Home Kitchen & Laundry InterContinental Boston Adds Two New Beehives to Apiary

InterContinental Boston Adds Two New Beehives to Apiary

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BOSTON—It’s the “bee’s knees” at the InterContinental Boston. On April 30, 2011, the fifth-floor roof deck at the InterContinental Boston, a luxury AAA Four-Diamond hotel located on Boston’s waterfront, was abuzz as two new beehives were added to Boston’s first hotel apiary. The InterContinental Boston is only one of two hotels within the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts brand worldwide with an on-property apiary (the other is the InterContinental Melbourne The Rialto in Australia). This July and September (National Honey Month), the InterContinental Boston will be harvesting its honey which will be used throughout the hotel.

SPA InterContinental, the hotel’s 6,600-square-foot spa and health club, will use honey in select treatments, new spring/summer cocktails will incorporate the sweet stuff and Miel “Brasserie Provençale,” a Provence-inspired brasserie (Miel means “honey” in French) will be offering new honey-infused menu items in addition to a three-course “Honey Harvest Dinner” on September 20, 2011.

InterContinental Boston has been working with a local bee expert to set up the beehives and train InterContinental Boston’s sous chef, Cyrille Couet, the hotel’s bee keeper, on bee keeping. In late spring 2010, InterContinental Boston introduced the first 10,000 honey bees to the apiary. The colony grew to more than 40,000 by September 2010. The bees survived Boston’s harsh 2010/2011 winter and on April 30, 2011, two additional beehives of 10,000 bees each were added to the apiary.

Expansive Feeding Area

Throughout the season, the bees will be hard at work pollinating the flora of an approximate four to five mile radius of the hotel which includes Boston’s expansive 21-acre green space, the Rose Kennedy Greenway, upon which the InterContinental Boston sits and InterContinental Boston’s own waterfront floral and herb gardens. Once home—and they always return—the bees produce honey. By late summer/early fall 2011, the colony will grow to an estimated 120,000-plus bees, the fruits of whose labor is slated to be harvested in July and in September. It is anticipated that more than 180 pounds of honey will be harvested this season. For guests to glimpse the honey bees in action, in Miel “Brasserie Provençale” is a 24/7 “Bee T.V.” which showcases a live camera feed from the apiary.

“We have been an active member of Pollinator Partnership, a national nonprofit organization working to protect the health of native pollinating animals vital to our North American ecosystems and agriculture and bees are an important element in the sustainability of nature,” says Tim Kirwan, general manager at InterContinental Boston. “We are proud to do our part in helping to nurture our local environment in addition to helping the plight of the bees. Not to mention, our chefs’ creative juices are flowing as they develop new dishes and drinks using our home-grown honey and our spa director has cleverly incorporated honey into two therapeutic treatments at our spa.”

SPA InterContinental offers two organic treatments that incorporate honey. Currently culinary honey from Miel’s kitchen is being used, but after the July and September harvests, the hotel’s own sweet stuff will be incorporated. Treatments with honey are known as “apitherapy.” Honey has been used for hundreds of years not only as a natural sweetener but also as therapeutic agent. Research has shown that honey is a natural humectan (having the ability to bind water), hence aiding the skin in retaining its moisture.  

Honey will also find its way into new 2011 spring/summer cocktails at InterContinental Boston. L’Orange Miel, the new cocktail in Miel “Brasserie Provençale,” consists of Pierre Ferrand 1er Cru Cognac, Grand Marnier, fresh clementines and honey syrup. RumBa, the hotel’s popular and award-winning rum and champagne bar, features a Honey Ginger Caipirinha with Leblon Cachaça, Domain de Canton Ginger Liqueur, fresh limes, ginger and honey syrup; and Sushi-Teq, specializing in sushi and more than 100 tequilas, offers the drink Lights Out Over Boston with Milagro Silver Blanco Tequila, fresh lemons and honey syrup.

Go to the InterContinental Boston.

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