re: Can somebody explain Texas liquor laws to me?

I must have never been to a bar in the Heights, because I am not part of a club and have not been asked that before getting a drink.

If you think those laws are messed up, you should look into the laws covering sale and distribution by various vendors : brewers, distillers, restaurants, bars, etc. It is a total cluster frick.

For further clarification :

LINK

and finally, see sig quote below :

Beer and Wine for off-premises consumption (retail sale) hours are:
Mon-Fri 7am - Midnight
Sat 7am - 1am
Sun 12Noon - Midnight

Liquor for off-premises consumption (retail sale) hours are:
Mon-Sat 10am - 9pm (except for Christmas Day, Thanksgiving Day and New Year's Day - So plan ahead)

Bars and restaurants can serve mixed drinks for on-premises consumption during hours in which the establishment has a paid license. That's why some cut off earlier than others. The cost of the license goes up to serve from 10pm-midnight...and goes up some more to serve from midnight to 2am. A fully-licensed establishment can operate as follows:

Mon-Sat 7am-2am
Sundays: 12noon-2am UNLESS food is served prior to serving the first alcoholic beverage (in which case you can start at 10am)

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Can somebody explain Texass to me?

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fify

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Can somebody explain Texas liquor laws to me?

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It's like this see... There is and has been a significant percentage of the Texas population who believe that there is an Invisible Man in the sky with infinite power who looks unfavorably on the consumption of alcohol. These people furthermore believe that it is their duty to impose what they feel is the intent of the Invisible Man on everyone, regardless if they believe the same things about the invisible man or not. As such, those who seek elected office in Texas, in an attempt to garner the favor of those who believe in the anti-liquor Invisible Man have been reticent to propose legislation that would repeal antiquated laws that restrict liberty. The majority of these elected officials also claim to be "small government conservatives" as these catch phrases have polled well in political polling in a Texas.

While that's true for the majority of dry counties/cities. The Heights did it because rowdy, run down bars were ruining property values. They made the majority of the Heights dry, while allowing two small sections on White Oak and 11th to be "wet." This helped maintain property values and still gave them local options for booze.

At that time the Heights was its own city. When it was annexed by Houston, it requested to keep the liquor laws in place.

Texas cities can have dry precincts. These precincts are the same as the voting precincts so voters in that precinct can vote to be dry. This is usually an area that has a lot of loitering and petty crime around liquor stores when those stores were allowed in the precinct. So its really an effort to cut down on crime. In Dallas, there are certain parts of the city that are dry but you can walk across the street to a liquor store that is in another precinct that is "wet". Also, many cities have zoning laws that restrict how late bars in a particular area can stay open. Lower Greenville in Dallas is like this now as there were a lot of bars a few years ago where gang bangers would hang out til 2 am and then go shoot each other in the parking lot which would spill over into the surrounding neighborhood....which is a fairly well to do area. So to clean this up, the city created a special zone where bars have to get a special use permit that has to be renewed every year. Part of that SUP is a restriction on how late the bar can stay open. There are 2 or 3 bars on lower greenville that can stay open until 2 am because they hired a lawyer to handle their SUP and have no history of "trouble" emanating from their bars. Again, its kind of stupid because you can walk a block over in either direction and drink until 2 am. But it has cut down on the violence that happened in the past. All in all, its not a big deal. as for liquor stores closing at 9pm, I was never so desperate for liquor that late, even when I lived in BR...so it doesnt bother me. All the convenience stores sell beer until 2 am........ if they aren't in a special precinct.

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Bars can stay open until 2 but if you order a drink at 1:55 they will take it away at 2 exactly...they allow you no grace period time to drink it like in most states.

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That is absolutely not true, and if you had that done, the bartender and barback wanted to close early, but they impinged on the law.

IF you order a drink at 1:59, you are allowed to finish it by 2:15.

Cutoff for sale of alcoholic beverages in bars: 2 a.m.

Cutoff for CONSUMPTION (big difference) of alcoholic beverages in bars: 2:15 a.m.

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That is absolutely not true, and if you had that done, the bartender and barback wanted to close early, but they impinged on the law. IF you order a drink at 1:59, you are allowed to finish it by 2:15. Cutoff for sale of alcoholic beverages in bars: 2 a.m. Cutoff for CONSUMPTION (big difference) of alcoholic beverages in bars: 2:15 a.m.

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I was new to Texas and had it done by cops working in a bar in Galveston...they took real delight in taking my almost full drink right out of my hands. I later had it explained to me that
they could take it right at 2.

When you actually read drinking laws, it does not sounds like we live in a free country. Moving from LA where I could get any alcohol at any time, to TX has been an eye opener. I love that a grocery store can't sell liquor, but the liquor store attached to it can. What is that stopping? And beer and wine are okay, but liquor is off limits unless you go to another store. They can all get you to the same place, so whats the difference. My favorite is a liquor store I went to in Addison that had two entrances, one for beer and wine and one for liquor. Like they couldn't mix the two. Whats the point?

Lawmakers need to get out of everyone's business. If I want a screwdriver with my breakfast, I should be able to buy vodka at 6 a.m.!