It is always five o’clock somewhere, right? Time for a sip at the bar or at the pop up shop.
Bedstuy residents had a chance to indulge in a bit of art and delicious sangria courtesy of Cocktail Row Spirits LLC’s pop up shop at the House of Art Gallery on Marcus Garvey Boulevard between Halsey and Macon streets on Saturday, Jan. 9.
Featuring two sangrias, an Apple Cider and Pear Ginger flavor, patrons tasted, mingled, and purchased bottles to take home to continue indulging.
Owner and Bedstuy native, Nicole Rowland, returned home to host her first Brooklyn-based pop up shop – the only way New Yorkers can sample her sangria as she awaits her liquor shipping license.
According to Rowland, “I’m based out of Washington, DC, at this time but I’m from Bedstuy and I wanted to be able to do a pop up shop because I have a pending liquor shipping license right now. The only way people can taste and purchase the sangria at this time is through the pop up shops.”
Brittany McCrory traveled from Harlem to attend the event after learning of it on the popular event site, IDont
According to their Facebook page, Cocktail Row Spirits LLC “is a boutique wine and spirits company offering sangria and other spirited beverages during the holiday season.”
Operating under the LLC umbrella officially for a year now and celebrating their one-year LLC anniversary Jan. 7, Rowland was excited to bring her seasonal flavors to her Brooklyn home — particularly at the gallery where the Frank Morrison exhibit added another layer of attraction for those attending.
“I am so happy I was able to use the House of Art Gallery because the Frank Morrison exhibit is so awesome and I think it creates a cool space for everyone to commune, see the art and purchase the sangria if they wanted to,” Rowland said.
According to Bronx resident Jennifer Hunter, “It was nice to have something else to grab your attention.”
Rowland’s sangria started as her potluck contribution at parties. Playing with seasonal flavors blossomed into this new business where she offers flavors utilizing fruits that fit the weather such as her white peach sangria, blackberry, and upcoming strawberry basil all available in the summer.
“I actually wanted to try and infuse seasonal fruits so that it can be fresh as opposed to it being packaged fruit or frozen fruit,” Rowland explained. “It started off in the summer, I remixed recipes and made it my own so Blackberry is my original flavor.”
As she awaits clearances to begin delivering her sangria throughout the world, Rowland is keeping her audience updated via her website with new pop up shop dates and locations.
“There will be more information on cockt
