You can buy liquor online in Texas and have it delivered to your door, but only from a Texas retailer licensed by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC), only to an address in an area that permits liquor sales, and only during the hours a package store is legally allowed to sell. Beer and wine follow looser rules than distilled spirits, and out-of-state liquor shipments are not allowed at all.
What You Can Order
Beer, wine, and spirits are all available for online purchase and delivery in Texas, but the caps differ by category.
Wine and beer sold by a retailer with an Off-Premise Permit (BQ) can go up to 14% or 17% alcohol by volume, depending on what the local option election allows in that area. The cap that applies is printed on the retailer’s permit.1Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Wine and Beer Retailer’s Off-Premise Permit (BQ)
Distilled spirits are tighter. A Texas distillery selling directly to consumers can only sell sealed containers of 750 milliliters or smaller, and no single person can buy more than four 750-milliliter bottles (or the equivalent volume) from that distillery within a 30-day period.2State of Texas. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code 14.05 – Sales to Ultimate Consumers Each distillery is also capped at 3,500 gallons in total to-go sales per year, and Sunday sales are prohibited.3Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Alcohol Delivery and Pickup
Package stores, wine-only package stores, and wine and beer retailers can sell for delivery through their own operations or through a third-party service. Restaurants holding a Mixed Beverage Permit (MB) plus a Food and Beverage Certificate (FB) can also deliver all classes of alcohol, but only bundled with a food order prepared on the premises.3Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Alcohol Delivery and Pickup
Out-of-State Orders: Wine Yes, Liquor No
Texas law does not permit out-of-state retailers or distilleries to ship spirits directly to Texas consumers. If you want bourbon from a Kentucky distillery or a bottle from a liquor store in another state, you can’t have it shipped here. The three-tier system controls how liquor reaches Texas shelves, and online orders don’t get around it.
Wine is the one exception. An out-of-state winery holding a TABC Out-of-State Winery Direct Shipper’s Permit can ship directly to Texas consumers by common carrier, with a package label that identifies the contents as wine and shows the permit number.4Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Out-of-State Winery Direct Shipper’s Permit Rules You can receive up to nine gallons in any 30-day period and up to 36 gallons in any 12-month period.5Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Wine Shipping The wine has to be for personal use, someone 21 or older must sign for it at a physical address, and shipments to P.O. boxes or to any address in a dry area are not allowed.
Your Delivery Address Has to Be Wet
Texas still has dry and partially dry cities, counties, and precincts where alcohol sales are limited or banned. Delivery is only legal to an address classified as “wet” for the specific type of alcohol being delivered, and that address must sit in the same county, city, or town as the retailer’s premises.6Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Marketing Practices Advisory MPA061 – Alcohol Delivery and Sales by Certain Retail Permit Holders
An area can be wet for beer and wine but dry for liquor. A beer order to that address will go through; a whiskey order to the same address won’t. The TABC publishes local option classification data that retailers and drivers are expected to rely on, and a driver who delivers into a dry area can only raise a legal defense if they used that official TABC data.6Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Marketing Practices Advisory MPA061 – Alcohol Delivery and Sales by Certain Retail Permit Holders
When Deliveries Can Happen
Alcohol can only be delivered during the retailer’s legal hours of sale, and package stores have the strictest schedule of any retailer type.
Package stores are open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. They are closed every Sunday, plus New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. If Christmas or New Year’s falls on a Sunday, the store also closes the following Monday.7Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. FAQs If you want liquor delivered on a Sunday in Texas, it is not going to happen through a licensed channel.
Beer and wine retailers generally run longer hours, typically 7 a.m. to midnight on weekdays, 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. Saturdays, and 10 a.m. to midnight on Sundays for off-premise sales, though the exact schedule depends on the permit type.
When a third-party delivery service handles the trip, the driver must pick up the alcohol during the retailer’s legal hours and finish the delivery within a reasonable time after leaving. The window is meant to be short.6Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Marketing Practices Advisory MPA061 – Alcohol Delivery and Sales by Certain Retail Permit Holders
ID and Handoff at the Door
Whoever accepts the delivery has to be at least 21, sober, and able to show valid, unexpired identification. Acceptable IDs include a U.S. driver’s license from any state, a U.S. passport, a military ID, and other government-issued photo ID cards that include a physical description.8Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Age Verification The driver must look at the ID and either scan it or enter the information into an electronic reader.
The driver also has to judge whether the recipient appears intoxicated. Delivery compliance software used by third-party services gives drivers a way to confirm sobriety and log the reason for any refusal, and the software must track what happens to alcohol that goes undelivered.9Legal Information Institute. 16 Texas Admin Code 50.33 – Alcohol Delivery Compliance Software Applications If the recipient can’t produce ID, is underage, or looks intoxicated, the driver has to refuse the handoff. Every driver making alcohol deliveries has to be at least 21 themselves.10Legal Information Institute. 16 Texas Admin Code 50.32 – Alcohol Delivery Driver Training Program
For wine shipped directly by an out-of-state winery, the recipient still has to sign for the package in person.4Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Out-of-State Winery Direct Shipper’s Permit Rules
What Happens if the Rules Are Broken
A TABC-licensed retailer that sells or delivers alcohol to a minor faces permit suspension of 8 to 12 days for a first violation, 16 to 24 days for a second, and 48 days up to cancellation of the permit for a third. Each day of suspension carries an optional $300 monetary penalty.11Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. TABC Public Safety Penalty Chart
Delivery drivers face their own exposure. The TABC can suspend or revoke a driver’s alcohol delivery certificate for violations such as delivering to a minor or an intoxicated person.10Legal Information Institute. 16 Texas Admin Code 50.32 – Alcohol Delivery Driver Training Program Delivering into a dry area is a separate violation, and the delivery service and driver stay on the hook even if the retailer isn’t contractually responsible for route decisions.6Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Marketing Practices Advisory MPA061 – Alcohol Delivery and Sales by Certain Retail Permit Holders