big PPV event nights. Tatted Bee added more televisions than Black Snout had, while also improving the seating and bar area.

When the first house beers are on tap, the Crew will roll back up to The Tatted Bee, plus we will be sure to share the news on when Haggerty hires a full-time brewer. In the meantime, if you are a sports fan, or just someone who would like a new place to enjoy a pint served by some great people, make your way up to Menaul and Juan Tabo.

A big thanks to Scott and Bob for the interview during what is still a busy time for both of them.

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister