This month, Denton’s premium craft beer bottle shop The Bearded Monk switched state licenses, from selling beer and wine only to serving full liquor (spirits, cocktails, mixed drinks). This change is certainly a shift in their business model, but what does it mean for craft beer fans and consumers?
Local business leader, Denton ambassador and craft beer bon vivant Ben Esley opened The Bearded Monk in 2015 in a shared commercial space directly across from the main post office on McKinney Avenue. His original concept was as “Denton’s first, craft beer only, bottle shop and growler fill bar” (from the website, now sounding a bit dated) selling packaged beer to-go as well as a select number of draft options to enjoy on-site. His package store anchors what has become known as “Beer Alley,” a driveway running between his building and Denton County Brewing Company that has become a focus for vendors and events just outside the busier orbit of the courthouse square.
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) offers many commercial licenses regarding alcohol sales, with some long-overdue significant revisions and consolidations in 2021. Only two types are of interest here: the Wine & Malt Beverage Retailer’s Permit (BG) and the Mixed Beverages Permit (MB), with the Monk upgrading from the former to the latter. The retailer’s BG license permits the sale of beer, wine, cider, and mead (in short, brewed but not distilled, and with a lower ABV cap), and the mixed beverages MB permit allows the sale of both brewed and distilled beverages (beer, wine, spirits, no limits).*
So why wouldn’t any business just opt for the MB permit from the start? First, it is the substantially more expensive license, more restrictive in some ways, and the choice of licensing must fit with the overall concept and execution of the commercial enterprise. For a solely craft beer bar and package store fresh on the local bar scene, such an expense was not justified when The Bearded Monk opened a decade ago. However, times are changing.
“Well, so we’re seeing a shift in consumer demand,” says Esley. Craft beer sales as well as overall alcohol consumption have been declining in the US in recent years, with the exact causes still unclear. Likewise, many critics point to an oversaturated marketplace, where increased distribution has provided an abundance of craft beer choices on a national scale with even chain groceries now stocked full of domestic and imported brands. “But there’s so many great options out there that the demand [for craft beer] has kind of leveled off.”
The change is also a response to a longstanding trend of those who accompany craft beer fans, often not fans of beer themselves or preferring other beverage choices. “We have those dedicated beer drinkers that are growing up now,” says Esley, “but… we’ve had people that were confused about this place from day one. ‘Can I get a Miller Light and a shot of vodka?’ Like, oh no, Boss, we’ve had to explain that through TABC, if you have liquor, you got to be [either] a [retail] store or a bar. We have both, so we can’t have liquor.”
“You’ve got to have something for everybody, or you’ve got to educate the people. And you’ll never educate them if they never come in.”
The two licenses also bring with them slightly different restrictions, none major but often annoyingly enforceable by a procedurally zealous TABC. Customers at the Monk are used to buying packaged beer to-go; the new license does not allow off-premise sales, even of sealed containers. Customers are used to buying a draft beverage and walking around the square (Denton never passed an open-container ordinance, so walking beers are legal in the downtown area); however, the new license also does not allow purchases to leave the bar. The sometimes fluid picnic-table seating in Beer Alley has become a more strictly defined space, especially as the days of casually taking beverages back and forth to DCBC is at an end.
“That’s been a decade of that. We’ve been an anomaly. So why [change]? Why fight it? Why not just move forward?” says Esley. “We’ve been talking about this for a couple of years. Like, the first conversation about this was just after Covid.” Other than the legal paperwork, very little has changed in the physical space inside the Monk. The rows of packaged beer are obviously gone, repurposed for tables and additional seating, and the coolers now house only non-alcoholic THC beverages, a rising market that is not (yet) regulated by the TABC and exempt from all licenses.
The changes to the business actually began months ago with the addition of “mocktails,” a new class of beverages mixed like cocktails but without including any alcohol. Obviously not requiring any license, Esley and his team began experimenting with mocktail recipes and service over the summer, which provided a dry run in anticipation of a real liquor-based menu. “Well, you know, we can kind of test these waters if so many of us are going sober drinking. Why not? Let me design a mocktail program. We can see how to use the space. We can look at logistics of ordering. We can look at logistics of creation back here [behind the bar]. And we can train up these beer people.”
The Bearded Monk is not the first dedicated craft beer establishment to make this very public licensing switch, which can bring with it some concerns from loyal consumers. This shift in focus can sometimes be perceived by the craft beer faithful as a move of desperation, a struggling business searching for additional sources of revenue. Consumers also worry about a change in the customer base, with a more liquor-friendly crowd pushing out craft beer fans and the business responding in kind with new products and a new focus. Whether the demographics shift by any significant measure—and whether that impacts craft beer availability at this establishment—is always something to watch.
However, Esley does not seem daunted by the change, and plans to embrace cocktails and mocktails with an enthusiasm equal to what he brings to American craft beer. “So we’re adding another product for a market that’s generally not coming, and bring the same sort of salesmanship to it and advocacy and creativity. Yeah… that’s one of our big ones, education and being creative, being different.” The juices for originality are already pumping, with new mixed drinks currently under development for the upcoming month of Halloween in Denton.
“You’ve got to have something for everybody, or you’ve got to educate the people. And you’ll never educate them if they never come in.” PH
* Denton County Brewing possesses a separate Brewpub License (BP), which allows them to manufacture (brew) beer on-site and sell their products at retail point-of-sale. Liquor sales are also not included with a BP license.
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