Bannock Street Garage's Beer-Shot-Cigarette Combo Extinguished...for Now

For years, those in the know who stopped by  Bannock Street Garage could order the "Billy Jack" combo — a PBR and a shot of well whiskey for $7 — and receive a single cigarette on request, too.

The bar at 1015 Bannock Street didn't promote the exchange, and charged customers the same $7 for a Billy Jack whether they opted for a smoke or not. But after a dissatisfied customer left a Google review busting the bar, a city inspector came by the Bannock Street Garage and told staffers that they could no longer give out cigarettes.

According to owner Dino McTaggart, the dissatisfied customer had asked for the Billy Jack combo to be made gluten-free by substituting cider for the PBR. The bar doesn't allow any substitutions on the combo, however, and cider costs considerably more than PBR.

The Google review can still be found online: "My friends and I had heard about one of the specials at this bar and were excited to try it. When we got there, I asked if they had any gluten-free beer options and the bartender said they carry hard cider. So when it was my turn, I asked if I could order the special and just substitute the beer for a cider she’d mentioned. She immediately cut me off with a rude remark and when I tried to clarify, she repeated the same line and ignored me."

According to McTaggart, the bardener's "rude remark" was this: "The Billy Jack is not for you."

As several other Denver institutions have experienced when videos hit, Bannock Street Garage saw an influx of new customers after social media posts about the beer-shot-cigarette combo went viral. Bartenders say the place had become "like LoDo" with a line out the door on Bannock, with people who came just for the special but didn't understand that in the past it had been an if-you-know-you-know situation, with the cigarette something you had to ask for to accompany the bar's only combo.

Those social media videos are what landed the bar in trouble, McTaggart says; the inspector told the bar that while it wasn't illegally selling tobacco products, it was essentially advertising a tobacco product — which is illegal. While Bannock Street Garage never made any social media posts, the viral videos counted against the bar anyway, McTaggart adds.

According to the Department of Excise & Licenses, the official city notice of violation was for selling tobacco outside of the packaging provided by the manufacturer, in addition to providing tobacco to customers without the proper licensing.

For now, the cigarette element of the combo is on standby, but the bar plans to bring back the cigarettes by purchasing a tobacco license. That will cost the bar around $1,500, McTaggart says, so the plan is to raise the price of the combo to $8 in order to keep tradition going.

Though McTaggart and his wife only bought Bannock Street Garage in 2019, the free cigarette add-on to the Billy Jack has been a deal for twenty years, dating back to when the bar opened as the Garage. So he isn't about to let one mad customer and a few social media posts deter them now, McTaggart says.

It hasn't been an easy few weeks for the McTaggarts; their other bar, Cap City Tavern, closed on July 27. Cap City still had five years on its lease when the Clyfford Still Museum bought the property at 1247 Bannock; the McTaggarts purchased Bannock Street Garage to guarantee they'd be able to keep a bar on the strip.

In a Facebook post, the McTaggarts listed factors beyond the lease for Cap City's closure, though: "The increase in minimum wage, cost of food, and the taxes and fees that the city of Denver is imposing on restaurants has become too much to bear. Sadly, we are not alone, as the community of independently owned restaurants in Denver is literally going extinct. We thank you for all the memories you’ve made with us."

At least the memories, and the cigarettes, will continue on at Bannock Street Garage.