Texas Liquor Laws

 McKinney, TX

A Texas Liquor Store

A shallow dive into Texas Liquor Laws*

If you don't care about liquor laws and just want to read about what we did jump down to the bottom section now.

When we travel we always like to find out about the local liquor laws.  Can you buy whiskey at Trader Joes?  Can you buy beer at the grocery store?  That sort of thing.  The most interesting place we have been to in regards to this is Utah.  We went after the Olympics loosened up their rules but it was still pretty rule heavy.  Texas is the middle of the road from our perspective.  

Texas liquor laws go down to the county level and even the city level for the small details.  There are 5 counties in Texas that are completely dry (no alcohol sales) and 59 completely wet counties.  The rest are a mix based on the city level.  We are in Collin County and, what this site calls, a partially wet county.  The State level laws changed in 2021.  At the state level, Beer and Wine sales can start at 10am on Sunday where before the new law sales could only start at Noon.  At a very high level the state allows Beer and Wine Sales at Grocery Stores Monday through Friday 7am to midnight, Saturday 7am to 1am, and Sundays now from 10am to midnight, Bars and Restaurants with licenses can sell Monday through Friday: 7 a.m. to midnight and Saturday 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. (Sunday morning) and some establishments can sell spirits Sunday from 10am to noon for "Brunch" and then fewer can serve spirits until 2am.  Packaged Liquor stores are the only places that can sell liquor for off site consumption and they are all closed on Sundays.  There is a lot of good info here if you want my references or more details to this complex system. I am only coming  at it from a tourists standpoint.

Collin County, the county we are in, is a partially wet county.  The city decides what their terms are in regards to off site and onsite sales as long as they fall within the States laws.  McKinney is the city we are staying in.  They allow grocery stores to sell beer and wine and restaurants that serve food to serve liquor and mixed drinks.  I don't see any traditional bars that just serve alcohol here in McKinney.  There is a city called Nevada in Collin County and it is dry so if you mix it up with Nevada State you're going to have a bad time.  

Our Texas Liquor Store Experience

Today we did a bit of grocery shopping and then wanted to buy a bottle of gin.  You can't buy gin at any grocery store in Texas so we had to find a "Packaged Liquor Store" to visit.  I looked online and Liquor King seemed to be the best "local" option and it isn't in McKinney.  There is one in McKinney but it rated lower on the reviews so we drove to Allen TX to buy gin.  I had seen it on our drive home from the movie theater that I wrote about here and here.  When we walked in it felt like a normal liquor store to us.  We have been in State Run liquor stores and those feel like you are at the post office but buying alcohol.  They feel weird.  I looked around at the whiskey while Donna looked for gin.  We had gotten Leopold's Gin in Denver and really liked it so we were looking for something by them.  I was looking at whiskey prices and they were reasonable.  Having recently lived in Washington State, all liquor prices seem reasonable.  Washington is by far the most expensive state to buy alcohol in.  When they got rid of their state liquor stores they added a temporary per liter tax on alcohol sales to help make up the revenue stream for the short term and just left it on.  I have a feeling the wine lobby is helping keep it on.  Our bottles were what one would consider normal prices with an 8.25% sales tax added.  Very reasonable. 

This is local Washington Whiskey.  They bottles would be the price + 8.25%. In Washington they would be the price + the liter tax + 20.5% sales tax. So it is cheaper to buy the local Washington whiskey half way across the country in Texas. Go home Washington, you're drunk!

 

Here is a photo Donna took when we first moved to WA so we could wrap our heads around the prices.

Our purchases.  They are both very nice.

That's it for today.  I could have gone on and on about the liquor laws here.  I even downloaded a spreadsheet that I didn't share so be thankful I spared you.  Check out the links I linked above if you want to learn more and check out our movie day yesterday if you didn't already.

*I am a tourist, not a lawyer.  If the liquor laws in Texas are important to your livelihood do not take the information in this blog as legal advice.  :)