A Forest Hills couple has founded a group that looks to bring together Jewish New Yorkers and their love for a cold glass of beer.
Rebecca Dauer and Michael Israel are the founders behind the group Jews and Brews NYC, which was started through Meetup.com over a year ago.
Jews and Brews NYC aims to bring Jewish New Yorkers closer together through creating friendships, romances and professional networking by having members engage in fun events and activities.
“There isn’t an agenda so people don’t feel like this is a religious event or dating event,” Dauer said. “It’s a group of Jewish people getting together that want to have a good time.”
The idea of the group came up when Dauer made the move to New York from Boston more than four years ago and found it was hard to find outlets in her new city that would connect her with other Jewish people without having to go on dating sites or dating meetups.
Dauer and her fiancé then started the group about a year ago and what first started as a small gathering has blown up to having close to 600 members from throughout the city.
“We’re really looking to build a community and have like-minded individuals come together,” she said. “When I started Jews and Brews, I was looking to make friends and I accomplished that while bringing people together.”
For the meetups, which take place once or twice per month and usually on Thursday nights, Dauer finds bars, beer halls and breweries throughout New York City where group members can sample draft and bottled beers.
The group plans to organize future events including festivals, Shabbat dinners, wine tastings and baseball games.
Although most events have taken place outside of Queens, Dauer plans to hosts more meetups in the borough she calls home. The group recently met up in Forest Hills and Dauer hopes to have an event scheduled for June in Astoria.
“Queens has so much to offer and because the group now is so close knit, if we do it in Queens people will absolutely make the trek over here,” Dauer said.
For more information or to sign up for Jews and Brews NYC visit www.meetup.com/Jews-and-Brews-NYC.
RECOMMENDED STORIES
