Left to right: InterContinental Boston bees at work; InterContinental Boston Sous Chef Cyrille Couet at apiary on hotel’s roof deck; InterContinental Honey Treatment

InterContinental Hotel, opposite the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston is where all the buzz is — literally. The InterContinental handles the honeycombs. Some 40,000 bees have found a home — an apiary — on the hotel’s roof deck. The connection, of course, is with Miel (honey in French), the Brasserie Provençale inspired restaurant, which uses honey in many of its recipes and in its drinks. Sous Chef Cyrille Couet is a trained urban beekeeper, who is looking to expand his apiary and to begin bottling jars of exclusive honey and related products. Honey is in. Sales have gone exponential, and more chefs and culinary institutions are advocating the efficacy and use of the nectar in their recipes. A tea craze also has resurrected itself and honey is part of the craze. High tea service in London now comes with honey. Health providers have long recognized the importance of the world’s oldest sweetener. It has microbial properties for sore throats, along with plenty of B and C vitamins. People with allergies are encouraged to try honey (preferably from a local producer). In other words, there is a very healthy global economy in a back to nature product. The spa and health club at the InterContinental is also using honey in its epidermal treatments — the product has long been seen as beneficial to skin — and apitherapy treatments have become de rigueur among the cognoscenti. Cocktails with honey are the new “in” and used throughout the hotel at its various bars (RumBa and Sushi-Teq), where the young and beautiful of the financial and advertising worlds congregate each evening at the stroke of five. Brasserie Miel offers L’Orange Miel: Pierre Ferrand 1er Cru Cognac, Grand Marnier, fresh clementines, honey syrup, with orange twist. RumBa, the hottest bar in the city, creates something equally as hot, Honey Ginger Caipirinha: Leblon Cachaça (Brazilian Rum), fresh limes, fresh ginger root, honey syrup, and Domain de Canton Ginger Liqueur. Sushi-Teq serves Lights Out Over Boston: Milagro Silver Bianco Tequila (generous dollops), fresh lemons, and honey syrup, after which, either way, you’ll be buzzing.

Miel’s “L’Orange Miel”; Sushi-Teq’s “Lights Out over Boston” © Infinity-Imagery.com