The Texas Accounts Winning Anyway: Q1 Standouts from Dallas to Austin

WSWA says core spirits are down 4.19% nationally and, at best, will "stabilize" in negative territory this year. Okay — that's the average. And averages are built out of exceptions. So instead of one more gloomy category number, we went into the receipts filed under Texas TABC permits and pulled the accounts doing the exact opposite of the trend: not tiny rooms that tripled off a rounding error, but established, high-volume spirits accounts already posting real numbers in Q1 2025 that grew from there in Q1 2026. Every figure is a Q1 quarter total (Jan–Mar) of liquor receipts filed under Texas TABC permits.

Dallas

Vidorra $436K → $668K (+53%); Bar W $300K → $566K (+89%); Off the Cuff $195K → $374K (+92%)

Houston

Vic & Anthony's $449K → $1.6M (+257%); The Spot Lounge (EaDo) $243K → $815K (+236%); Doña Leti's $203K → $556K (+173%)

San Antonio

La Gloria $197K → $411K (+109%); Grand Hyatt River Walk $354K → $582K (+64%); Boudro's $471K → $635K (+35%)

Austin

Ojos Locos Sports Cantina $353K → $1.05M (+197%); Highland $254K → $404K (+59%); Wild Greg's Saloon $270K → $384K (+42%)

Look at those bases. These aren't 2025 flukes — Boudro's on the Riverwalk was already writing nearly half a million in liquor in a single quarter and still grew; Vic & Anthony's more than tripled off a $449K base; and Ojos Locos nearly tripled while being a fully operational, high-volume door for years — real expansion, not a new-venue ramp. These are operators who nailed the room, the menu and the program, and took share while the category supposedly shrank. There's a pattern, too: the biggest jumps cluster where the energy is — neighborhood destinations, elevated Latin concepts, sports-and-scene cantinas with a point of view. The account treading water in the middle is exactly the one the concentration numbers say is losing ground. The winners picked a lane and packed it.

And it's not only the independents. Even the big rooms are pouring: the Aramark concession at Minute Maid Park went from $923K in Q1 2025 to $3.83M in Q1 2026. Call it a schedule-and-season bump if you like — but if you're the one carrying the bag, up is up and cases are cases.

To every account on this list, and to every operator out there growing in spite of the times: well done. In a year the trade press keeps calling "tough," you made it look like opportunity.

Source: TABC-permit sales receipts, Q1 2025 vs Q1 2026 quarter totals. National context: WSWA SipSource (Shanken News Daily, July 2, 2026).