Why Texas Is Fussy About What Time Of Day It Sells Beer

Buying and selling alcohol is different in every state. Some states, such as New Jersey, don't let you buy liquor in supermarkets or convenience stores. In New York, beer and spirits such as vodka can't be sold in the same store. And in Texas, there are various cutoff times for beer sales — depending on the day — thanks to something called blue laws. Spoiler alert: You can't buy beer from a liquor store on Sundays, but there are some loopholes that allow for its purchase through other retailers.

Generally speaking, blue laws are laws or ordinances that prohibit certain activities at certain times. They pertain to both commercial and entertainment purposes and can limit anything in that realm, such as alcohol sales or clothing sales. Blue laws are typically in effect on Sundays, and in Texas, blue laws are rooted in religious history. They were originally put in place to ban the sale of alcohol, including beer, on Sundays in order to keep Sunday as a religious day of rest. Texas once had blue laws on all kinds of entertainment sales, including books and clothing, but alcohol is one of just two restrictions that remain in effect today (the other one, interestingly, is car sales) from the laws' enactment in 1961.

Blue laws are also sometimes referred to as Sunday laws. Today, liquor stores are still closed on Sundays, but there is a loophole that allows you to purchase beer from retail stores on that day of rest: Since beer is sold in grocery stores, you can buy it in supermarkets from 10 a.m. until midnight. Restaurants can start selling beer at 10 a.m. on Sunday as long as it's paired with food; otherwise, beer and other alcohol sales start at noon. As for other days of the week, beer can be sold in stores from 7 a.m. until midnight between Monday and Friday, and that curfew extends to 1 a.m. on Saturdays. Certain rules are in place for holidays, too — liquor stores can't operate on Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year's Day in addition to regular Sundays, all stemming from those original blue laws.

Blue laws might be rooted in religious history and based mostly on Sundays, but today, Texas has beer and liquor laws that are quite complex. For example, buyers are required to pay cash if purchasing beer from a wholesaler. And if you want to drink craft beer to-go, you have to get it from a brewery that produces fewer than 10,000 beer barrels each year. But those blue laws put in place so long ago were just the beginning of the alcohol sales complexities within the state.