Each week City of Ate will give you the lowdown on a local happy hour in Quittin' Time, with the details and why you should or shouldn't take up the featured bar or restaurant on its drink specials.
Where: The Old Monk, 2847 N. Henderson Ave.
When: Mondays through Thursdays, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Friday 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
What: $1 off all draft beers, $1 off wells and calls, $1 off domestic longnecks
Why: At most bars, $1 off drafts during happy hour isn't a deal worth getting too excited about. Sure, a buck off your choice of Coors Light, Bud Light or Miller Lite is nice -- but it means you have to drink Coors Light, Bud Light or Miller Lite. For a true beer lover at Old Monk, though, the discount is like sending a kid into a candy store and then giving him or her a coupon. Coupling that with savings on the great Irish and Scotch whiskeys available makes this one of our favorite happy hours in town.
Owner Feargal McKinney, a native of the Emerald Isle, and his partners have recreated a European-style pub in Dallas, and the selection of whiskeys and import beers shows it. As for beer, there are the Guinness and Harp, as you'd expect -- nay, demand -- from an Irishman, and Dallas requisites Stella Artois and Blue Moon. But the dozen-plus taps also include ciders, Maredsous 8, Hoegaarden, Smithwicks and featured beers on rotator taps--one of which is always from Belgium. Whiskeys include about 20 single-malt Scotches, plus premium Irish whiskeys and Kentucky bourbons.
The low light, dark wood paneling, snug booths, patio and beautiful hardwood bar all create the kind of open, welcoming environment that is pretty much the opposite of a fluorescent-lighted beige cubicle.
Oh, and by the way--McKinney and operations director David Allen just opened a new bar and restaurant to join the Old Monk/Dubliner/Idle Rich/BlackFriar family, as you may have read over on the music blog. Renfield's Corner (2603 Routh St.) offers the same $1 discount on drafts, wells and calls plus $2.75 domestic longnecks from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. The selection there favors American craft brews over imports, though Guinness is also available.
