The folks running Flying Saucer Draught Emporium in Addison tell its fans “no tears in your beers,” but there are bound to be some sniffles, at least: The 25-year-old beer bar is closing after business on Dec. 31.
Flying Saucer was one of the earliest craft beer bars in North Texas, and its loyal fans, called “beer knurds,” would drive from far and wide to buy rare brews.
Owner-operator Shannon Wynne says the lease was up and he’s decided not to renew it. He wants the bar to have a big patio, but city of Addison rules would require them to add parking to accommodate the patio, and Wynne says there isn’t room.
“We really have no other place to turn,” Wynne says.
While he’d been wanting a patio there for years, the coronavirus pandemic pushed the issue. Public health officials say COVID-19 is harder to transmit when people gather in outdoor spaces, and Wynne says he would have liked to offer customers a bigger outdoor space.
The Flying Saucer in Addison is the second in the portfolio, after the original in Fort Worth opened in 1994. Over the years, Saucers have flown into Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Memphis, Nashville, Little Rock and more.
Three Saucers remain in North Texas: in Fort Worth, on Lake Ray Hubbard and at Cypress Waters.
The bar was named after a tiny restaurant Wynne visited in San Francisco nearly three decades ago.
Flying Saucers gained a sizeable following because the bar gamified the craft-beer experience. Those who joined the UFO Club could log the beers they drank, and once customers reached 200 beers, they were named to the bar’s “Ring of Honor” and were given a gold plate to hang on the wall.
The plates offered bragging rights. And a reason for beer knurds to keep coming back.
Customers can pick up their Ring of Honor plates — and you can bet they’ll want them — Jan. 1 through 15, from 2 to 6 p.m. The team in Addison has already heard from out-of-towners who are sending a family member or friend to pick up a plate.
Anyone who joined the UFO Club can keep drinking toward their 200-beer goal at other Saucers.
Wynne says he’ll miss the loyalty of the bar’s longtime fans.
“It’s really one of those ‘Cheers’ places: Everybody knows the other beer knurds,” he says.
Flying Saucer Draught Emporium is at 14999 Montfort Drive, Addison. It closes after service on Dec. 31, 2020.
