Mazel Tov, You Lushes: Texas Breaks Monthly Booze Sales Record in May

It's no longer a question of "if," rather "by how much." The local bar and restaurant scene is back with margarita machines swirling at helicopter speed trying to keep up. Our cup quite literally runneth over.

Last week the state released total beverage sales across the state for May. AlcoholSales.com dug into that a bit and reported that statewide a new record was set for total beverage sales, "May sales [were] at an all-time high. March of 2019 was the standing record with more than $722,000,000 in total sales. May came in at $737,718,495, this is a 6 percent increase over last month."

In December 2020 and January 2021, total alcohol sales in the state were around $450 million, then dipped to below $400 million in February due to the winter storm when many restaurants were closed and treacherous road conditions kept us home. Since March, however, sales have been climbing and peaked in May at $738 million.

Dal-las! Dal-las! Dal-las!

We pulled the bars and restaurants in Dallas for this past May and compared them with May of the previous four years, as shown in the chart above.

Total mixed beverage receipts in Dallas restaurants and bars this May were 6% higher this year compared to 2019.

Six percent might seem insignificant, but that's an increase of $4.9 million in just 31 days. That's more than one million more beers at $4.75, the average cost of a beer nationwide according to Frommers. That's 33,000 more beers a day in May 2021 versus May 2019.

For fun, below are the 10 highest-grossing restaurants and bars in Dallas in May:

Bottled Blonde, $1.12 million
Happiest Hour,  $1.09 million
Katy Trail Ice House, $956,453
Vidorra, $845,526
Virgin Hotel, $769,031
Citizen, $750,978
Round Up Saloon, $738,441
Nick & Sams Steak House, $732,550
Sporting Club, $612,665
Ritz Carlton $586,963