If you're a walking, breathing human being, you surely know what April 14 is: the premiere of Game of Thrones, the HBO's worldwide sensation series which is, tragically, now on its final season.
The importance of this pop culture event cannot be overstated, and one Dallas bar is pulling out the stops to mark it in style.
Ill Minster Pub, the London-themed bar located in a dark nook beneath the Gables Villa Rosa apartment complex, has transformed itself into a GoT museum of sorts, with tableaus, vignettes, and installations that are dedicated to Game of Thrones memorabilia.
Co-owner Chris Beardon says that he and his partners are all fans of the show, and decided to make it a theme.
"It was my business partner Jay's idea," Beardon says. "He suggested we do something for the final season, and we all thought it was a great idea since we all love the show."
It seems like a natural for this bar, which already has a medieval underground-cave ambience that lends itself perfectly to recreating the show's centuries-old milieu.
"It's the final season, so we decided to give it the going-away it deserved," he says. "We'll be throwing watch parties and doing fun weekly promotions, costume contests, and events."
Beardon says they sourced all of the decor themselves.
There are busts of key characters Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister, and Daenerys Targaryen propped atop a fireplace mantel. There's a stockade of skulls in a corner, which, yes, look a little Halloweeny, but they also reference the show's "white walker" skeletal dead — come on, let's cut them some slack here.
There's even a miniature version of the famed Lannister throne, perfect for Instagram. "Hey, I'm Cersei!"
There is also a Game of Thrones cocktail menu, with drinks such as King of the North, with vodka, strawberry, lemon, and champagne; Creepy Littlefinger, with vodka, elderflower liqueur, lemon, and muddled cucumbers; and The Red Woman, with bourbon, ginger liqueur, and Compari.
Dallas bars turning themselves into TV shows already has a precedent: In January, Whippersnapper temporarily turned itself into The Drunken Clam, a fictional bar from Family Guy.
"We are doing this because we genuinely love the show and want to honor the season finale," Beardon says.
GoT bust presides over the bar.
