
By comparison, an average rata year would see the Blackball-based honey business net about 70 tonnes.
After a very wet spring, Mr Glasson said production was "quite hard" early in the season.
"We didn’t get much honey until Christmas. Then, within a couple of weeks, it all turned around.
"This year’s flowering is comparable to the season of 2001. When you think of that big year, we had over 1500 hives and ended up with over 200 tonnes of honey."
Glassons Honey now has 1200 hives between the Taramakau River and Grey Valley, producing three monoflorals to go to bulk sale or export.
"We start with kamahi then move into manuka before the rata, which should bloom until mid-February."
Those other varieties suffered through the wet spring, with what Mr Glasson decries as "one of the worst" seasons for kamahi blooming in years, and the manuka "not so great" either.
However, with the wet months now forgotten, the focus is on the scarlet blooms adorning West Coast hills.
Mr Glasson says the best displays to be seen are around Blackball and Moonlight, which he describes as "exceptional".
However, he does have a cautionary word of advice: "While it has been pretty good so far, who knows where we’ll end up ... you can never count your honey crop until it is in the drum!"
By Meg Fulford