A Dallas Brewery Explains How it Prepared to Reopen in a Health Crisis

As Texas breweries received permission to begin reopening, individual business owners had to grapple with a difficult question: How do you safely open an alcohol-dependent business during a health crisis? Many local breweries delayed their openings to spend more time contemplating that question. Welcoming the public back into a taproom…

Get on a Bike, Then Get Some of Dallas’ Best Beer

The need to distance during the COVID-19 pandemic combined with people working from home or not working at all, combined with cabin fever, has created an unprecedented demand for trails and parks. Major cities around the world have responded to this demand by closing streets to automotive traffic to make…

Despite Governor’s Order, Bars Cannot Reopen

I can’t believe I’ve been writing about this for a month, but the deeper we looked into the mess that is the state’s approach to alcohol sales in the pandemic, the more confusing and disturbing it became. We wrote about when the governor said mixed drinks were allowed and TABC…

With Wine Sales Skyrocketing, Why Not Help Out Local Businesses?

Apparently, online alcohol sales in the U.S. have jumped 243% during the coronavirus pandemic. Specific to wine, online sales are up 66%. Har, har, people like wine and they’re consuming more of it while they’re “working from home” all day, every day as we try to flatten the coronavirus curve…

Once Dependent on Selling to Bars, Peticolas Moves Forward With a New Plan

Peticolas Brewing Company has an excellent process for curbside pickup, probably the best I’ve experienced. And though its owner is grateful for the chance to keep business flowing because of that curbside plan, the company isn’t immune from coronavirus-fueled economic anxiety. On March 16, when Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson announced…

The Governor Promises Us Cocktails, TABC Refuses

Government officials’ attempts to mitigate the extreme damage done to alcohol-selling businesses by new COVID-19-related regulations and by stubborn enforcement of old three-tier regulations have been inconsistent, confusing and difficult to explain. They’re also not working. March 15, a date that now feels like a year ago, Dallas County Judge…

Throwdown: Spicy Pickle Beers

Here’s something few, and more likely, absolutely zero, North Texas craft beer lovers thought they would either utter themselves or read about only a few years ago: Not all spicy pickle beers are created the same. Now, for those who have been paying close attention to what’s going on west…