Elite Event at Brooklyn Winery

Another one, another one, another one please!
After spending an amazing 2 hours drinking 6 different types of wine, munching on delicious appetizers, touring the winery, and photo-​boothing it up, I made the drunken stumble 2 blocks to my home with my +1 to drink more wine…
Needless to say, woke up at 4 am, lights on in my room, the two of us passed out in our attire on top of my bed, in delightful boozey comas.
It was totally worth it.
Can’t wait to go back to the winery, to one day have enough cash to make my own wine there, and to continue kicking it with other fellow Eliters.

I’m just happy i scored the coveted lunchbox! Arrived an hour late to the crowded place but very lucky and grateful for that nice dude who gracefully gave me his lunchbox.
Enjoyed the wine, particularly white Riesling and Sira.
Crowd had a lot of festive energy. Wine tour was very interesting. Best part was the photo-​booth (went twice).
Overall enjoyed my 2^nd Unilocal elite event.

I was pretty excited when I received my invite to attend an Elite event at the Brooklyn Winery!
It was going to be my first Elite Event!
It was also a chance to visit a real and probably the only working winery inside NYC. Woohoo!
The last winery I knew about was down in LES where I grow up. I lived only two blocks from the Schapiro’s Kosher Winery on Rivington St. The whole neighborhood knew when the Concord grapes were being pressed and when fermentation stage of their wine started. I still remember taking a peek at their giant oak barrels. Schapiro’s sold their building in 2000 and moved their operations to Monticello, NY.
Many of Unilocal have being at Schapiro’s Winery location! You all know the place by the new store name «Sugar Sweet Sunshine.»
Ok, enough reminiscing or I will start my matzo factory story which is pretty dry; Oy vey.
I cleared my evening work and I got to the winery a too early so I kill so time by roamed around the neighborhood. All the main streets, Bedford and Driggs, are pretty developed to support all the hipsters but on N 8 St. the old Williamsburg is still there. Walking b the place there is very little clue that a working winery is at this location unless you look up at the lit painted sidewall on the building. Even the front door gave only subtle hints with the name «Brooklyn Winery» etched on the glass.
I roamed the N 8 street like a lost child and started asking people if they are for the Unilocal event. Fortunately Vivian H. and her +one also arrived early so I had some fine company. I was first in, hurray!
On to my review and comments–
(There is not much more to say, I agreed with everyone’s review! But… here is my two cents)
Wine tasting–
Yummy! My three favorite wine in order of my personal preference are the Chardonny– light, smooth and lively; very good.
Sangiovese– tasty and very good with the numerous finger food
Petite Sirah– deep in flavor and enjoyable just by itself.
Food–
The food by RADISH went perfect with the wines. I tries so many but did not write down details because I was more focus on the wine and the ton of Unilocalers streaming into the place.
Fun & entertainment–
The live band was great! They were the same guys that play the Unilocal Event to pass summer in the Randell’s Island Golf Outing!
The photo booth was a great idea. It was so much fun and a big hit.
Winery tour– Educational and fun; my tour guy was John and he was very informative. Well worth the 30 minutes from the party and fun.
Unilocalers– noisy & crowd but it was very festive and priceless camaraderie.
Service– the team behind the bar was fantastic. They were quick and amazing with the drinks and the clean-​up.
All three CM (Peter, Jane and Leighann) did a wonderful job!
This evening I got my first Classic Unilocal Lunch Box, yuppie, but gave it away to another guest near the end of the evening. She came late and seems overwhelmed and really wanted a lunch box so I made another new Unilocaler happy;
priceless.
It was my first Elite event and there will be more events in the future with lunch boxes.

This review acknowledges and incorporates James’ review by reference. This reviewer loves the contents therein.
Photo booth was great… took lots of pictures.
Was drinking wine. Then drunk cider.
Inadvertently helped one Unilocaler stalk another. Dude, get a clue.
Learned about another Unilocaler’s crazy stalker. While on line… took me a while to shake that duck from the stray bullet or pen knife assailant feeling that I had.
I learned that some boobies just look way bigger on Unilocal.
Jane and I played Romper Room. We did not however, Romp in any Room. Sorry to disappoint you. Ok, who am I kidding… sorry to disappoint me.
There was a girl that looked like Sarah Palin. I think as the night went on, I started to think she was Sarah Palin. I stayed out of her way.
Someone touched my butt a couple of times.
At some point, I jokingly said I would take someone’s lunch box. I reached for it a couple of times. She became a football player guarding the ball. I was joking, she, I realized, was about to take me out. I got out of there before she tried to kick the

What james f. said.
Okay, fine. I’ll write something too.
What a cool space! I’d been wanting to come here for awhile now, so I’m glad I got in with my lovely +1, my fellow meerkat, Coo.
I had a date with Petite Syrah, and man, was it ever good… maybe too many glasses too good. Loved the band and a «hell yes!» for the coat check.
Can we have all our BK events here?

When I saw the info go up for this event, my first thought was «Oh… I must go». After all, I am an under educated and unsophisticated Unilocaler when it comes to wine and could use some lessons. So… did I learn anything last night? Yeah. Lots. But most of them weren’t about the wine.
The things I’ve learned:
— Lots of Unilocalers could fit into a small place with two floors. Even though there is more breathing space upstairs, Unilocalers will happily bump uglies in in a much more packed 1^st level because that is where all the wines and beers were.
— It’s amazing how many friends I could lose in this event. One moment they were there and another moment they weren’t. I lost sight of Joclyn L, Neline S, Tassamai S, Susan C, Jocy C, Vivian H, James A, Laura A, Sarah W and Deanna W among others after a brief hello and hug, never to be seen again for the rest of the night at Brooklyn Winery. Damn… that is a lot of lost friends in one night.
— Adding a photo booth from Magnolia Photo Booth to a already great event makes it even better somehow. I think all Unilocal events should have this from now on. Props to them for having props ready to be used.
— Playing a game of «let’s see how many people could fit in a photo booth?» is so fun. Hey, who’s ass is that on my lap? It better not be yours Juan.
— The live band at the event showed me you could become a band with anything. Time to look for brooms, mops, buckets, and such. Now if only I could find talent for myself as easily as I could find and create musical instruments.
— I somehow unwittingly became the official photographer for the Cassie sandwich.
— During the wine tour, I found out New York City now have it’s own place to make your own wine. I do mean your own wine. Crush your own, ferment your own, label your own, for a reasonable $ 5,700 for 300 bottles. Wing wine for every one of my Unilocal friends… someday. Do I get to step on the grapes with my bare feet like the good old days?
— There are so many types of wines. So much to learn. In fact too much for just a two hour Unilocal event. Could we have a follow up Unilocal event here so that I could further my education? I swear it’s not an excuse to drink more. Peter D, you reading this? Pretty please? I heard a good education is one of the most important things in life.
Thanks Brooklyn Winery for hosting us. A big thank you to one of the owners, Brian, for giving us a tour of the place. Thank you Jane K, Peter D, and Leighann F for setting this up and hosting us now slightly more sophisticated Unilocalers. It was great seeing all three of you again and it was a great time as always.
See you all at the next event.
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P. S. The cramming in the photo booth was a great practice run for later on in the night when about 6 people each piled into four cars to reach Traif for the after party/​dinner. Traif was wonderful for fitting a little more than 20 of us on such a short notice.

«I don’t care how you hold your wine glass; this is an urban winery. Just enjoy yourself and thanks for coming!»
When Brian said that on the wine tour I knew then what I had to do — continue holding my wine glass wrong and taste as many types of wine as I could before my +1 could get too concerned. Good thing the app’s from Radish were provided to absorb some of the alcohol for the lushes like me.
Thanks Peter D #1 for chatting it up on line outside with me; you’re still pretty popular to me.
Thank you Rich W. for following up with me on my job thread! Goes to show you that Unilocalers actually read what’s posted.
Thank you Peter D#2* and Jane K for a wonderful time! The turnout was really positive and fun! The photo booth idea will heavily be considered for my wedding; I like to plan in advance.
— — — —
* look, Peter D, just because I labelled you as #2 doesn’t mean your like #2 as in Austin Powers or like poop; it’s just how the review went. You’re still cool and we be tight and sh! t. Peace.

I had never seen a line so long to get into this event, I knew the masses were here for something good!
I was very excited about this event, it was the first Elite event for newly inducted best friend Louis P, and I knew he was gonna like it.
The band kicked ass, it was so cool to watch and listen to them, they matched the atmosphere and vibe of the place %100. I was hootin and hollering for them all night.
I had a great time seeing everyone again, I’m glad there are so many nice Unilocalers in this world! The smile never left my face, even though I barely know most of these friends, they all have the kind of personality and characteristic I like alot. Something about publicity and trust go hand in hand. If you are gonna write about it you like to share. Good people. Good event last night.
I have a wine press my grandfather left behind, anyone wanna help me crank it up?

Me and My plus 1(Her first time)
Met up Exactly at 7 PM in the corner of North 8^th Street and Driggs.
The line was outside of the place, so there’s NO excuse you can’t find this place. Waited about 12 minutes to get in.
The convo between my friend and I:
Me: Thanks for coming out
Her: Sure, I am happy to come and have some fun with you. How should I behave tonight?
Me: O_​o Just be yourself, don’t worry, Unilocalers don’t bite!, They are the coolest people and they won’t judge you.
Her: Alright, but please tell me when something’s wrong ok?
Me: Alright.
At the door, Miss Leighann andd Miss Jane taking attendance. Then they gave me a nice WINE OPENER CORKSCREW with their «BROOKLYN WINERY» logo in it. YEY!
First things first, GRAB a glass of wine! (they have Red and White available). Each section were described the type of wine.
Then I took a tour around the place, main floor is pretty big with long tables, second floor was a bit small, with wine barrel all over the place to use it as a table. Peter D. was all over the place greeting everyone and holding his drink and I waved at him.
I took a glance and was a PHOTOBOOTH!!!
HELLS YEAH!, The line was short so took advantage of that! (Then took another one at the end of the event).
I give MINUS one star because:
Too crowded, Not enough ventilation.
The mini bites were either cold, or Soggy (BLEH!).
4 Stars for A Great Event location, Great Unilocalers (Sorry I couldn’t talk to everyone, i was all over the place, please don’t hate me).
— Photobooth (Awesomeness)
— Wine tasting (GULP)
— Wine tour (every 30 minutes)
— Mingling (Yadda Yadda Yadda)
Old Yerpers:
Isabella, Elle, Vivian, James, Jamel, Juan, Wing, Will, Jenn L, Rachel, Cassy, Cassandra, JRo, mabel, Britton, Talia, Rich, Radford, Amy, Coty and her hubby, Natasha and Jimmy, Cara, Laura, Sarah.
NEW UnilocalERS!:
Tiffany (welcome to NY!), Dee (new Unilocaler), My plus 1 KAYA, Michael (nice to meet you in person), Michelle, Isabella’s friend (sorry forgot your name, sigh.), and I think 5 other Unilocalers who I don’t really remember because by the time i had my 4^th glass of wine, I was all over the place!
Thank you Peter D., Jane K. and Leighann F. For an awesome event. I’m soo coming back here again!

Damn I love Cocaine !!
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(Not really. It’s just an attention getting headline to try to get you to read the rest of this review. Think NY Post)
i swore off reviewing these events.
What’s the point ?
I always have a good time, it seemed somewhat repetitive.
I could probably find small things to nitpick about but I’m not that anal.
But Honestly (
) if you can’t have fun with cool people, free food and booze well, … you’re an asshole (nothing personal, but you are).
So why write a review ?
Because the venue was fucking fantastic*. I loved the dark woody design, the sense of space, the bartenders, everything really.
Coat-​racks**, complimentary corkscrews, photo booths, swinging band, ample food, winery tours, hard cider, 99% of my favorite Unilocalers and excellent wine (I personally loved the Sangiovese).
What didn’t this event have ?
Enough time.
Wonderful job Pete, Jane et all.
Brooklyn Winery = I will see you again.
* — as close as i get to alliteration
**– great in theory. Watching inebriated people try to find their coats is almost entertaining.