When painting, I prefer to do so outside due to summer heat and humidity. Usually have a beer and water on the table beside my painting supplies. This was the case on August 1, 2020, as I worked on my latest painting.

The first few hours were very productive as you can see on the video above. Then a Yellow Jacket Bee appeared and as we got a fly swatter, he disappeared. Five or so minutes later, I decided to sip on my beer for my short break.

Reached and lifted to drink the beer while contemplating the next stroke of my paint brush on the painting. As the beer sipped into my mouth, I felt a sharp, stinging pain at the very tip of my tongue. It was very difficult to control my reaction and the paintbrush fell directly to the floor as I started trying to dislodge whatever it was that was stuck on my tongue. A few seconds later, the sting was at the tip of my index finger and the pain was setting in.

In an effort to remain calm, I sat down and quickly Googled what to do when stung by a Bee on the tongue. Most advice was for pets and not humans, so got ice to cool it down, and drunk a few glasses of water. To disinfect, got a double shot of Jameson.

Long story short, I wouldn’t wish that on your or anyone else. Moral of the story, bees like beer and are very defensive. From today on, I’ll be drinking beer from a Beer Glass.

Cheers!