New York

Free Beer

When a deal seems too good to be true, the alarm bells go off -- can I really get 20 CDs for 99 cents? And that includes Fleetwood Mac's Greatest Hits? And Throwing Copper? But the thing is, you could! Now, the Columbia House of Alcohol: ClickLinksForFreeDrinks.com.

A just-launched site from several tech-preneurs and the pint pushers at Pourhouse, Click is basically giving away 10,000 hours of hour-long open bars to anyone who asks, turning what was once a fishbowl lottery prize into a net-enabled, boozy entitlement. Setting yourself up's easy: choose preferred venue (both Pourhouse locations or SideBar for now, with more options to come), date and time, then enter your email address and the addresses of up to ten fellow partyers -- which Click promises they'll only use to notify of upcoming drinking events (as opposed to selling them, or sending you dumb blonde jokes meticulously organized then emailed in a hulking PowerPoint file). After submitting, you'll get an email confirmation entitling you to one hour of gratis Bud, Bud Light, and well drinks; each invitee can go on to host one open bar at each venue on the site -- for 33hrs of bottoms-up with your tight group, and some guy in your Outlook who you don't know but whose first name is also Justin.

Soon, Click'll add other beers to the roster, and'll roll out its own comprehensive, Myopenbar-like search to track down the rest of the city's free hooch -- unless, before that happens, they collapse under the weight of their own beer-amid scheme.

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