Texas Has a New Favorite Spirit & It Ain’t Whiskey

What's your drink of choice? From Austin, TX, to Abilene, Texans love cold beer. But you may be surprised to learn what our favorite spirit has become.

Texas is home to countless craft breweries, and it should come as no surprise that beer still reigns supreme when it comes to winding down here in the Lone Star State, but what's your go-to spirit?

I enjoy an ice-cold beer, I also am a fan of whiskey drink too. I've grown quite fond of tequila, although it's not always top of mind for me. Turns out, though, that is top of mind for many of my fellow Texans.

What is Texas' favorite spirit?

The folks at Toast wanted to better understand alcohol trends in the U.S. They concluded that the best way to do it was to "analyze how the popularity of select drinks and spirits varied for restaurants from state to state." By taking into account the "sale of beer, wine, cider, hard seltzer, and spirits: vodka, tequila, whiskey, gin, rum, and brandy," they found some interesting trends.

As it goes, vodka is the most popular spirit in most states, but Toast's data shows that tequila is more popular than ever. In fact, in several states, it is the most popular, and that is true for Texas too.

"It’s no surprise that tequila has heavily influenced states along the Mexican border. Texas was the highest consumer of tequila per restaurant location, drinking 119% more tequila than the average for diners at restaurants in other states."

According to the data, tequila is the most popular spirit in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah. Meanwhile, whiskey is the most popular spirit in West Virginia, Wyoming, Indiana, Kansas, and Kentucky.