July 11, By Bill Parry
Long Island City, NY: A pub crawl scheduled in Long Island City this Saturday might transform Vernon Blvd. into Bourbon Street.
The event, called LIC Immersion, will take place in several bars and restaurants throughout Hunters Point starting at noon.
To participate, attendees must pick up a free card at Alewife (5-14 51st Ave.) or LIC Bar (45-58 Vernon Blvd.) that will entitle them to free cups of Brooklyn Lager or Brooklyn Pale Ale at several participating pubs and restaurants in the area.
Cards will be available to the first 500 people, and the free beer will flow until 6pm.
“We do this [in different areas] four times a year,” said Immersion organizer Nicole Davis, who has been organizing pub crawls since 2010.
“Last year we did our first one in Queens and the people in Astoria seemed to love it,” Davis said.
“It makes a lot of sense to do one in Long Island City,” Davis said, who is the founder and publisher of Brooklyn Based, an event website with 30,000 followers.
“The idea behind ‘Immersion’ is to entice people to attractive neighborhoods they haven’t spent time in before,” Davis said. “It’s not just about the free beer — it’s about experiencing the whole area for an afternoon.”
Several bars and restaurants are eager to get participate.
Kat Johnson, a manager at Corner Bistro (47-18 Vernon Blvd.) said, “Brooklyn Brewery supplies the beer and the cups. It’s a no brainer. The fact that it’s a Brooklyn event in Queens is kind of cool.”
Meanwhile, John Butera, the owner of Dominie’s Hoek (48-17 Vernon Blvd.), said that his establishment will be participating. “We don’t normally get involved in these things, but we’ve carried Brooklyn since we opened 10 years ago. I guess you could call it brand loyalty.”
Alobar owner Jeff Blath said his restaurant was participating too. “We’re all about fun times, be it food or drink,” Blath said.
Alobar (46-42 Vernon Blvd.) and Manducatis Rustica (46-35 Vernon Blvd.) will honor the cards with complimentary Brooklyn Summer Ale for participants who stop by for brunch. They will also take a dollar off food ordered at the LIC Flea, as will several other vendors, including Bill’s Balls NYC, Oaxaca Taco and Butcher Bar.
Meanwhile, at LIC Bar, live music will be performed by a half dozen artists on its Garden Stage from 3-8pm.
“We hope everyone sticks around for the concert,” said Gustavo Rodriguez who books the music groups at LIC Bar.
