A Breakdown Of How Much Money Was Spent On Booze At The Top Bars, Clubs, Restaurants, Venues And Hotels Within Dallas Proper In December 2019.

Welcome to Bar Raised, our recurring column that proves that Texans like to spend copious amounts of their income participating in the Great American Pastime. We know this because, as Reddit user BadLemur once pointed out, the Texas Comptroller keeps tabs on that sort of thing and makes all that info public record. Any establishment in the state that holds a Mixed Beverage license must report all sales revenue generated from the sale of liquor, beer and wine at their establishments on a monthly basis. The comptroller, in turn, puts all that info into a conveniently navigable database. And then we break down Dallas’ numbers for you here.

Soon as Dallas’ bar sales figures for November were posted last month, we knew there was a better-than-zero chance that the amount of money spent on booze in the city in 2019 was going to top 2018’s $898,384,011 total.

In order to top last year’s numbers — the highest annual count we’ve seen since launching this recurring look into Dallas’ drinking economy in 2015 — bars within city limits simply had to combine for $73.5 million in December sales. And simple it was, indeed: In the final month of 2019, Dallas bars, clubs, restaurants, venues and hotels combined for a total of $81,899,745 in liquor sales.

Added to the rest of the year’s monthly totals, that adds up to a cool $906,840,138 on the year — a record, best as we can tell at this point

So, uh, cheers to that! In the coming days and/or weeks, rest assured that we’ll further break down the Year in Dallas Drinking, as we’re wont to annually do.

For now, though, let’s just look at what this month’s nearly $82 million in Dallas alcohol sales represents.

For starters, it’s worth noting that it was the third-highest bar sales month of the year, trailing only March’s $85.1 million total and October’s $82.4 million figure.

What accounts for that? Well, it’s safe to say that the professional winter sports season had something to do with it: Not only was the American Airlines Center the top booze-seller of December with a cool $1.5 million in liquor sales thanks to a regular schedule of Stars and Mavs games, but its next-door neighbor Hero checked in with more almost half a million in sales of its own — the result of fans’ pre- and post- game imbibing, no doubt. Though it’s a perennial top 20 finisher in these rankings, it would also stand to reason that the nearby Happiest Hour’s $743,709 in December bar sales too owed at least a little to its AAC proximity.

Meanwhile, the rest of December’s top 20 sellers list looks… uh, kinda a lot like it has in recent months, actually.

Deep Ellum’s Bottled Blonde remained a forced to be reckoned with, North Dallas eatertainment spot Sidecar Social continued to outperform us city center dwellers’ expectations up on Belt Line Road, and popular steakhouses like Nick & Sam’s, Al Biernat’s and Pappas Bros. continued on pairing expensive bottles of wine with their pricey cuts of meat.

The only moderate surprise here, we’d say, is the slightly stronger-than-usual hotel bar sales — although that much seems like it could be logically chalked up to the holiday season, somehow. Right? Seems it.

Hey, you got a better answer? Check out the below list. Then, by all means, give us a shout with your theories.

Dallas Establishments With Top Gross Alcohol Sales For December 2019:

  1. LEVY RESTAURANTS (American Airlines Center): $1,515,355
  2. BOTTLED BLONDE- THE BACK YARD: $1,107,802
  3. OMNI DALLAS CONVENTION CENTER: $866,166
  4. HOSPITALITY INTERNATIONAL INC (The Ritz-Carlton): $762,094
  5. EPIC ABS LLC (The Statler): $756,764
  6. HAPPIEST HOUR, LLC: $743,709
  7. SALC, INC. (Hilton Anatole): $739,689
  8. NICK & SAM’S STEAK & FISH HOUSE: $691,039
  9. DFB CAPITAL LLC (Katy Trail Ice House): $540,014
  10. SIDECAR SOCIAL: $499,630
  11. COOL RIVER CAFE CRC01 (Dallas Love Field Airport): $498,392
  12. HERO: $498,213
  13. JOULE BEVERAGE LLC (The Joule): $472,445
  14. BABY DOLLS TOPLESS SALOON: $471,357
  15. BIERNAT’S RESTAURANT (Al Biernat’s): $469,278
  16. HOUSE OF BLUES DALLAS RESTAURANT CORP: $455,145
  17. PAPPAS BROS STEAKHOUSE: $450,904
  18. TE DESEO: $432,631
  19. ROUNDUP SALOON: $430,429
  20. MANSION ON TURTLE CREEK: $425,561

Total alcohol sales in Dallas in December 2019: $81,899,745
November 2019 total: $76,287,050.

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