The Texas LP Directory Is Live — Find Every Local Distributor's Permit Holder in the State
WhiskeyRiverTX now publishes a public directory of Local Distributor's Permit holders in Texas — the retailers bars and restaurants buy spirits from, and only within their own county. 1,800+ records, 254 counties, refreshed weekly.
John W. Paddon
Founder, ThirstMetrics
The LP permit is the legal instrument that lets a bar or restaurant buy spirits directly — without going through a traditional distributor. Most operators don't know who holds them in their county.
If you sell spirits in Texas — or buy them for a bar or restaurant — there's one license that shapes almost every spirits purchase an on-premise account makes: the Local Distributor's Permit (LP). As of this week, WhiskeyRiverTX publishes a public, searchable directory of LP holders across the state at whiskeyrivertx.com/directory.
What the LP Permit Actually Is
In Texas, bars and restaurants holding a mixed beverage permit don't buy spirits from a wholesaler. They buy from retail package stores that hold a Local Distributor's Permit — the LP is what lets a package store sell spirits to on-premise accounts.
And there's a catch most operators learn the hard way: a bar or restaurant can only buy from LP holders in its own county. Your options aren't every liquor store in Texas — they're the LP holders down the road, in the same county as your license.
And not every retailer qualifies. Just because there's a liquor store on the next corner from your bar doesn't mean you can buy from it — only retailers that hold an LP are legally allowed to resell spirits to bars and restaurants. Knowing which stores in your county hold one is step one.
Before your bartenders can make great drinks, they need great raw ingredients — and in Texas, those ingredients come off the shelves of retail shops that hold an LP.
Why Knowing Your LP Holders Matters
We make it easy for bars and restaurants to know who they can get their spirits from. That matters because selection is different at every retailer with an LP license. And just because an LP holder has the allocated bottle you want sitting on the shelf, they're under no obligation to sell it to a bar or restaurant.
Having relationships with retailers that hold LP licenses — the ones who will sell you the allocated items your mixology program depends on — means a lot in the state of Texas.
There's no chart anywhere that tells you which retailer carries which bottles. Getting to know your local LP retailers — and which of them stock the specialty items your guests come in for — is mission-critical, especially for cocktail-focused bars.
When I was working in Texas, there was no published list of who you could actually buy from. That's the gap this directory fills.
What's in the Directory
The directory launched in July 2026 with the following scope:
1,800+ LP permit records across the state. 254 counties covered, with 198 of those counties showing at least one active LP holder. Records include business name, city, county, and permit status, refreshed weekly.
The goal was to make this layer of the market visible. If 56 counties have zero LP holders, that's useful information for a distributor territory manager — and for a bar owner in one of those counties. If Harris County has 300+, that shapes how you think about direct-account penetration in Houston.
About WhiskeyRiverTX
WhiskeyRiverTX is a ThirstMetrics product built for the Texas spirits market. The LP directory is a natural extension of the market data it already tracks.
The directory at whiskeyrivertx.com/directory is public and free. No account required. You can filter by county, browse the full list, and see contact information where available.
Why This Matters for Operators and Reps
If you're a sales rep covering Texas, knowing which retailers in each county hold LP permits tells you exactly where your on-premise accounts can source your brands — and which stores to work so your products are on the shelves those accounts actually buy from.
If you operate a bar or restaurant, this directory shows you every LP holder in your county — the full list of stores you can legally buy spirits from, and the starting point for the relationships that get you allocated bottles.
The directory is live now and refreshes automatically every week.
Coming up: we'll be featuring some of Texas's LP retailers right here — who they are, what they carry, and why bars and restaurants in their county should know them.
You can access the full directory at whiskeyrivertx.com/directory.