Cocktail News

New Texas beverage company does ranch water with an extra kick

It has a little more bang than regular hard seltzer.

Photo courtesy of RancH20

The ranch water trend shows no signs of stopping, and now there's another new player: Called RancH20, it's a Dallas-based startup specializing in canned cocktails, available in stores on October 21.

RancH2O — which requires a pronunciation note: "Ranch Two Oh" — has mixed cocktails featuring real liquor. The name is a play on the words Ranch and H2O and is named after the flagship product, Ranch Water.

They come in four flavors:

Ranch Water — tequila, soda water, and lime
Classic Marg — tequila, soda water, lime, and orange, sweeter than Ranch Water, not as tart as a regular margarita
Vodka Soda — vodka, soda water, and cranberry
Gin Fizz — gin, soda water, and lime

They're packaged in 12-ounce cans, about 150 calories per can, running about 6.5 to 7 percent ABV, which is about the same ABV as a beer.

RancH20 founder Amelia Lettieri says in a statement that she created RancH2O to provide "a real cocktail experience in a convenient package without any question marks. No hidden agenda."

The release places great emphasis on the fact that it's not another hard seltzer but instead contains "real liquor."

According to Food Republic, the alcohol in hard seltzer comes from cold-brewed sugar and runs 4 to 6 percent ABV. As opposed to most clear spirits, which are grain-fermented and have a higher alcohol content. Who knew? Probably every bartender in town, that's who.

"Our cocktails use real liquor — tequila, vodka, and gin — and proof is in the proof. We are proud of our 6.5 to 7 percent ABV," Lettieri says. "You can taste the difference, and canned convenience means nothing if it doesn't taste great."

A Dallas native and graduate of Texas A&M, Lettieri developed her love for the beverage industry while working for a private-equity firm on the acquisition of Carolina Beverage Group, then learned about the consumer packaged goods industry working for 7-Eleven and Sunoco.

Four-packs of Ranch Water, Classic Marg, and Vodka Soda with cranberry are now available in Texas for $15. Gin Fizz will be released in spring 2021.

cocktails

best new tacos

4 Houston spots make Texas Monthly's 25 best new taquerias list

Photo by Julie Soefer

Maximo is now open for lunch and dinner daily.

Texas Monthly taco editor José Ralat has released his list of The 25 Best New(ish) Texas Taquerias in 2026. Published Monday, May 18, the list serves as an mid-cycle update to the James Beard Award-winning writer’s 2024 list of the 50 Best Tacos in Texas, which is published every four years.

Houston and San Antonio take the lead with four spots on the list. The Bayou City’s representatives are:

Alturas Mexican Cafe, a family-owned restaurant near the Heights
Bar Xolo, a Mexico City-inspired dining bar in Montrose
Huncho’s Tacos, a halal taqueria in Southwest Houston
Maximo, an upscale Mexican restaurant in West University Place

At Alturas, Ralat praises the house made flour tortillas and shredded chicken mole enmoladas. At Bar Xolo, he recommends the Tacos Oscar, which are made with potato, house made cheese, and caviar. The ribeye taco is must-order at Huncho’s, while Maximo earns its spot for a $45, five-course tasting menu that includes a “wild mushroom taco with white-capped bunapi, a crunchy lilliputian fungus that eats like popcorn with a woodsy flavor.”

Zaranda, the California-inspired restaurant from James Beard Award-winning chef Hugo Ortega, earns an honorable mention.

Elsewhere in Texas, the Dallas area, including suburbs such as Arlington and Plano, has four representatives on the list. Austin restaurants take two spots, and Fort Worth gets one.

Austin and San Antonio receive one honorable mention each. Dallas and its Farmers Branch suburb are also recognized with honorable mentions.

Ralat writes that he visited almost 200 taquerias to assemble the list, which is made up of restaurants that “opened, reopened, or expanded their menus between August 2024 and this past March.”

While Ralat finds that restaurateurs have faced challenges that include rising prices and aggressive immigration enforcement efforts, the overall states of tacos in Texas is strong.

“But nothing gets in the way of ganas — guts, desire, determination, and hard work. The 25 best new taquerias — revealed in alphabetical order by location (alongside ten honorable mentions) — all have that quality,” he writes.

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