How Honey Bees Handle Alcohol Better Than We Think

If you’ve ever watched bees sip nectar from overripe fruit or fermenting flowers, you might have wondered, do bees get drunk? And if they do, does it harm them in the long run? A fascinating new study, “Honeybees are resilient to the long-term presence of alcohol in their diet” answers that question with a surprising twist: honeybees can tolerate alcohol far better than scientists expected. This study doesn’t just offer a fun headline; it gives us new insight into the incredible adaptability of one of the world’s most important pollinators.

What the study was About

Researchers Monika Ostap-Chec, Daniel Bajorek, Weronika Antoł, Daniel Stec, and Krzysztof Miler from Poland designed a long-term experiment to understand how honey bees cope with alcohol in their food. While short-term “drunk bee” experiments have shown wobbly flight and clumsy movement, this study asked a deeper question: What happens if bees consume small amounts of alcohol over a long period, as they might in nature?

Colonies were given sugar-water solutions containing different concentrations of ethanol (the same type of alcohol found in beer and wine) for several weeks. The researchers then carefully measured:

·       Survival and lifespan of individual bees

·       Feeding patterns and food consumption

·       Brood (larvae) production and colony performance

·       Changes in metabolism and detoxification

What They Found:

Bees Are Surprisingly Resilient. Despite being fed alcohol for weeks, the bees remained remarkably healthy and active. Their survival rates, foraging behavior, and brood rearing showed little to no negative impact. Although alcohol did influence some metabolic markers, overall, the colonies adapted well, showing that bees possess strong detoxification mechanisms. This makes sense when you think about it: in nature, bees often encounter fermented nectar or overripe fruit, both of which can contain traces of ethanol. Evolution has equipped them with the ability to handle it without falling out of the sky.

Fig. 1 Schema of the experimental setup, presented for a single replicate. The squares represent individual cages

Fig. 2 The total flight time (top panel), average speed (middle panel), and distance travelled (bottom panel) during the flight performance tests in bees without access to ethanol (G1), those with voluntary consumption of 0.5% ethanol (G2), and those forced to consume 1% ethanol (G3). Diets respective for each group lasted for two weeks before tests. Grey dots indicate individual data points. Boxplots show medians (lines), interquartile range (boxes), and the smallest and largest values within 1.5 of the interquartile range (whiskers). Coloured shadings show the kernel density estimations trimmed at 0

Why this is an excellent and important study

This paper stands out as an example of clear, creative, and ecologically relevant science. Here’s why it’s such a valuable contribution:

Most bee research focuses on pesticides or temperature stress. Alcohol exposure, though common in the wild, has rarely been studied over long periods. Instead of testing unrealistic doses, the researchers used concentrations that bees might naturally encounter. Long-term observation, careful control groups, and quantitative data make the findings solid and trustworthy. It’s refreshing to see a bee study showing resilience rather than decline, a hopeful reminder of nature’s built-in adaptability. This is not just a curiosity, it’s a meaningful contribution to our understanding of bee physiology, environmental adaptation, and ecological health.

The Bigger Picture:

We often hear about the threats facing bees, from pesticides to parasites, but this research highlights something different: their strength. Bees have evolved to thrive in complex environments filled with chemical and biological surprises. Their ability to metabolize ethanol safely shows just how robust and adaptable they are. This resilience is one reason honey bees continue to pollinate our crops, support ecosystems, and produce the golden honey we depend on even in challenging, human-altered landscapes.

So, while we definitely shouldn’t serve them mead, it’s good to know that our buzzing friends can handle the occasional sip from a fermented flower. This study is a celebration of both scientific curiosity and nature’s genius, reminding us that the creatures we depend on for pollination are far more adaptable than we give them credit for.

Here’s to the bees: hardworking, surprising, and, as it turns out, perfectly fine with a little buzz.

Citation

Ostap-Chec, M., Bajorek, D., Antoł, W., Stec, D., & Miler, K. (2025). Honey bees are resilient to the long-term presence of alcohol in their diet. Conservation Physiology. Accepted 12 May 2025 / Published online 3 June 2025. © The Author(s) 2025. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-025-02903-x