Tag Archives: TABC

Alcohol to go passes both chambers

Posted on April 30, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Off to get a signature. The Texas Senate on Wednesday passed a measure to permanently allow Texans to purchase alcohol to-go from restaurants, advancing a shared goal of Gov. Greg Abbott and restaurateurs. House Bill 1024, which cleared the lower chamber last … Continue reading →

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Booze to go set to go

Posted on March 26, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Good. The Texas House has passed legislation that would allow restaurants to sell alcohol to go beyond the coronavirus pandemic. The chamber signed off on House Bill 1024 to permanently allow beer, wine and mixed drinks to be included in … Continue reading →

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Drinks to go on the legislative menu

Posted on January 18, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Looks likely to succeed. As the 87th legislature kicks into high gear in Austin tomorrow, a new bill introduced in both the Texas House and Senate is aiming to make to-go alcohol from restaurants and bars permanent. Venues in Texas … Continue reading →

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The bar conundrum

Posted on December 6, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Ugh. Halloween this year in downtown Austin was a raucous affair. Nightclubs advertised dancing and drink specials. Thousands of people crowded 6th Street, partying shoulder to shoulder, some with masks and some without. All of this happened as bars in … Continue reading →

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No Walmart liquor stores

Posted on November 28, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Some non-election litigation news of interest. Texans still won’t be able to purchase liquor at Walmart, after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a bid by the retail giant that would have allowed the booze to be sold at stores in … Continue reading →

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Food trucks and bars

Posted on August 29, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I approve of this. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission approved rules Tuesday intended to make it easier for bars to legally operate as restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic. The state agency greatly expanded rules that had already offered a limited … Continue reading →

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It’s still hard out here on bars and restaurants

Posted on August 21, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I continue to worry about our once-thriving hospitality industry. Hundreds of Texas bars and restaurants are scrambling to change how they operate, maneuvering through loopholes that will allow them to reopen after being closed by Gov. Greg Abbott’s latest shutdown … Continue reading →

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Beer gardens get jerked around

Posted on July 25, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

First, we had this. Saint Arnold Brewing announced Monday that it will temporarily close its beer garden and restaurant. The reason? Gov. Greg Abbott’s office ruled it is a bar, not a restaurant, and therefore should close according to the … Continue reading →

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There’s a lot of COVID litigation out there

Posted on July 25, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Texas Lawyer surveys the landscape. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a growing subset of new business litigation in Texas: companies suing the government over shutdown orders or definitions of essential versus nonessential businesses. One of the latest examples to make … Continue reading →

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Second lawsuit filed by bars against Abbott

Posted on July 2, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

This one was expected. Several Texas bar owners filed a $10 million federal lawsuit Tuesday afternoon against Gov. Greg Abbott, in an attempt to void his executive order shutting down bars for a second time since the beginning of the … Continue reading →

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The pause effect on bars and restaurants

Posted on June 28, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I feel terrible for them, but what could we do at this point? Ed Noyes was trying to get some shut-eye when he woke up to seven different texts Friday morning. Three of the five bartenders at his Fort Worth … Continue reading →

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We may actually get beer to go this session

Posted on May 24, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Well, what do you know? The Texas Senate restored a measure Wednesday allowing breweries to sell beer to go from their taprooms to a bill allowing the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission to continue operating. It also approved a measure that … Continue reading →

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House liberalizes beer sales

Posted on April 27, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

It was a bit of shenanigans, but all things considered that seems entirely fitting. The Texas House voted Thursday to extend beer and wine sales on Sundays and to let craft breweries to sell beer to go. Those new expansions … Continue reading →

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Time again for craft brewers to get their legislative hopes up

Posted on January 15, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

We’ve seen this movie before. I hope for a better ending, but I’m keeping those hopes modest. Texas is the only state in the country that prohibits some breweries from selling six-packs, bottles and growlers of beer to-go, but a … Continue reading →

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Our increasingly non-dry state

Posted on January 8, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

There are now only five counties in Texas where you can’t buy alcohol. On Election Day in Stanton, just north of Midland, Ron Black was skeptical that a particular measure on the ballot would pass. “Well, I think at first … Continue reading →

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Spec’s sues TABC

Posted on December 9, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Another lawsuit to watch. The state’s largest liquor chain — Spec’s Wine, Spirits and Finer Foods — is suing the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission for “abusive regulatory overreach” over an enforcement action that dragged on for almost two years before … Continue reading →

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The Huffman influence

Posted on June 10, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Oops. A lawsuit filed in state district court Monday alleges that the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission improperly fired one of its sergeants after he told federal law enforcement that state Sen. Joan Huffman had blocked an investigation into a Longview … Continue reading →

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You may finally be able to buy booze at Walmart and Costco now

Posted on March 24, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I agree with this. A protectionist Texas law that has kept Walmart, Costco and other giant retailers from selling hard liquor was found unconstitutional by a federal judge this week, prompting cheers from free-market advocates — and vows of a … Continue reading →

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Crowler conundrum concluded

Posted on April 5, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Finally. Mike McKim held an empty aluminum can under a tap and pulled the handle, filling the can with Real Ale Brewery’s Helles beer. He fitted a pull tab lid on top, slotted the can into his “crowler” machine, and … Continue reading →

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What makes a Texas wine?

Posted on March 19, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Texas grapes, obviously. Or maybe not so obviously. Chris Brundrett sat in a barn surrounded by barrels of wine he helped curate and swirled a glass of water in his hand, perhaps imagining it was something else. Brundrett, accompanied by … Continue reading →

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A win for beer

Posted on November 26, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Hooray! All you want for Christmas is a crowler to go? It probably won’t happen that quickly, but an administrative judge’s recommendation could move the state a step closer to letting bars and restaurants sell takeaway beer in the sealed, … Continue reading →

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Microbreweries win their distribution rights lawsuit

Posted on August 27, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Excellent news. A Texas law that prohibits brewers from selling territorial rights to distribute their beer is unconstitutional, a judge ruled Thursday, serving up a major victory to beer companies seeking to expand their presence in stores, bars and restaurants … Continue reading →

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Making the Heights a little less dry

Posted on May 21, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

From Swamplot: A GROUP CALLED the Houston Heights Beverage Coalition PAC is hoping to bring about a vote on allowing beer and wine sales in the technically dry section of the Houston Heights. The group published a notice on May 5th announcing an application to the city to … Continue reading →

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The latest example of how nuts our beer laws are

Posted on October 4, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Ridiculous. The latest flashpoint between Texas beer lovers and state beer law is a 32-ounce aluminum can that bars and restaurants fill with beer and sell to be consumed off-site. The can, called a crowler, is praised for its convenience … Continue reading →

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Craft beer lawsuit

Posted on September 22, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

This ought to be interesting. On the same day merger talk surfaced regarding the world’s two biggest beer companies, a small Dallas brewery announced its own effort to shake up the industry in Texas. Deep Ellum Brewing Co. launched the … Continue reading →

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Making Pearland wet

Posted on June 6, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

It always amazes me that there are still cities that don’t allow alcohol sales in this day and age. Absher is one of about 1,000 Pearland residents who have signed a petition to remove all restrictions on the city’s alcohol … Continue reading →

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Wal-Mart sues Texas

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

It’s about booze. Wal-Mart filed a lawsuit in an Austin federal court on Thursday challenging a Texas law that forbids the company from owning and operating liquor stores in the state. The lawsuit says the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission code … Continue reading →

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The battle over booze sales comes to Tomball

Posted on October 28, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I always enjoy a good story about when a county or town votes on whether or not to repeal Prohibition-era restrictions on local alcohol sales. Eight decades ago, the oil started flowing in Tomball and the whiskey soon followed. The … Continue reading →

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The dry Heights

Posted on December 27, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

What’s a guy got to do to get a drink around here? Eighty years after the repeal of Prohibition – the anniversary of which came and went with hardly a toast last week – there is a sliver of Houston … Continue reading →

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Drinking al fresco

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From the Things You Might Not Have Realized department. “It is a commonly-held belief that it’s illegal to walk down the street drinking a beer in Texas. However, that is not always the case.” Those words, which we recently happened … Continue reading →

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Amazon wine

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

You may soon be able to order wine from Amazon.com, depending on where you live. Amazon.com Inc. AMZN -0.88% is planning an online marketplace for wine sales directly to consumers, said executives for several California wineries, marking the Seattle Web … Continue reading →

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What does it mean to be a beer?

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Boy, is that a deep question or what? Until recently, beer drinkers who took their time to read the labels on their bottles or cans may have encountered some head-scratching fine print concerning Texas. Underneath the name of Brooklyn Brewery’s … Continue reading →

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There’s an app for binge drinking

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

There will be, anyway. And it’s not what you’re thinking because it’s the TABC that’s developing it. As college students from across the nation head to Texas beaches for spring break, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is already making plans … Continue reading →

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Can ban lawsuit moves to Travis County

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Some new plaintiffs, too. A group of river-related businesses has sued the City of New Braunfels, Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and Mark Vickery , executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, over a ban on disposable containers … Continue reading →

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