Rocky Point Artisan Brewers

The story begins with a pint of beer — the first pint of beer poured from the taps of Long Island’s newest beer bar; the place is called The Green Lion. Actually, the story started way before that when I signed the lease papers and started renovating the place. I wanted Long Neck to have a real pub, a comfortable place where people could hang out, chat, play a game of darts with their mates, and let their hair down.

There are no TVs in The Green Lion. That was a difficult one. Everyone said I was crazy. Gotta have TVs they said. I decided that I didn’t want to compete with Tommy’s. That’s were people go to watch the game. But what about the rest of us? The folks that don’t want to watch the game. Who just want some peace and quiet and a good pint of beer?

People that have seen the business plan have told me that I’ll be lucky if The Green Lion is open for more than a month. I figure that it will last until the end of the year at least. If nothing else, the experience might give me enough material for another novel.

We opened the doors for business on Friday, 5 September. The night before we had a party for everyone we knew. It was our launch party. I say our because I couldn’t have done it without Denise. How many wives would agree to let their husbands do something as crazy as opening a pub in downtown Long Neck? At least I can walk to work now.

The buzz at the bar that first Friday of official business was the storm headed for Long Island. Tropical Storm Hannah was on her way. There was a very successful sushi bar I used to frequent when I lived in Florida. They opened the night Earl hit. Earl was only a category I, but he blew plenty of limbs down and dumped a bunch of water on us.

Hannah arrived at around four in the afternoon just as I was getting the pub ready. Even though it wasn’t really a storm, not by my standards, it was enough to keep the place quiet for most of the night. My buddy Mike showed up around 10 wearing knee-high waders and a navy blue slicker. “First one’s on the house,” I said.

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