Deer Park Bottle Shop Rings In 'Best of LI' Awards 2nd Year In A Row

DEER PARK, NY — When Mark Doublet went out to local bars, he felt that something was missing.

The dietician and home brewer enjoyed sampling a variety of beers from all around Long Island. But variety stopped at a certain point, he said.

"You can go to a brewery and try a bunch of styles, but there's no way you can really find multiple breweries and multiple styles," he said. "For somebody like myself that likes to try a lot of different things, there was nowhere like that around here."

So in June 2019 — only three weeks before his first son was born — Doublet opened Hop Scotch Bottle Shop, a craft beer bottle shop that rotates local and independent breweries each month.

Today, Doublet's problem-solving has paid off. The Deer Park business was awarded Best Beer Garden and Best Bar For Day Drinking on Long Island for the second consecutive year.

"Growing up, on Long Island, Best of Long Island has been around for like ever," he said. "So just the mere fact that we were eligible to be voted upon in any of the categories last year, it was amazing."

Doublet told Patch that as a bottle shop serves as a "hybrid" bar, where customers can purchase drinks in a single bottle and either drink on the premises or take it to go. He said he learned of the concept while traveling through other states before opening the bar for inspiration.

"It's an assortment of over 100 bottles and cans, we have 10 drafts constantly rotating," he said. "There was nothing really like that here on Long Island."

The Deer Park resident works with six different beer distributors to constantly choose the next set of rotations, he said.

Hop Scotch Bottle Shop also features ciders, wines, seltzers, as well as rotations of two special grilled cheeses each month. Thanks to Doublet's childhood friend and manager, Chef Ryan Brymer, you never know what delicious flavor will come next.

Last year, it won Best Grilled Cheese on Long Island.

"We have a ravioli, grilled cheese, a buffalo mac and cheese. We've done it everything from Mexican to Italian to American inspired," he said. "So you name it."

The bar also offers different memberships for its biggest beer enthusiasts. Based off three different price ranges, members can receive discounted purchases, "first dibs" on new beer that comes into rotations, and a monthly growler. The business also hosts an annual party to celebrate its members.

"It's a really great community," he said. "It's a small niche community. People love beer, talking about beer, and experiencing new things."

The memberships and the concepts of single bottles truly helped his business when the pandemic hit, Doublet said. Like many stores, it went from in-person sales to online sales in two days.

"Basically in all Suffolk County, we were making deliveries of food and beer," he said. "We just went to social media, constantly posting emails, posting videos, anyway where we could reach people in order to let them know that we were there."

Today, the program has about 100 members.

Luckily, Hop Scotch Bottle Shop was able to pull through and continue serving the neighborhood.

Doublet, a long-time Deer Park resident, said it's a beautiful thing to share one's passion where you live.

"It's an amazing town that's got really incredible people," he said. "There's a lot of people here in Deer Park that were born and raised and still are here. It's got like that hometown feel."

This "hometown" atmosphere may be one of the reasons why so many people love the outdoor beer garden, he said.

Hop Scotch Bottle Shop opens during the day and closes latest at 10 p.m. on the weekends, making it a perfect spot for families and enjoying a refreshing, afternoon drink.

"It's really revolved around families and people that just like to enjoy coming to a quiet spot." he said.

The "laid back" environment is free of televisions, and instead features picnic tables, corn hole, and planters. Most of the decor was managed by Doublet and his father-in-law.

"There are these beautiful planters that have all these very long grass during the spring," he said. "So you don't even realize that you're sitting on a main road."

The business also hosts different events throughout the month, from a Paint N'Pour, to a March Madness Best Brewery contest.

"You don't need to go to Bay Shore or Patchogue or Babylon Village, not that they're amazing areas as well." he said. "But now we have something that generally close to home right here in Deer Park."

To learn more about Hop Scotch Bottle Shop, visit their website here.