In the club

San Antonio club drinks up top 10 spot among best gay bars in U.S.

San Antonio's Pegasus reigns as Texas' most popular gay bar.

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Step aside, Austin, Dallas, and Houston. San Antonio is home to Texas' fiercest gay bar.

San Antonio’s Pegasus nightclub, which opened in 1994, holds court as the 10th most popular gay bar in the U.S. and the most popular gay bar in the Lone Star State. That’s based on data collected by Gravy Analytics, a location-based marketing platform that tracks mobile data to verify attendance at places and events throughout the U.S. This list tracks patronage of gay bars from November 1, 2017 through October 31, 2018.

In its report on the Gravy Analytics list, news website NewNowNext describes Pegasus as “one of the friendliest venues in the city,” featuring drag performances, karaoke, and dancing. Despite its crowning achievement this year, Pegasus did move down two spots from the 2018 list.

Pegasus has also made other news recently — but for very different reasons.

Last year, the bar’s owner, Mauro Garza, ran as a Republican candidate for Texas’ 21st Congressional District, a spot vacated by fellow Republican Lamar Smith of San Antonio. Amid the criticism, Garza defended his record as an advocate for the LGBTQ community. Garza came in 15th place in the March 2018 Republican primary for the congressional seat, garnering less than 1 percent of the votes.

Later, in October 2018, three people were wounded in a shooting at Pegasus. Officials say the shooting was a random act of violence carried out by an angry bar customer and was not classified as a hate crime.

Overall, Texas made a strong showing in the Gravy Analytics rankings, with Pegasus and eight other bars around the state showing up in the top 50. Dallas was well-represented with three entries on the list, including long-running neighborhood bars The Mining Company (No. 11); The Round-Up Saloon (No. 32); and Hidden Door (No. 46).

Houston also scored three nods. Montrose’s Ripcord (No. 23) and Blue Bar (No. 28) returned to the list from 2018. Rich’s Houston, billed as the city’s largest dance club catering to LBGTQ clientele, made its first appearance at No. 39.

Bout Time II clocks in as Austin’s No. 1 bar on the list at No. 36. Rain on 4th, one of the fixtures of the city’s Warehouse District, lands at No. 48 — a drop of 20 spots from 2018.

lists nightlife rankings

Shining New Cocktails

Home of Shiner Bock breaks ground on cocktail lounge and restaurant

Spoetzl Brewery cocktail lounge restaurant

Rendering courtesy of Spoetzl Brewery

The new cocktail lounge and restaurant will add lots of space for trying the new distillery's products.

Although Spoetzl Brewery is best known for its regionally iconic beer Shiner Bock, its new distillery has opened up a whole new world of drinking possibilities. One of those is a new cocktail lounge and restaurant on the Spoetzl Brewery property, which will soon be drawing folks from both sides of the beer and spirits aisle. Construction started September 6 with a groundbreaking ceremony.

Shiner Bock is named for the town of Shiner, located roughly between San Antonio and Houston, and with a population of only 2,173 as of 2022. The brew is locally known for its accessibility and nostalgia factor, although plenty of people simply enjoy it for its earthy, lightly hoppy flavor.

Now on the independent Spoetzl spirits roster are a vodka, a gin, and a grain mash blend. As of September 2024, visitors can tour the distillery and speakeasy for 45 minutes which includes a flight of Shiner craft spirits — but the new build stands out proudly from the current offerings and expands the property's capacity for cocktail lovers.

Spoetzl Brewery cocktail lounge restaurant Renderings also calls this building a tasting room.Rendering courtesy of Spoetzl Brewery

This new space will be on the brewery's premises, and despite a different approach (call it a different spirit), it still looks like what most Texans would expect from a brewery or distillery. The 8,500-square-foot project includes a large, black barn in a very contemporary style, which flips the script from the brewery's white, Mission Revival style and industrial architecture.

Spanning the cocktail lounge, a restaurant with a full kitchen, a private event space, and a covered patio, it'll provide seating for more than 200 visitors, and standing room for more than 300. Like the rest of the property, it'll be available to tours and tastings, but it also has some cozy elements to inspire longer stays, like an indoor fireplace and outdoor fire pits.

A retail shop sets guests up with bottles to bring home, and an exclusive VIP area shows off barrel picks. (Those are bottles that come from a specific barrel, which may have flavor variations compared to other barrels or the regular product).

Spoetzl Brewery cocktail lounge restaurant Hey, look! Parking!Rendering courtesy of Spoetzl Brewery

Although somewhat more tangential to this announcement than news of the distillery's opening, that project in 2023 also included the addition of a new barbecue spot that's only open around lunchtime. Details about the forthcoming full-scale restaurant don't include what kind of food the restaurant would serve; but the existing dining already has brisket, pulled pork, sausage, chicken, pork ribs, and sides covered.

Rendering courtesy of Spoetzl Brewery

The new cocktail lounge and restaurant will add lots of space for trying the new distillery's products.

The team has not shared information yet on when the project is expected to be completed, but the groundbreaking did happen as scheduled — so things seem to be on track so far.

More information about Spoetzl Brewery and Distillery is available at shiner.com.

shiner beer openings cocktails