> Cane sugar and beet sugar are identical chemically.

Not quite.
Not by a long shot, actually.
The tests to show the stark differences are so simple, they can be performed
in any kitchen.

The bees don't care one bit of course, but there is significant difference
between the two sugars when it comes to baking, icings, candy, and "creamy"
mixes that include sugar.
There is a heck of a lot more indigestible "ash" in honey from nectars, so I
doubt that the difference is anything that harm a bee even a tiny bit.

You can even tell beet from cane sugar in seconds with a magnifying glass.
You will notice that the cane sugar has a very regular crystal/particle
size, where the beet sugar is simply not as regular, or as fine - one can
easily find "chunks" physically larger than the cane sugar.  It looks
"clumpy".  Maybe "dirty".  It clearly does not crystalize as cleanly due to
some level of "impurity", and one does not need to be an x-ray
crystallography weenie to see this.

The easiest example of how beet sugar can ruin your evening is a creme
brulee or a flan.  Go ahead and make some, using cane sugar for some, and
beet sugar for others.  I'll wait...

Back?  So, you noticed the problem - the creme brulees that burned before
you could pull away your torch are the beet sugar, while the nice tan
caramelized ones used cane sugar.
And the flan?  Yeah, you noticed them too - the beet sugar ones are the pale
anemic-looking things while the cane sugar ones are the nice brown ones. 

If you try to do anything that involves "caramelizing" the sugar, you will
find that the beet sugar just... won't.

It will do nothing at all at lower temps, and with a "bit more heat", (the
normal reaction to get something going), you suddenly get a smoldering ruin
reminiscent of the remains of Luke Skywalker's aunt and uncle, and just
about as appetizing.  It's like there's some sort of hysteresis curve built
into the beet sugar where it just sits there and does nothing, and then
suddenly burns down to carbon.  Its non-linear as all heck.
 
And trying to make carmel itself is going to an exercise in frustration with
beet sugar.

Buttercream icings and many cookies will just be... weird.
Toss it out and start over weird, not "delightfully different weird".

The various brown sugars made with beets are utter disasters in most baking.
The molasses added to the beets separates out and you get a "crunchy effect"
in the final product.  Just don't.

Many moons ago, I graduated from the King Arthur Flour Baking School in
Norwich VT, just across the river from Dartmouth, but much more affordable.
My late wife and I went from baking in our own kitchen to a chain of 4
bakeries in VA, where everything from doughnuts to wedding cakes were made.


So, if it does not say "pure cane sugar" on the bag, it isn't.
Buy what you like for your bees, but the dessert you save by paying
attention could well be your own.




 

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