Efrain Alarcon

Beekeeper

Efrain was born into a beekeeping family. Growing up in New Jersey in the United States, Efrain and his parents returned to their homeland of Mexico when he was 13 years old and joined the family beekeeping operation, Productores de Pulta de Guerrero Oaxaca, exporting honey to Germany.

Efrain’s father was also a skilled carpenter and made all his own beehives, a talent that Efrain brought with him to Cayman to establish The Brasserie’s bee hives and local honey production.

As a young teenager it was Efrain’s job to feed the bees, clean the apiaries and move the hives of the certified organic family operation in Mexico. In 2004, he began studying civil engineering at the Institute of Technology in Oaxaca, but his commitments to the family business were far too great for him to complete his studies. Efrain continued to expand his skillset, making bee hive supplies like hive colonies and providing packaged bees to the budding beekeeper, as well as frames and wax. Today, Efrain says there are more than 1000 beekeepers just in his home district of Pulta de Guerrero.

In September 2016, Efrain arrived on Grand Cayman and began constructing The Brasserie bee hives from scratch, breeding his own queen bees, learning about the Caribbean seasons for prime honey flow and creating value-added products like bees wax candles and lip balm to utilise the entire harvest. He is also regularly called upon to rescue bees in the roofs of houses, inside tree trunks or under beach umbrellas, and then provides them with one of his own hives to start collecting their delicious golden honey that you will find at The Market.