Dallas' own
Bishop Cider Co. and Cidercade
has plans to take its bar and retro gaming complex statewide with new locations set to open in Houston and Austin. Like the Design District complex - which debuted back in 2016 as a
before
receiving its stock of arcade games
a few months later - the brand's two new locations will unite gaming and beverages under a single roof. A grand total of about 40 different ciders and wines will be on tap at each of the new venues, which will also include their own on-site production facilities.
In Houston's EaDo neighborhood (short for East Downtown), the 18,000-square-foot former industrial building the cider company plans to take over "is kind of a blank slate for us," says Joel Malone, who owns Bishop Cider Co., the brewing operation behind the
arcade. Already stripped down by the landlord, its interior will soon house about 300 arcade games. The planned Austin location, on Riverside Drive between South Congress and I-35, will be a bit smaller, with room for roughly 250 games. Malone hopes both spots will be open by the end of this year.
"When I started," Malone says, "you'd be lucky to find cider in a bottle or a can." Now with a lineup of its own canned offerings available in retail stores, the cider company plans to use each new location "as kind of our R&D facility for what we decide to put out onto the market at a larger scale."
Crackberry, the company's flagship cider with hints of cranberry and blackberry, is the benchmark Malone uses when evaluating the success of new brews. "If it can beat that consistently, then why not throw it in a can and put it out there?"
Bishop Cidercade is located at 2777 Irving Blvd., Suite 200, Dallas.