Texas alcohol laws aren’t one set of rules. They’re dozens of them, layered on top of each other, and they change the moment you cross a county line. The confusion traces back to the dry county era, when local voters decided town by town whether alcohol could be sold. Some counties stayed completely dry, some allowed beer and wine but not liquor, and some split the difference precinct by precinct. Plenty of those decisions are still on the books today.

Here’s what the state actually controls. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission bans liquor store sales on Sundays and limits store hours to 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Everything else is up to your city or county. That’s why Smith County only started allowing beer and wine store sales in the early 2010s, and why towns like Troup, Arp and Winona have since approved liquor sales while Tyler still hasn’t. Bars and restaurants play by their own clocks too, which is how Tyler ends service at midnight Sunday through Friday while Longview keeps pouring until 2 a.m. daily.

For those of us here in Waxahachie, the takeaway is simple. What’s legal a few miles up the road might not be legal here, and vice versa. The TABC website has a county-by-county guide if you ever want the exact answer for your address. Have you ever crossed a county line for a beer run? Sound off in the comments and tell us where you went.