THE BRONX — What’s better on a hot summer day than knocking back a cold one at your favorite neighborhood bar?
How about knocking back a cold one at your favorite 20 bars.
On Saturday, the first ever Great Bronx Bar Tour will send thirsty explorers from Woodlawn to 149th Street in an epic bar crawl featuring shuttle buses, tour guides, drink and food specials and, of course, plenty of liquid provisions.
“It really is a tour of the borough,” said Anthony Ramirez II, co-owner of the Bronx Beer Hall, which is organizing the tour along with the Jolly Tinker Bar. “It’s about bringing business to The Bronx and people out into the community.”
For $30 in advance or $40 that day, the bar tourists will be shuttled between four North Bronx hubs and one in the South Bronx, where they can hop off the buses and walk to participating bars in close proximity.
The bars have promised special offers for the crawlers, who will get special bar tour T-shirts.
For example, G Bar on the Grand Concourse will serve $6 glasses of champagne, the Bronx Ale House on West 238th Street will sell a pale ale and a sandwich for $10, Mr. McGoo’s Pub near West 231st Street will grill up free hot dogs, and a host of other bars will work the beer taps for as little as $1 per draft.
If that sounds like a recipe for inebriation, Ramirez notes that the tour runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and that experts from the Bronx County Historical Society will be aboard the shuttle buses to provide some historical — and sober — commentary about The Bronx.
“It’s not about getting hammered and stumbling through the borough,” Ramirez insisted.
If all goes well, the organizers hope the bar tour will become an annual event, adding new stops in different corners of the borough every year, said Bronx Beer Hall co-owner Paul Ramirez.
“This is just the beginning,” he said.
To see a list of participating bars and to buy tickets, visit the Great Bronx Bar Tour website.
