A little more than a year ago, Lebanon, Tenn.-based Cracker Barrel Old Country Store rolled out a pilot program to add limited beer and wine offerings to close to 100 stores, including a couple dozen in Tennessee. Tapping into the desire for boozier breakfasts, Cracker Barrel has expanded the program and its offerings to more than 500 stores.
In addition to six varieties of beer, sangria, orange and strawberry mimosas and sparkling and white wines, they’ve added a new limited-time “cocktail” menu. Those quotes are due to the fact that Cracker Barrel locations generally do not have licenses to serve hard liquor, just beer and wine. That means the cocktail offerings are actually malt-based beverages like Lynchburg Lemonade — a take on a whiskey sour, but without the whiskey.
That’s fine as long as you know what you’re getting and don’t expect any sort of connoisseur experience. The wine options definitely skew sweet, with selections from mega-wineries like Roscato and Sutter Home. It’s not like you were probably looking for a dusty Barolo to pair with your Sunrise Sampler anyway.
Hey, it’s impressive that a locally based company can continue to innovate in the food space and maintain such amazing consistency that when you walk in and sit down to a meal at just about any Cracker Barrel, it’s easy to forget what exit you got off the interstate at, or even what state you’re in — they all intentionally look and taste alike.
