Todd English Opens The Stinger At InterContinental New York Times Square Hotel

Ever since the InterContinental New York Times Square Hotel opened The Stinger Cocktail Bar & Kitchen, it's been getting a lot of buzz.

For the past five years, the hotel has aided bee conservation efforts by harvesting honey from its two rooftop beehives, which serve as a habitat for more than 60,000 bees. James Beard award-winning chef Todd English has thoroughly utilized the hotel's rooftop beehives in his endeavor, incorporating their honey into nearly every menu item.

A portion of the proceeds from each "Bee Good" cocktail — made with Langley's No. 8 Gin, honey, and house-made mead — are donated to The Best Bees Company and Urban Bee Keeping Laboratory and Bee Sanctuary, Inc., which funds research to improve bee health and educational programs for local schools. It also provides beehives for communities in need.

Not sure about that honey cocktail? The bartenders can prepare three-ounce versions of all the cocktails — so go for a taster of one or put together a flight.

Food offerings include dishes like salmon poke, Buffalo chicken lollipops, and truffle honey shrimp dumplings. Additional sharable dishes include truffle mac and cheese with a signature Stinger cheese blend and shaved black truffles, and a New York cheese plate served with Stinger honey. 

"Since honey has a natural sweet taste to it, I had to be mindful about making sure the other ingredients I used for each dish would balance and enhance all the flavors," English says.

This spring, they'll be adding hives and incorporating landscaping in order to increase access to pollen. Luckily, English says, those rooftop bees are friendly and not aggressive — they're too busy pollinating and maintaining their hives.

"Many people don't realize the importance of pollination efforts of bees to sustain our food system," English says. "I wanted to bring awareness to the significance of bees with my newest concept, which I hope inspires others to bring bees to their rooftops, elevating the cause of sustainable food."