The bees in Red Hook are, well, red.  And the reason? A local maraschino cherry plant.  Apparently rather than sucking on flowers, these industrious bees have been sucking on the runoff that goes into crafting our favorite cocktail accompaniment.  I’m being serious.  I couldn’t come up with fiction this brilliant if I tried.  Proof again that there is inspiration everywhere.  Even in Red Hook.

Aside from being a fabulous true story, the tale of the red, Red Hook bees is important for a few other reasons.  First of all, we can all stop feeling so guilty about our addiction to high fructose corn syrup.  It’s not our fault.  It’s biology.  Even the bees sought out the corn syrup drenched maraschino cherries (which were miles away, mind you) when there was an abundance of natural sugar sources right around them.

Second, Susan Dominus, the NY Times writer responsible for sharing the plight (pleasure?) of the Red Hook bees with us, did more than just set forth some facts, she wove an engaging story.  The article she wrote, available here, is a lyrical tale of bees gone wrong.  Her writing is intelligent, witty and full of the creativity oftentimes reserved only for fiction.

If bees can turn red from maraschino cherries and newspaper reporters can weave lyrical tales, I’m pretty sure anything is possible if you let your creative (no doubt, high fructose corn syrup or caffeine driven) juices flow.