GARLAND, TEXAS

Proud beer-centric restaurant chain, FLYING SAUCER DRAUGHT EMPORIUM, opened its waterfront operation in Garland, Texas, during 2007. Over a decade hence, this Lake Ray Hubbard-bound establishment continues to thrive.

Inside an expansive freestanding red brick building next to Hooters and Primo’s, Flying Saucer’s busy interior is filled with plastic UFO-like saucers, brewery insignias, elegant china and glazed wood furnishings. An outside deck and windowed pale green-shingled porch (with block wood antique tables and red slate floor) sit alongside the waterside.

Visited April 2018 on a windy Saturday afternoon, its impressive 80-plus draughts don a penny-backed wall unit. A stainless-steeled kitchen alongside the curly 30-seat bar serves anything from pork bellies to goat cheese salad. A large bottled-canned beer selection fills a fridge. There’s a definite sportsbar atmosphere.

During my hour-long stay, quaffed previously untried Texas brews St. Arnold’s 5 O’Clock Pils, Martin House Friday IPA and Wild Acre Billy Jenkins Dunkelbock as well as Utah’s Epic Son Of A Baptist Stout (all fully reviewed in Beer Index).

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