Elite Event: Craft Beer Garden at LIC Flea

(Oh no! A forgotten Elite Event draft from like two months ago! I’ll just quietly place this here.)
Unlimited free beer from some of the finest breweries in new york? $ 5 credit tokens to try out the fabulous food at the stalls? How can you give this event anything less than 5 stars? You can’t, silly. Besides, the event came with the free surprise sauna package, you know, where we all sweat our nuts off in the sun. Don’t you feel so purged of toxins and every bit of hydration?
There was a really nice variety of beers, whether you’re into IPAs or lagers. The Big Alice Honey Maple was my favorite, even if it isn’t autumn and those are classic flavors for that season. I enjoyed the space, there were a couple of tables to sit at and an inclined astroturf ramp to plop down on. I prefer that so much more than to flat ground where my back starts to hurt. #aging
The variety of food was excellent as well and the tokens allowed me to try a bunch of stuff I might not have committed money to without knowing I liked. Luckily, that ended up as a success because I loved everything I ate, as per usual.
Btw, the fried icecream booth? I may or may not have hit that place up twice. Don’t judge. I couldn’t decide between the Oreo crumble coating or the corn flakes. So I got both. Yum.

Many thanks Jando and team!
A great variety of craft beer, lots of food, beautiful weather, awesome crowd, and lots to do!
I totally loved the Unilocal’s elite theme which included Unilocal’s sunglasses, bandanas, frisbee, and $ 5 coin discount at any vendors within LIC Flea. Great idea! Thank you!
Unilocal had a nice spot in the corner, where you can appreciate the taste of a handful of craft beer, socialized, enjoyed the sun, and occasionally discussed the beautiful scenery LIC has to offer.
I’m definitely looking forward to revisit LIC in the summer months and explore the area a little more.
This was just an incredible event since I finally met some of my virtual Unilocal buddies.
It’s always a pleasure meeting folks from different culture.
Don’t forget to venture out by the water, which is about two blocks or so away from LIC Flea. The view is absolutely breathtaking!

Attended my 2^nd Elite Event on Sunday with my friend who I’m trying to convince to join Unilocal.I’ve heard good things about LIC Flea from some of my friends who have gone. especially about an amazing Macaron Ice Cream sandwich cart and a vendor that sells some ridiculously delicious BBQ! So I was definitely looking forward to this beer event! BBQ and Beer! :D
The Unilocal Elites had our own little corner with green turf to chill on. Adjacent to the beer vendors were a few tables. Saw a few familiar faces and lots of new faces. I’m not a big beer drinker; prefer wine. But I knew my friend loves beer, so I brought him along. Sure enough, after 1 ½ beers, I was feeling dizzy. And the blazing sun didn’t help either. As always, when I drink alcohol, I turn bright red and the infamous Asian Flush shows. –_​-​” But my friend downed like 8 beers. My favorite one (The only one I finished completely) was the Blueberry. I also had the Finback but wasn’t a fan of it.
As for food, I think I dropped like $ 30 on that BBQ vendor. Their Monster sandwich was fcuking amazing! And they go HAM on their meat offerings. They give you generous pieces of the brisket and then pile the pulled pork on top of that. Add the veggies and the sauce and the end result. A juicy, delicious MONSTER sandwich! I also had 2 Macaron Ice Cream sandwiches, a Peach Iced Tea that was very refreshing and I used the $ 5 gold coin on a Japanese veggie pancake that I took home for my mom.
Overall, a very fun event! Thanks to Jando, the Unilocal Team and LIC Flea for organizing another successful event! Look forward to many more to come! :D

I don’t know but I think queens has some great places to spend an afternoon. Queens elites and non elites showed up and supported #yelpqueens as this event was awesome. So many new faces and some old lol. Many friends made.
Jando please don’t ban me for the summer.

Where do I begin? I have been to Brooklyn smorgasburg which is similar to the lic flea. The lic location was smaller. I find the Brooklyn venue can be a bit overwhelming. This version was much more suited for me. They also allowed folks to bring pets. Which is a big no no in Brooklyn. Sadly for those poor pets that did come with their owners they had to suffer thru heat exhaustion. It was a very hot day and our area didn’t offer any cover or shade from the sun. Luckily some merchants took this into consideration and had nice doggy bowls with water out for pets to enjoy should they choose.
There was 5 – 6 beers being offered which was very nice. Try one or go for all. I choose to stay with the queens brewery blueberry beer. The line for beer moved pretty quickly since there was 3 people handing out beer. Very efficient.
I walked around after this to familiarize myself with the vendors. Food wise there were many that did not have an actual storefront in Astoria but venture from flea or fair like event space and use that as their customer base. I tried bisskanyc who was selling this amazing pork belly marinated in pomegranate over a charcoal grilled pita with some cucumbers and yogurt sauce. It was $ 10 and I used my $ 5 token. I will definitely come back to try some of the others vendors because the assortment in food choices was really good (empanadas, bbq from butcher bar, cronuts, thai, you name it was there!!)
Thank you to the Unilocal queens team and Jando for making this very fun event a reality!!! Can’t wait for the next one.

Beer, food, old Unilocalers, new Unilocalers and Sun is the way that you can summary this event.
This is my second time in Lic Flea, is was so wonderful that we the elite had our on corner to chill, drink and eat.
The beers were on the house (Queens Breweries) and the food was on you but with a free token that give you a discount of 5 $.
Thanks to Jando, Queens beers and Lic Flea vendors for this one marvelous event.

I was glad to be part of yet another amazing Unilocal Elite event where the beer was flowing and the sun was shinning. I had the pleasure of meeting a lot of new Unilocalers and their +1’s. I’ve never been to the LIC Flea but I will definitely return with more friends as there was a lot of great food options as well as cool shopping to be had. I liked that food lines were short and you were able to get your grub on fast. Butcher Bar was the favorite for me where I was able to try both their pulled pork and beef brisket sandwiches.
Thanks to Jando and the Unilocal team for organizing such a great event.

I can’t believe it’s been a year already. Oh how I love when Unilocal takes over LIC Flea, it means a couple of things:
*It’s finally warm enough to be outside without a coat
*It’s time to start grilling meat (and veggies… if that’s your thing… I guess…)
*I can stop looking so ghostly white (see statement A)
*Its acceptable (and safe) to day drink without a roof overhead
It’s always funny to me how the different parts of LIC look compared to one another. Getting of the 21^st street stop of the G is like stepping into some dystopian urban waist land; there are old warehouses and a lack of bars as far as the eye can see (not really, you just need to know where to look for a drink). walk up 46^th street (or 46^th ave… who’s idea was that by the way) for a few blocks however, and you enter the glitzy world of «new» LIC. and man is it gorgeous, I dare say the best view you can get of Manhattan (though Governors Island is a strong contender). The flea itself is located just where the ruin turns into glamour, and has something for just about everybody:
*chocolate for the sweet tooth
*organic soap for the hipster
*lobster mac and cheese for the yuppy
*Italian beef for the Chicagoan (and fat guy, aka yours truly)
*an awesome beer stand
*and of course the view, which is for everyone
we walked up to meet Queens finest Jando, who gave us the three most important items of the day:
*directions to the beer stand
*5 bucks towards food
*a bandanna (to wipe away sweat, clean off split beer, and in Mitch’s case make him look like a fabulous pirate).
We chatted and ate the afternoon away, and before we knew it a few hours (and 12 or so beers) had come and gone. Fantastic time, thanks a million to LIC Flea for having us, and of course Jando and Unilocal Queens for pulling this together.

Just another amazing Elite event in LIC! Proud microbreweries were on display for everyone to enjoy, and the food vendors definitely kicked it up a notch this year. Yankee Doodle Dandy’s «Love Me Tender» chicken sandwich with a side of TATER TOTS was one of the best food truck/​stand sandwiches I’ve had in a very long time.
Lizzmonade was there, which meant the line never really died down for them, but if you ever get a chance to have their classic lemonade with pineapple or strawberry, definitely do it.
Thank you to Jando and to everyone else who was involved in making the event happen, and I cannot wait for more LIC Flea events!

Cheers to beers. My first Queens event was a success! Thank you to all the warm welcomes from my NY Unilocalers. While I am in the city all the time, my home-​base is in NJ, so it was nice to get to meet some new faces, while drinking amazing beer. I’ve had the Singlecut IPA before, so when I saw them on the list, I was ecstatic. I tried Big Alice-​Honey Maple Wheat for the first time, and that was great too. I loved getting to sit on the turf, while catching some rays, and meeting some great people. My +1 lives in Astoria, so he’s been to the LIC Flea before, but it was my first time. I was able to use my Flea Coin (thanks Unilocal!) to get some yummy food, which was definitely needed. I think this is the first Elite event I’ve been to that didn’t serve food, but I dug the vibe, and I liked that you had choice on how to use your coin (s).
Definitely had an amazing time. I got sun, but not too much, so now I look like a golden goddess at work (Just kidding, I’m still pretty pale, but I have a nice added glow). Hope to be back in Queens again soon, for more fun and celebrations. Thank you Unilocal staff and the LIC Flea for a wonderful event, and a fantastic Sunday Funday!

I was super excited for this event since this was my first time coming to the LIC flea.
We got so lucky since it was a beautiful hot sunny day. After checking in and getting my $ 5 token to use with any of the vendors I went to get some complimentary beer. Since I’m not a huge beer fan I tried the honey wheat and I have to say it was really good.
We hung out on the lawn enjoying the beautiful NY skyline views, the warm sun and great conversation with my fellow Unilocalers.
I started to get hungry and went for a walk to explore the food vendors. There was a lot to chose from and while I walked around making my lunch decision I enjoyed a delicious mango ice from Rita’s.
After going around 2x I finally made my decision and went with Butcher Bar and I’m so glad I did. I had the brisket sandwich and it was delicious. I didn’t have an issue using my $ 5 token here not sure why others did or maybe I just got lucky.
Thanks to Jando and LIC Flea for doing this event, I really enjoyed myself

Nice outdoor event with tons of Unilocalers on hand!
Lots of space to move around, great little turf area to sit and have a drink. Got to try some food and drinks from the multiple vendors. It was pretty hot outside, so I was in my natural habitat, loving it!
For this event it was nice to be outdoors and socialize with fellow Unilocalers and some new folks. The view of the Manhattan skyline from here is great.
Thanks to Jando, Nelson and the other Unilocal crew for another great event!

Finally popped my Queens Elite event cherry! And it didn’t hurt one bit. There was a lot of alcohol and sweating involved though. And some double fisting.
Loved the craft beer choices. I always love Finback and Singlecut, Big Alice, and two Queens brewery ones. We definitely did some damage on those kegs, especially with all the +1’s.
LIC Flea itself was also cool. Not as big as other outdoor food festivals, but lots of great and unique choices. Unilocal gave us $ 5 coins to spend on food, and we made good use of em. I finally got to try Butcher Bar!
Thanks to Jando for organizing a wonderful event, and for LIC Flea for hosting us!

Such an awesome way to hangout with Unilocal Elites in the LIC Flea Beer Garden!
I also enjoy the Elites with their dogs too.
The use of Unilocal tokens was a great idea too.
We definitely like the flexibility of eating full dishes from the vendors instead of just small samples.
The check-​in was also better than last year.
We also enjoy visiting the new vendors and their crafts.
Thanks Jando and Unilocal crew.

Beer garden at LIC Flea. The weather was nice. It was a bit hot and muggy, but at least it didn’t rain.
Unilocal sunglasses, a Unilocal bandana, and a $ 5 coin (for use anywhere at LIC Flea), awaited us at the sign-​in table. I forgot my sunglasses at home, and I was kicking myself on my way to the event. Lo and behold, Unilocal bailed me out. Haha
Setup was really nice. We had a roped off area in the back, with Astroturf to sit and relax on. Six beers to choose from, all from local Queens breweries.
Drinks were flowing throughout the event and kept flowing for the two hour event time. I tried most of the beers on tap. My favorites were the single cut and the blueberry beer.
I got to check out LIC Flea for the first time. It was smaller than I expected, but nice nonetheless. Lots of vendors, selling all kinds of items. With my $ 5 coin, I tried a large taro bubble tea for $.25 more. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad. It was just okay. They used natural taro, so it was a bit different from the usual taro bubble tea from your local bubble tea shop. Maybe its an acquired taste? Idk.
It was great seeing everyone and meeting new people.
Thanks Jando and team Unilocal for another great event!

Amazing day for an outdoor event! I’m really into fleas and food festivals, so this was a perfect combination of smörgåsbord food festival and arts+crafts festivals. My only complaint is to the weather gods for saying it’d be cloudy (and possibly rainy!?) — holy crap did I get burnt and wish I wore shorts! Regardless refreshing beers under the Unilocal tent helped cool me down– I tried the queens lager and the honey maple wheat (went back for seconds for the honey maple). My +1 Elliot loved the blueberry beer.
For food I tried:
1) Buffalo Mac&Cheese from southern wheels — delicious!!! Had a little kick to it. Loved the shell noodles and that it had fried chicken mixed in.
2) Thai Meatballs from Thai Fresh– I expected 1 big meatball that wouldn’t fill me up or be worth my $ so I was thrilled they were tiny ones (about 10 of them). Unique flavor, yum. They sold me when I tried samples.
3) Gelato Macaron Sandwiches from WOOPS — I don’t normally go bonkers over macarons like everyone else does but I figured anything with ice cream was a good choice for a hot day– I’m so glad I tried it! Nutella was amazing. Never saw a gelato macaron sandwich so props for the concept and for being one of the vendors that accepted the $ 5 coin we got from Unilocal.
Thanks to Unilocal for organizing this and bringing me somewhere I once again wouldn’t have known about otherwise. Can’t wait to go back.

Fun little event. I usually check out the LIC Flea & Food on the weekends. They have pretty good food vendors but I really like the clothing, furniture, etc vendors.
Anyway, this event was high lighting the craft beer. i tried 3 of the 5:
Queens Blueberry IPA — good IPA, I’m not much for fruit flavors but I liked.
Single cut IPA– very good and strong hoppy flavor. Apricot aroma. Id compare it to Sierra Nevada’s IPA.
Finback IPA — it was ok. A bit bitter, tinny, and the hop flavor was pretty weak.
For food I had the Adana kebab wrap from the turkish street food stand. It was good with a nice amount of spice. The didn’t quite get the $ 5 Unilocal voucher so I saved that for dessert which I got some fried ice cream. I had green tea ice cream with Panko bread crumbs. Very tasty. They had about5 flavors and 3 batters which included Panko, Oreo cookies and cornflakes. Good stuff.
Check it out. Lots of stuff in the area. The waterfront park is gorgeous. If you’re coming from Manhattan id take the ride on the east river ferry but the 7 trains stops a handful of blocks away too.

Elite Excellence
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A beautiful day at the flea for two hours of free flowing Queens brews. The Singlecut IPA was hoppy and I was nearing sloppy after three of em. The blueberry IPA from Queens Brewery was intricate sweet yet strongly refreshing.
Many Unilocalers were sunbathing in the astro-​turf and enjoying the unrelenting sun. I got burnt while filling my belly up with beers galore. I felt extremely sad when the Unilocal beer line was closed three minutes prior to the prescribed 2PM. I guess beer time is 3 minutes faster than real time.
I enjoyed the variety of food vendors and local jewelry, trinket, dessert vendors. The Unilocal bucks were put to good use for the Southern Fried Chicken and Astoria’s Butcher Bar brisket sandwich. The fried chicken was delicious. They brine their chicken for many hours and fry their chicken twice. Double the fry equals double the fun. The slaw was refreshing with a hint of mustardy horseradishy deliciousness. However, the breast was a little dry. Of course, it’s hard to produce a nice moist and juicy breast. The brisket sandwich from Butcher Bar was satisfying but not sensational.
Jando was the usually awesome-​sauce host for this sun-​kissed event. Cheers to still being day-​drunk!

A great Elite event that didn’t have food, hard to believe but true! This event was all about the beer and enjoying the outdoors. The star of the show was Queens beer and there were 5 beers to choose from, all from Queens breweries. There were some great ones, my favorite was the Honey Maple Wheat from Big Alice Brewery, but all the beers offered were high quality.
We each got a gold coin to use at a vendor for a $ 5 price tag which helped to enjoy some great food with the beers. Hank’s Juicy Beef was delicious as was the Ecuadorian pork sandwich.
This was a fun even where everyone was quite relaxed, just enjoying the atmosphere, beer and food. Jando scores high points once again.

Long Island City holds a special place in my heart. Whenever I am driving with my mom and the Citigroup building is in our eye line she always says «Did I ever tell you that’s where I was born? I grew up in Long Island City!». Yes, mom, like a thousand times! (It’s a bit of running joke) For those of you that don’t know the Citigroup building was built on the site of a former hospital (St. John’s Long Island Hospital).
Well those days are long gone now that developers realized just how awesome LIC is and decided to plant large residential buildings along the shoreline like flags — this area has seen a massive transformation. The LIC Flea is clearly a part of those changes, and to my mind, a very positive one!
This event was perfect for me because it truly opened my eyes to all the change in the area. The LIC Flea was no where on my radar and I would not have heard of it otherwise. Now being able to celebrate my discovery with awesome beers all made in Queens on a warm, sunny (part) day just made it perfect.
Beers were all great! I tried Finback’s, Big Alice, and Queens Lager which turned out to be a favorite. It was a good lager with a nice toasty after notes — it hit the spot!
We were also given tokens that were to be for $ 5 off any food item, but talking to other Unilocalers and my own experiences many of the vendors were not honoring them. My wife wound up buying fries at full price — they were worth it, but disappointing the tokens didn’t work like they should. We did use them at Woops, the macaron place so big ups to them!
Big thanks to LIC Flea and Food, and Jando who put together a well run, fun YEE that was custom made for a perfect Queens afternoon! I can’t wait to come back and bring friends to the area!